CROATIA v GREECE
Thursday 9th November 2017 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Football – Europe – World Cup Qualifiers Betting Tips
Croatia head into their World Cup qualifier first leg with home advantage at their Stadion Maksimir in Zagreb with the hosts looking to gain the upper hand on home soil following their unbeaten run on home turf during the group stages.
Croatia finished runners-up to Iceland, in Group I where Croatia were expected to claim the automatic spot to Russia 2018, but instead they now have to play out a two-legged play-off with Greece, Nevertheless, Croatia will be confident they can get a result on Thursday night following wins in the group over Iceland, Ukraine and Kosovo, which were all to nil.
Draws with Turkey and Finland meant they finished just two points behind Iceland, but with an influential midfield consisting of the likes of Modric, Rakitic and Perisic, along with forward Mandzukic up front, they should have too much quality for Greece.
Onto the visitors Greece then, and they nicked the play-off spot in Group H from under the noses of Bosnia-Herzegovina thanks to winning their last two group matches on the trot with victories over Cyprus (away) and a 4-0 home win over Gibraltar.
Greece suffered just one defeat during their World Cup qualification campaign which was a 2-1 defeat at home to group winners, Belgium, and they’ve lost just once in their last 18 World Cup qualifiers overall.
It’s fair to say that Greece have made massive improvements in recent times following their horrific European Championship qualifiers which saw them go nine matches without a win, and included six defeats, but they do tend to draw a lot of matches too.
This leads me to believe they may lack that superior cutting edge when facing the stronger nations, such as Croatia, so I’ll back the home side to keep a clean sheet in this first leg.
Pick: Croatia to win to nil @ 1.80 bwin
