The qualifying competition for the Euro 2020 tournament begins on Thursday evening when four groups embark on their journey to make it into the main event to be held across 12 cities in a unique competition next summer.
We have to wait for later in the week for England to get their campaign underway but Scotland and Northern Ireland are in action on Thursday, along with some of the bigger hitters in European football.
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Group C
This is the group that Germany inhabit but they sit out the opening night of fixtures. UEFA Nations League semi-finalists Netherlands take centre stage when they host Belarus in a match they are expected to win. Northern Ireland are in this group and with only two progressing from it they know they cannot afford any slip ups when they take on Estonia in Belfast on Thursday evening.
Group E
Welsh eyes will be on this group on Thursday evening as this is the section in which they have been drawn. They do not feature until Sunday so it is left to World Cup finalists Croatia to get things underway. They take on Azerbaijan knowing they have to finish in the top two to be at the party after missing out on a play-off place through the Nations League. Slovakia meet Hungary in a tighter looking other match in the group.
Group G
There are six teams in this group and they are all in action on Thursday evening. Poland are the headline attraction in it and they face a tricky test away to Austria, the team most likely to follow them into the main tournament on paper. Macedonia are an improving bunch and will want to display that against a woeful Latvia while underrated Israel host Slovenia in the other match to get things going.
Group I
This is the group containing Scotland and they will be involved in the first match of the qualifying series when they head east to take on Kazakhstan in their opening game. Belgium are the powerhouse in the group but they face a bit of a test to start their campaign off with when they take on 2018 World Cup hosts Russia. You would think Cyprus and San Marino will be battling for the wooden spoon and they also meet on the first night.
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Betting
I’ll kick the qualifying tournament off with three bets with the first of them coming through the World Cup finalists Croatia who I expect to do a bit of a job on Azerbaijan. To be fair to Azerbaijan they had an alright Nations League campaign but even then they still couldn’t beat Malta in either of their matches and their only wins came over the Faroe Islands. Croatia is a significant step up on that and we kind of got a guide of what to expect here when Kosovo thrashed Azerbaijan 4-0 in the last round of the Nations League. Croatia are missing a few of their World Cup squad through retirements but the eye catching trio of Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic and Ivan Perisic are all in the squad and they can ease the dark horses for the tournament outright off to a comfortable winning start.
When I watched the Nations League, the one thing I took out of the entire competition were how much of a faded force Latvia were and I’m ready to take them on straight away against a Macedonia team who are on the up. Macedonia can relax a little in this campaign knowing they have a play-off spot assured but I expect them to win here and cover a 1.25 goal handicap. All five of Macedonia’s wins in the Nations League were by more than two goals and in Goran Pandev they still have a capable operator at this level. Latvia are really struggling. In the last 12 months they have drawn with the Faroe Islands, Lithuania and twice with Andorra and lost to Gibraltar. They are a poor side and Macedonia, in front of their own fans, can further highlight that.
Tips
Back Croatia (-2.25AH) to beat Azerbaijan for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with BetVictor
WON – Back Macedonia (-1.25AH) to beat Latvia for a 4/10 stake at 2.05 with BetVictor
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