It's been a long time since Scotland were involved in a major finals and their first task in European Championship Group D comprises of a clash with Czech Republic in Glasgow on Monday
Group D Betting Update
England are the favourites to top this quartet at around 4/11 with Croatia next best at 3/1, Czech Republic 11/1 and Scotland are trading at around 14/1. To make it out of the group Czech Rep are roughly even money and Scotland can be backed at around 5/4.
Scotland
In qualifying for these finals Scotland finished third in their group, well behind Belgium and Russia (who both beat the Scots twice) with a record of 5 wins and 5 draws. That set up a home play off with Israel which they came through and then a penalty shoot out victory in Serbia clinched their place in the finals.
Scotland's early World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign began with draws at home to Austria (2-2) and away to Israel (1-1) followed by a 4-0 home win over Faroe Islands.
In a couple of recent warm ups Scotland drew 2-2 with the Netherlands and beat Luxembourg 1-0.
Scotland's odds to win the tournament are around 200/1
Czech Republic
Czech Republic finished as runners up to England in their qualification group with a record of 5 wins and 3 defeats. They lost 5-0 to England at Wembley but a 2-1 home win in the return was their stand out result and all bar their last qualifier saw backers of over 2.5 goals collect.
World Cup 2022 qualifying started with a 5-2 win in Estonia, a 1-1 draw at home to Belgium and a 1-0 defeat in Wales.
The most notable recent friendly matches saw Czech Republic lose 4-0 to Italy and they beat Albania 3-1.
In the outright betting to win the tournament Czech Republic are trading at around 125/1
Recent Head to Head
The teams met twice in 2020 in the Nations League and Scotland won both matches, 2-1 away from home and 1-0 on home turf.
The Betting
Scotland are trading at around 19/10 to win the game with the draw at 19/10 and Czech Republic can be backed at around 17/10
A game of 3 goals or more is priced at 15/10 and it's even money for both teams to score.
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict:
This is Scotland's first major finals since 1998 and with 2 games in Glasgow and a trip to Wembley to face England the squad will be hungry to put on a decent show. Looking at Czech Republic's results they seem like a very capable side on their day but perhaps not the most reliable.
As the match result betting suggests this looks wide open and both sides to find the net is my idea of a bet.
Bets: Both teams to score? (yes) at even money
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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