There are four spots in the World Cup left to be taken in the European qualifiers and over the next seven days we will find out who will fill them as the play-offs take place. They begin with the first legs of the first two matches on Thursday evening.
Northern Ireland vs Switzerland
The first leg of the play-off between Northern Ireland and Switzerland takes place in Belfast on Thursday evening with the second leg to come on Sunday evening. I mention the second leg because I wonder just how much these two sides will look ahead to that game while playing this one.
By that I mean will Switzerland want to go back level in the tie and will Northern Ireland be happy heading back level if it means they keep a clean sheet. I don’t see this being a tie with many goals in it and indeed the Northern Ireland coach Michael O’Neill has said his side can’t win a high scoring tie so I’m expecting this to be a tight first leg. If there is an away goal it could be extremely significant.
With that in mind I wonder if Northern Ireland will sit back and look to hit Switzerland with set-pieces here and take their chances of scoring on Sunday. I doubt the Swiss will want to do anything silly so in a match which doesn’t throw up an obvious bet chucking a couple of quid on no goalscorer looks an acceptable play.
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Croatia vs Greece
The other tie to kick off on Thursday evening is the one between Croatia and Greece which will start in Zagreb. On the face of it this could be another tight tie because of the dour nature of the Greek side but there looks to be a class gap in this first leg if not the tie as a whole.
That belongs to Croatia who actually have already played a knockout match in this qualifying campaign. They had to win their final group match just to make it into this play-off and they did so 2-0 in Ukraine which bodes well.
Greece have made it this far and I think we can be fairly sure of their tactics. They will look to remain in the tie so I don’t see them being too adventurous. Croatia won’t want to go to Greece without being in front from this first leg so I fancy them winning to nil at just under evens.
Tips
Back Northern Ireland vs Switzerland – No Goalscorer for a 1/10 stake at 6.50 with Betfred
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Bck Croatia to win to nil for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with BetVictor
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