GREECE v CROATIA
Sunday 12th November 2017 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Football – Europe – World Cup Qualifiers Betting Tips
Greece face a mammoth task of overhauling a 4-1 deficit in this World Cup play-off second leg when they play host to Croatia at their Olympiako Stadio Spyros Louis in Athens on Sunday night, following a heavy defeat in Zagreb on Thursday night.
Despite having home advantage on their side, the Greeks are facing elimination from the World Cup, and the first goal (if scored), will be extremely important on Sunday night. Greece hold a solid record at home in World Cup qualifiers as they’ve lost just once in their last 15 ties played on home soil, the defeat coming against Belgium during the recent Group H matches.
However, delve a little deeper and you’ll find that Greece faced inferior opposition by and large during this 15-match sequence, with two draws against Bosnia-Herzegovina perhaps being their best results.
Onto Croatia, and they have one foot firmly planted in the World Cup finals in Russia next year following their emphatic 4-1 first leg win over Greece, and they just need to avoid a heavy defeat themselves this evening to book their place.
Croatia showed there’s a big gulf in quality between themselves and tonight’s opponents, Greece in the opening leg, and although Sunday’s clash will more than likely be a much tighter affair, the Croatians will undoubtedly have opportunities to hit Greece on the break.
With creative midfielders such as Modric in their ranks who are able to pick a pass at will and forward Kalinic looking to pounce, I can only see one winner in Sunday night’s second leg. Croatia know that to play for a draw would be extremely foolish, but I’ll keep the draw on my side as they don’t need to take any unnecessary risks.
Pick: Croatia AH0 @ 1.56 Marathonbet
