The first four groups of European Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2022 conclude over the course of Sunday on a day where there are three showdowns on the card where winning will guarantee a place in the finals in Qatar.
We are guaranteed a dramatic day of football which begins fairly early in the afternoon and goes right the way through to the evening where the likes of Croatia, Portugal and Spain will be looking for results to secure automatic qualification.
Group A
The equation is rather a simple one in Group A where the focus of attention will be on Lisbon where the current leaders Portugal play host to Serbia in a winner qualifies showdown. Portugal went top with a goalless draw in Dublin on Thursday night and another stalemate here will secure their path to Qatar but were Serbia to win it would be them heading to the tournament. The other match in this group sees Luxembourg and Republic of Ireland concluding their campaigns with just pride and rankings on the line.
Group B
We have the same situation in Group B on Sunday when the leaders Spain look to make it through to the main tournament at the first time of asking. Their win in Greece on Thursday evening sent them to the top of the group and they now know that a draw against Sweden will send them to Qatar. Sweden suffered a costly defeat in Georgia on Thursday night and need to rebound because only a win in Seville will earn them an automatic qualification spot. The other match in the group comes from Athens where Greece and Kosovo round off their campaign.
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Group H
The first group to conclude is Group H where the third of these qualifying showdowns take place. It does so in Split where second placed Croatia will look to seal their spot at another World Cup when they host the leaders Russia. Russia head to Split knowing they only need to avoid defeat to be in Qatar in 12 months. There is nothing competitive in the other two matches as Malta finish off their campaign against Slovakia while Slovenia finish up their qualifying effort with a home match against Cyprus.
Group J
The other group in action on Sunday is Group J and that forms the middle part of the day. Germany have already secured their qualification to Qatar and they conclude their campaign away to Armenia. That leaves the attention on the playoff spot which is in the hands of North Macedonia. If they can pick up a win at home to Iceland they will battle it out for a spot in Qatar. Should they fail to win they will open the door for Romania to barge through. They go to Liechtenstein knowing a win will keep their hopes alive should North Macedonia fail to come out on top against Iceland.
Betting
We are set for a tense day of action in these qualifiers and I’ll approach them with the one bet which comes in the Group B showdown in Seville where Spain and Sweden battle it out for the automatic qualification spot. It is a match where I think there is a little bit of juice in the over 2.5 goals price. The reason for that might be because of the very dour 0-0 draw they played out at Euro 2020 where Sweden didn’t just park a bus but shoved the whole fleet in front of the goal.
They get nothing from doing that here though because they have to win the game and that might well play into the hands of goals here. The first goal in the game is going to have a big impact on proceedings. If Sweden get it then they can park the bus but then it is Spain who will have to throw caution to the wind whereas if Spain here it them Sweden are going to have to open right up. We’ve seen throughout the campaign that there are goals in this Sweden team and that Spain can be got at defensively but if Sweden have to come out and play the technical quality of the Spanish can punish them. I like the over here, particularly as Sweden are better off getting beat 2-1 than draw 1-1 with it equating to the same thing.
Tips
Back Spain vs Sweden – Over 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with Bet365
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