Reporting from Bet Chat HQ, Northern Ireland…
“It’s Liverpool Man United next weekend, isn’t it?”
“No, that’s the weekend after. We have an international break first”
“Oh, for ****s sake”
That was the start of a conversation I had in a pub on Sunday, and I can say with absolute certainty that similar sentiments were echoed up and down the land.
Whether it’s flags, the Middle East, pronouns or lord knows what else, we’re a highly divided nation at the moment, but there is one thing on which we can all agree… early-season international breaks are the absolute worst.
And yet…
Of course, Bet Chat long-termers will know full well what’s coming next… the one bright spot of these dreaded fortnights…
My international accas!
I’ve given out winners galore down the years, including a couple of my most recent selections, and will again be getting stuck in.
Here’s the bet:
Finland to beat Lithuania (Thurs 5pm)
Probably the riskiest of this set of selections, so it’s not ideal that it’s the first game up, but we are where we are.
Finland are still in with a shout of qualification (Lithuania are not), and so this game is an absolute must-win for the hosts. They’ve already picked up a good home win against Poland in this group and, although they only drew in Lithuania, they did go 2-0 up in that one, and can consider themselves unfortunate, posting an xG of 2.00, compared to the Lithuanian’s 0.49.
Austria to beat San Marino (Thurs 7:45pm)
Lads, it’s San Marino.
Denmark to beat Belarus (Thurs 7:45pm)
Belarus lost their last home game 2-0 to Scotland.
Netherlands to beat Malta (Thurs 7:45pm)
The Netherlands aren’t home and hosed in the group yet. Malta are Malta.
Kazakhstan to beat Liechtenstein (Fri 5pm)
While Kazakhstan aren’t great, they’re a level above Liechtenstein (you may recall that a Kazakh team knocked Celtic out of the Champions League last month). The Kazakhs won 2-0 in Liechtenstein and completely dominated the match.
Belgium to beat North Macedonia (Fri 7:45pm)
Belgium are actually second in their group so really need a win here. Similar to Finland, they drew in the away version of this match but dominated.
France to beat Azerbaijan (Fri 7:45pm)
It’s early days in this group, so there’s no reason for any mad upsets.
Germany to beat Luxembourg (Fri 7:45pm)
The Germans can’t afford any more slip-ups, having lost in Slovakia during the last international break.
Hungary to beat Armenia (Sat 5pm)
Hungary have been quite good for a while now and should be a cut above with home advantage in this one.
Norway to beat Israel (Sat 5pm)
The Norwegians are on the brink of qualification for their first World Cup in donkeys, and Haaland is on fire.
Italy to beat Estonia (Sat 7:45pm)
If the Italians are to have any chance at all of catching Norway, they must win this one.
Portugal to beat Republic of Ireland (Sat 7:45pm)
The Irish continue to be dreadful (lost in Armenia last time), while Portugal continue to be Portugal.
Spain to beat Georgia (Sat 7:45pm)
Another group in its early stages and another much better team with home advantage.
The best price you’ll currently get for that lot is about 5/1 with Coral and Ladbrokes, but you may be able to achieve better with some form of boosted odds promotion, so do shop around.
You may think that the above looks like a lot of teams for not a huge price, but we’re not dealing with domestic football here – in international qualifying, there are a LOT of nailed-on winners.
For me, the secret is in identifying and avoiding the susceptible favourites, and so fingers crossed I’ve managed that once again.
In any case, it should at least (please don’t let us down in game one, Finland) provide some entertainment.
Good luck!
