5 Tips for Midweek’s World Cup Qualifiers - 1/9/21

On Wednesday, Portugal take on the Republic of Ireland in World Cup qualifying with the hosts being top of Group A.

Fernando Santos’ side have won seven points from a possible of nine, following 1-0 and 3-1 victories over Azerbaijan and Luxembourg, as well as a 2-2 draw away at Serbia where striker Cristiano Ronaldo was controversially denied a winning goal due to there being no goal-line technology in use.

Meanwhile, Stephen Kenny’s side have started their qualifying campaign for the World Cup in Qatar in shambolic fashion, losing 1-0 at home to Luxembourg before being comfortably beaten 3-2 away at Serbia, leaving their hopes in serious doubt.

The player in focus here is Manchester United bound forward Cristiano Ronaldo. The 36-year-old finished as the top scorer at Euro 2020 despite his side being knocked out in the Round of 16 by Belgium, scoring five and assisting one of Portugal’s seven goals at the tournament, seeing him priced at 8/5 to score first against the Republic of Ireland.

France host Bosnia in the World Cup qualifying D and the hosts will be determined to impress following a shock Round of 16 exit to Switzerland at Euro 2020.

Didier Deschamps’ side are currently top of their qualifying group having drawn 1-1 with Ukraine, as well as beating Kazakhstan 2-0 and Bosnia 1-0. The visitors who are managed by Ivaylo Petev could only manage a 2-2 draw with Finland as goals from Miralem Pjanic and Miroslav Stevanovic cancelling out a brace from Teemu Pukki. Their only other qualifying match was their narrow defeat to France last time out.

Antoine Griezmann is the player in focus for this tip, as the Barcelona man has scored in two of France’s three qualifying matches, including the only goal of the game against Wednesday’s opponents. The Barcelona forward has 38 goals in 94 international matches to his name and was even the top scorer for his country at Euro 2016 where he hit the back of the net six times.

The Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo will see Norway host the Netherlands in what will be Louis van Gaal’s first match in charge of his country since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Norway have had a decent start to life in Group G and have six points to their name from a possible nine, having beaten both Gibraltar 3-0 and Luxembourg 1-0, but, their 3-0 home loss to Turkey in late March has seen questions being raised over their credentials to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, meaning that they will likely need a positive result against the Dutch.

This is a pressure game for the Netherlands who will be desperate to bounce back from their shock 3-1 loss to the Czech Republic in the Round of 16 at Euro 2020 which consequently saw Frank De Boer lose his job. In World Cup qualifying the Dutch have been less than convincing at times, as they were thumped 4-2 away at Turkey on matchday one before defeating Latvia 2-0 and Gibraltar 7-0.

England travel away to Hungary with Gareth Southgate’s side looking to build on an impressive Euro 2020 campaign that saw them finish as runners-up to Italy.

Hungary proved to be awkward opposition for many teams at the European Championships, managing 2-2 and 1-1 draws with Germany and France. In World Cup qualifying they have started their campaign brightly too, earning seven points from three matches leaving them in second place in Group I following 3-0 and 4-1 victories over San Marino and Andorra, as well as earning a point in a 3-3 draw with Poland.

The Three Lions have a 100% record so far in the World Cup qualifiers, having beaten San Marino 5-0, Albania 2-0 and Poland 2-1. England are known for being a pragmatic side despite all of the attacking talent which their squad possesses and have won eight of their last 11 matches by the score group of 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1.

Liechtenstein face the mammoth task of hosting Germany in World Cup qualifying on Thursday.

This will be former Bayern Munich manager Hansi Flick’s first match in charge of Die Mannschaft following Joachim Low’s pre-announced decision to step down after the Euros where they were knocked out by England in the Round of 16 at Wembley.

Germany’s World Cup qualifying campaign in Group J has started in poor fashion considering the fact their group consists of Armenia, North Macedonia, Romania, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Under Low they won two out of three matches, beating Iceland 3-0, Romania 1-0 and managed to lose 2-1 at home to North Macedonia. They will be looking to do much better against at Liechtenstein side that has lost all three matches to Iceland 4-1, North Macedonia 5-0 and Armenia 1-0.

Two players to look out for are Ilkay Gundogan and Serge Gnabry of Manchester City and Bayern Munich. Gundogan has 11 goals in 49 caps for Germany, including two in their three World Cup qualifiers, whilst Gnabry who was managed by Flick at Bayern has a sensational goalscoring record for his national side, firing in 16 goals in 26 outings.