F365 World Cup qualifying treble: Wales, Scotland and England all in action
- Andy Morgan
- 9 October 2021
World Cup qualifiers return this weekend but it’s hard to get too excited looking at the fixture list, despite Wales, Scotland and England all being in action.
Another meeting with Israel for Scotland, a trip to 134th-ranked Andorra for England and a tie that matters little for Wales don't exactly set the pulses racing this weekend.
However, you can up the excitement level a notch at least with this Planet Sport Bet-boosted treble.
Here, our friends at F365 take you through their selections.
Injuries could keep Wales in Czech
With Gareth Bale, Ben Davies and David Brooks all injured, Rob Page's side will be significantly weakened against the Czech Republic, so much so that a low-scoring game seems inevitable.
Bale has had 41% of all of Wales' shots in World Cup qualifying so far, while the Welsh have also kept three clean sheets in their last four games against the Czechs. Meanwhile, the Czech Republic have only scored three goals in their last four games in all competitions.
Despite all of this, the game doesn't really matter for Wales due to how the Nations League and, in particular, the World Cup play-offs work. The play-offs are set to be played in March in a confusing two-round format based on seedings. They can be reached either by finishing as runner-up in a World Cup qualifying group or by being one of the two top-ranked Nations League group winners who did not finish in the top two in their group. The ranking is determined by points won and the Nations League division in which they played.
All of this means that Wales are pretty much guaranteed a place by winning group B4 with an impressive 16 points (Wales hugely benefited from being in the second tier).
Conversely, it is unlikely the Czech Republic will qualify for the play-offs through the Nations League despite topping group B2. This is because Austria, winners of group B1, are ranked higher than them and are unlikely to finish in the top two of their World Cup qualifying group.
Ultimately, therefore, this game is more important for the Czechs. As they are at home and have the in-form Patrik Schick in their ranks - he has scored six times for Bayer Leverkusen in seven Bundesliga games - a narrow low-scoring win for the hosts seems likely.
Scotland may settle for draw
The group containing Wales is certainly the most complicated when it comes to World Cup qualification through the Nations League.
Scotland and Israel are separated by just one point in theirs, but Denmark are highly likely to top it after a perfect start which has seen them open up a seven-point gap over the second-placed Scots. It leaves Scotland and Israel already battling it out for a runners-up spot and a place in the play-offs where three of the 12 qualifiers will make it through to Qatar.
The Scots were unlucky to finish bottom of their group at Euro 2020 but have recovered well, winning 1-0 in Austria in September. They also drew 1-1 in Israel so will be expecting at least a point when hosting the same opposition on Saturday.
Betting: Back the draw at 12/5
England set to experiment against weak Andorra
It's hardly a problem against Andorra, but it is noteworthy that the likes of Harry Kane, Jadon Sancho, Raheem Sterling, Mason Mount, Kalvin Phillips and Harry Maguire are all either injured or struggling right now. This may see Gareth Southgate experiment with some more of his fringe players in a game that the Three Lions should win at a canter.
England beat Andorra 4-0 last month, having enjoyed 89% possession, outshooting their opponents 20 to one. Jesse Lingard, Patrick Bamford and Bukayo Saka all started in attack that day and could do so again.
The desire to experiment, however, suggests game-time here for the likes of Fikayo Tomori (who is currently playing very well at AC Milan), Tammy Abraham (who is in great form under Jose Mourinho at AS Roma) and Phil Foden. The chance to see these players play for England is the probably the only reason to watch as regardless of the line-up, this will be little more than a training-ground exercise.
