5 World Cup Qualifiers Handicap Bets for Wednesday’s Action – 8/9/21

Albania go head to head with San Marino on Tuesday in a game that the hosts will expect to win comfortably.

Edoardo Reja’s side currently sit third in Group I behind England and Poland, proving that they are not a team that can be taken lightly, having beaten Andorra and San Marino 1-0 and 2-0 back in March, with a narrow 2-0 defeat to Euro 2020 finalists England in between these games. Since their loss to the Three Lions, they have also beaten Hungary 1-0 via a late strike from Southampton’s Armando Broja.

In their game away at San Marino, Reja’s men had 26 shots and 79% possession, showing that they have the capability to score a lot when they take on the European minnows at home, having endured a frustrating game away where it took goals in the 63rd and 85th minutes from Rey Manaj and Myrto Uzuni to take all three points.

So far in qualifying, San Marino have conceded 19 goals in five matches, including seven against Poland last time out.

The next game on this list comes from Reggio Emilia where Italy play Lithuania in Group C.

Roberto Mancini’s side are coming into recent internationals as the European champions having beaten England on penalties in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley Stadium in the summer.

So far in qualifying, Italy have played five, won three and drawn two of their games, scoring seven times and the last time they faced Lithuania was back in March where they played a mixture of fringe and first-team players, seeing Stefano Sensi and Ciro Immobile score their goals in a 2-0 victory. In this match they recorded 29 shots and will be desperate to pile on more misery for the Lithuanian’s who currently sit at the bottom of the qualifying group, having lost all four games that they have played, conceding eight times.

Belgium travel away to Belarus for matchday six of Group E for Roberto Martinez’s side.

The Red Devils are sat comfortably at the top of their World Cup qualifying group with four wins and one draw from their opening five fixtures, scoring 20 times in the process, whilst their opposition in Belarus are fourth in the group having won just one of their four matches against Estonia 4-2. Belarus have conceded 14 goals in four qualifiers so far.

Martinez’s side started off their qualifying campaign with a 3-1 win over Wales before being frustrated to a 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic, shortly after this they thumped Belarus 8-0 where Michy Batshuayi, Hans Vanaken (2), Leandro Trossard (2), Jeremy Doku, Dennis Praet and Christian Benteke all got on the scoresheet. After this match, the Belgians then went on to beat Estonia 5-2 and the Czech’s 3-0.

In Group B of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers Kosovo host Spain with Luis Enrique’s side expected to easily brush past Wednesday night’s opponents.

Spain are currently at the top of the group, having won three and drawn one of their first five matches, scoring 11 times. So far, Spain have beaten Georgia 2-1 and 4-0, as well as Kosovo 3-1 where Dani Olmo, Ferran Torres and Gerard Moreno all scored as Enrique’s men had 24 shots to Kosovo’s three.

Kosovo have managed four points from four matches following their late draw against Greece. In their opening two matches, Kosovo conceded three goals against both Sweden and Spain, before earning a narrow victory against Georgia.

The final game on this list comes from Group J where a rejuvenated looking Germany travel away to Iceland.

Die Mannschaft have recently appointed Hansi Flick who won the treble with Bayern Munich in the 2019/20 season and looked a different side in their 6-0 demolition of Armenia last time out as Serge Gnabry scored a brace, whilst Marco Reus, Timo Werner, Jonas Hofmann and Karim Adeyemi all got on the scoresheet.

This was a vast improvement to the stale looking German side that crashed out of Euro 2020 at the hands of England and lost 2-1 to North Macedonia in March. Germany had 23 shots against Armenia with 77% possession. The last time Germany faced Iceland they beat them 3-0 on matchday one of Group J where midfield trio Leon Goretzka, Kai Havertz and Ilkay Gundogan all scored. As things stand, Germany have won four of their five matches in the group, whilst Iceland have just four points from five games and are behind the likes of Armenia, Romania and North Macedonia having conceded 10 times.