The European qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup begin on Wednesday evening when the first five groups embark on their journey to what the teams involved will hope ends in Qatar in around 21 months from now.
England fans have to wait until Thursday to see their side in action for the first time but Republic of Ireland and Wales fans see their nation in play on Wednesday. They are part of a card which involves heavyweights such as Portugal, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Group A
Portugal will be expected to dominate Group A of the competition and they have a chance to lay a bit of a marker down on Wednesday evening when they host one of the minnows in Azerbaijan. The other match sees two sides who suffered the ultimate heartache when it came to qualifying for Euro 2020 meeting when Serbia take on Republic of Ireland. Both teams will know Portugal is to come so they will not want to begin with a loss here.
Group D
France are the headline attraction in Group D of qualifying. The defending champions begin their title defence with an awkward little contest against a Ukraine side who have been going well in recent times. That is the biggest of the two matches in this section on Wednesday evening but an improving Finland side are also in action. The Scandinavians, who will be competing in Euro 2020 in the summer, play host to Bosnia and Herzegovina in another competitive looking match.
Group E
Belgium are the top ranked side in Group E of the qualifying competition and they start their campaign on the opening night of action when they take on regular rivals Wales in the pick of the matches possibly across the whole evening. The other match sees Czech Republic looking to qualify for a second major tournament in succession having qualified for the Euros later in the year. They start out in Tallinn against an Estonia side who should be overmatched here.
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Group G
The Netherlands are the big cheese in Group G of the competition and having qualified for Euro 2020 later in the year they will be looking to begin World Cup qualifying in a similar vein. They travel to Turkey in an awkward little match in the only early kick off on the day. Norway are the team who are fast improving in this group and they look to have a bit of a penalty kick to start with when they go to Gibraltar. The other match in this section sees Latvia hosting a Montenegro side who were disappointing in Euro 2020 qualifying but who have achieved Nations League promotion since then.
Group H
Group H looks to be a showdown between the beaten 2018 finalists Croatia and the hosts of that tournament Russia and both are in action in the opening night of qualifying. Russia look to have the easier assignment of the two when they face Malta away from home. Croatia are also away from home. They take on a Slovenia side who will be looking to qualify for another major tournament. Slovakia have a Euro 2020 campaign to look forward to later in the year but before then they start World Cup qualifying with a trip to Cyprus.
Betting
There are a lot of skinny favourites on Wednesday evening but I’m not sure too many of them offer too much in the way of value but I’m not all that keen on taking them on. Thankfully there is a lot of international football over the next week or so which means that we do not need to push the boat out and take anything that we don’t happen to fancy. That all means that I’ll kick off the World Cup qualifiers with the one bet.
That comes in the form of Montenegro who I believe are improving enough to take care of a Latvia side who have been ordinary for far too long now. Montenegro won their Nations League group which was in a league above the one which Latvia stunk the place out in and that is probably the best form guide we can use given that those matches were earlier this season. I always think Montenegro are a danger when Stevan Jovetic is around because they are pretty tight at the back. He is in the squad for these matches and can be the difference in this one.
Tips
WON – Back Montenegro to beat Latvia for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
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