Another season of the UEFA Nations League gets underway on Thursday night when some of the groups begin on their journey in a competition which we are beginning to see can have a huge impact on the fortunes of many countries.
Nine matches take place in total across the night and one of those includes the defending champions Spain getting their title defence underway. Two home nations are on show as well with Scotland and Northern Ireland in action.
League A
Two groups in League A get started on Thursday night when Group 1 and 4 play their opening match. Group 1 is where Scotland play their first campaign in the top tier and they open up the new season with a home game against Poland at Hampden Park. The other match in the group sees Portugal looking to bounce back from a disappointing Euro 2024 campaign when they host Croatia who themselves failed to impress in that tournament. Group 4 is where the defending champions Spain begin their title defence. That begins with a trip to Serbia. The other match sees Denmark, who have a bit of a point to prove after a poor Euros, hosting Switzerland who very much looked like a side on the up in that tournament.
Leagues C + D
Two groups in League C start out on Thursday night and all eyes will be on Group 1 where a Sweden team who are surely too good for this level open up their campaign with a trip to Azerbaijan. The other match in the group sees Estonia hosting Euro 2024 surprise packages Slovakia. There is also action in Group 3 where Northern Ireland will be under pressure to go well. They start their season at home to Luxembourg while the other match sees Belarus taking on Bulgaria. There is also a match in Group 1 of League D where San Marino host Liechtenstein.
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Betting
Two bets jump out at me on the opening night of the season with the first of those being Portugal to cover a -1 Asian line against a Croatia side who I think we saw the beginning of the end of at the Euros, if we’re not in the middle and getting towards the conclusion of it. That isn’t so much the case with Portugal. Pepe has retired from international football but by and large the important players at the top end of the pitch are very much on show and I just think there will be too much dynamism within them for Croatia to contain. Portugal didn’t have the Euros they would have wanted but they made the last eight before France got the better of them and I think there is enough improvement in them to get the job done here.
Speaking of improvement, one team who are going along much better than they used to be is Bulgaria. They are now unbeaten in six matches and although a lot of those are draws, some of those draws have been against Hungary, Serbia and Romania, three sides who qualified for the Euros with the latter making the knockout stages. Bulgaria take on Belarus which ordinarily might be a tricky trip but this one is on a neutral venue so the Bulgarians don’t even have home advantage going against them here. This is a Belarus side who in the last international break were beaten 4-0 by both Russia and Israel. They haven’t scored a goal in their four matches this year so they look vulnerable to an improving Bulgaria on neutral soil.
Tips
Back Portugal (-1AH) to beat Croatia for a 3/10 stake at 1.92 with Bet365
Back Bulgaria (-0.25AH) to beat Belarus for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with Bet365
