World Cup Final places will be confirmed on Tuesday when our focus is on the Czech Republic v Denmark and Bosnia & Herzegovina v Italy play-off match ups.
Czech Republic v Denmark
Czech Republic moved a step closer to the World Cup finals after holding their nerve in a penalty shoot win over the Republic of Ireland on Thursday of last week. It wasn’t looking good when they were 2-0 down after 23 minutes but Patrik Schick halved the deficit from the penalty spot on 27 minutes, and it remained 2-1 until the 86th minute when captain Ladislav Krejci found the equalizer and it finished 2-2.
In their qualifying group Czech Republic won 5, drew 1 and lost 2 of their qualifiers to finish as runners up to Croatia with Faroe Islands and Montenegro next best and Gibraltar never got in a blow. They were unbeaten at home at home with 3 wins and a 0-0 draw with Croatia whilst their 2 defeats came in Croatia and also in the Faroe Islands.
Denmark’s play off semi final clash at home to North Macedonia turned a one-sided affair. After a goalless first half Damsgaard opened the scoring, a quick brace from Isaksen stretched the advantage before Nørgaard completed the scoring with the Danes winning 4-0 on the night.
In their qualifying group Denmark finished as runners up to Scotland, winning 3, drawing 2 and losing 1 to finish ahead of Greece and Belarus were a distant fourth.
Bosnia & Herzegovina v Italy
Bosnia took on Wales in Cardiff in last week’s play off semi final which was settled by a penalty shoot-out. After a goalless first half Bosnia fell behind on 51 minutes, but a late rally brought an 86th minute equalizer from Edin Dzeko. Extra time failed to produce a winner and Bosnia came through on spot kicks.
Bosnia won 5, drew 2 and lost 1 of their qualifiers to finish as runners up to Austria. Romania and Cyprus came in third and fourth and San Marino were rock bottom. They won their first 4 games but the 2 clashes with Austria saw Bosnia earn just the 1 point and they had to settle for the runners up spot. A 1-1 draw in Austria was arguably their stand-out result away from home.
Italy ended Northen Ireland’s hopes in the play off semi finals with a 2-0 win in Bergamo. It was far from convincing with NI giving as good as they got for large parts of the game but Tonali found the breakthrough early in the second half and as the visitors chased the game Moise Kean sealed victory on 80 minutes.
Although they won 6 and lost 2 of their 8 qualifying group matches Italy finished as runners to Norway who boasted a 100% record. Israel were third with Estonia and Moldova making up the numbers. Heavy defeats to Norway, 3-0 away and 4-1 at home took the gloss off their campaign and leaves them running the gauntlet of the play offs with the winner here facing either Wales or Bosnia & Herzegovina in the play-off finals.
Tuesday’s Bets:
I fancy we can see goals in both matches but not a bucket load and I’m going to chance my arm with a 2-3 goals in total (regulation time) double.
Bet: Multi goal double, 2-3 in both matches at around 3/1
Note, odds are subject to change
