As the curtain came down on the 2014 World Cup, international managers and fans will have immediately turned there attentions to the 2016 European Championships in France. The first round of qualifiers for the tournament are this weekend with Germany looking to assert a Spain-like dominance on international football.
Spain, England, Italy and Netherlands, meanwhile, will look for a new start with either new managers or high profile player retirements, with only the latter being proud of their most recent World Cup campaign.
This article provides tips and insights into the first games on the road to France 2016. With 25 games taking place across nine star-studded groups, we have picked out four of the biggest games to preview and provide tips that we hope will help you fill your pockets.
Monday 8th September 2014
Spain v Macedonia (19:45) – Draw at half time, Spain at full time (5/1 with Coral)
Nobody could have predicted that Spain would crash out of the World Cup after three games and in such a dismal, disappointing manner. The golden Spanish era came to an abrupt end, with the fallout seeing retirement of massive names such as Xavi Hernandez, Xabi Alonso and David Villa. They will open their qualification campaign with a home tie against Macedonia, who don’t have the star names Vincente del Bosque has in abundance. Even their biggest name of recent years, ex-Napoli and Inter Milan forward Goran Pandev, has recently called time on his international career. We can therefore only see a return to winning ways for Spain, which is best priced at 1/20 with Betfred. Due to these odds not being particularly worthwhile we will take a look at other options however.
Perhaps one of the biggest disappointments for La Roja in Brazil was striker Diego Costa. Hailed as the answer to the slight striking problem Spain had which saw them play with a false number nine, the Chelsea striker has failed to score in his first four international games. After starting the season so well with his new club, we are expecting him to break his duck. Costa is a little short in the betting to score first, but he might still be worth a punt.
If you would rather steer away from first goal scorer bets, then it may be worth looking at placing a bet on Spain to win with a handicap. Spain at -2 (to win by three or more) provides much better value at 4/6 with BetVictor than the 1/20 being offered for Spain simply to win. With creative forces such as Andres Iniesta, David Silva and Cesc Fabregas all likely to start, it is expected that Spain will tear through their opponents and inevitably score goals. But after their poor World Cup we fancy they might get off to a slow start and backing the game to be all-square at the break before Spain take command in the second period looks worth taking a risk on at very nice odds.
Switzerland v England (19:45) – Switzerland to Win Draw No Bet (5/6 with Bet365)
Roy Hodgson’s England side return to international football after yet another disappointing international tournament. Wayne Rooney has taken up the captaincy from the retired Steven Gerrard and there have been debut call-ups for three new players. The Swiss looked a tidy and efficient outfit in Brazil, with Xhedran Shaqiri providing creativity. They have changed managers since the World Cup but retain a similar squad to the one that lost to Argentina in the last 16.
Due to the massive holes left in the centre of midfield due to retirements of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, we cannot see a massively positive result in what is likely to be England’s toughest qualifier. But England often find a way of grinding out results when needed in these kind of games (think back to the 0-0 draw away at Ukraine in the World Cup 2014 Qualifiers) so we would recommend backing Switzerland to win (draw no bet) which is priced at 5/6 with Bet365. You would get the same price for England, showing how tight this game may be to call.
Sunday 31st August 2014
Norway v Italy (19:45) – Italy to win (5/6 with Bet365)
Cesare Prandelli’s time as Italy boss ended after his Italy side crashed out in the group stages in limp circumstances in the summer. His replacement, Antonio Conte, surprisingly left Juventus after yet another Serie A win and will be looking to have an immediate positive effect on the national side against a fragile-looking Norway team that hasn’t qualified for a major international tournament since 2000. Much of their hype is around 15-year-old sensational Matin Ødegaard, which perhaps shows how they may struggle again in this qualifying round.
Italy are priced at a market best price of 5/6 in this game with Bet365 which we would say is a dead cert to place in a weekend accumulator. Another good bet from this game is for Italy to win to nil, at 17/10 with Coral, as Conte will be looking for a return to the Italian tradition of being tough to break down. They also come up against a Norwegian side that look goal shy, scoring just three goals in their last five games.
Andorra v Wales (19:45) – Wales -2 in Handicap Market (10/11 with Sky Bet)
Wales start their qualifying campaign with great optimism. Aaron Ramsey is fit again and scoring goals for Arsenal, Gareth Bale continues to impress for Real Madrid whilst Joe Allen has started two of the first three Premier League games for Liverpool and has looked bright. The side they come up against is an Andorra team who have lost their last five games without scoring and who finished with no points in the 2014 World Cup Qualifying campaign.
As the odds for Wales to win are so poor with the best price being 1/10 with Betfred it is better to explore other markets for this one. For example, Wales to score in both halves it 5/7 with some bookmakers. Handicaps may also seem a better way of generating odds worthwhile to put in accumulators, as well as Wales to win to nil – an extremely likely result based upon Andorra’s poor scoring form. Our tip for this game is for Wales to beat a two-goal handicap at very nice odds of 10/11 with Sky Bet.