Twenty three of the 32 World Cup finalists are known now and next month’s qualifiers from UEFA will see four more of those spots filled. November will also bring about the close of the qualification campaign from Africa and then there are also intercontinental ties to be contested as well from other Confederations. Three notable names that will not be attending the tournament next summer are the USA, African champions Cameroon and the Netherlands.
In World Cup 2018 outright winner odds following the bulk of the qualification process having been completed, France are the ones who have received some pretty strong backing. They are in at a price of 5/1 with Ladbrokes now to go and claim the trophy next summer, which puts them at level standing with the reigning world champions Germany who will be out to defend their title. England, after a thoroughly underwhelming qualification campaign, are at 20/1 the same price as Italy who haven’t even qualified yet.
Brazil, who made light work of qualifying from CONMEBOL, the toughest qualification zone in the world, are not far behind the two of them at a price of 6/1 with Spain at 7/1 just beyond them. The only other nation to be under double figures in World Cup 2018 betting at the time of writing is Argentina. Despite only booking qualification on the final match day of their campaign, inspired by Lionel Messi and with time for new coach Jorg Sampaoli to get them going, the Albiceleste have taken the fancy of punters.
European Qualifiers Play Off Draw
The play off round of qualifying from UEFA has been made and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland both know what lies ahead for the times which will be played November 9th and 14th. The seeded teams were Denmark, Switzerland, Italy and Croatia.
Northern Ireland v Switzerland
Despite such a great qualification campaign, Northern Ireland weren’t ranked high enough to be one of the four seeded teams in the draw. After finishing second in their qualification group behind Germany, the Irish start at Windsor Park in this tie with Switzerland and this is not an easy tie for them. Switzerland won nine of their ten qualification games and only dropped into second place with a defeat against Portugal in their final match, which was a blow for them. Northern Ireland will have seen the Swiss lose a friendly against the Republic of Ireland last year. The Irish are 2/1 underdogs To Qualify at Ladbrokes, with the Swiss in at 4/11.
Croatia v Greece
Croatia couldn’t muscle their way to top spot in Group I of qualification, with the underdogs Iceland coming through to win the group. Croatia got a telling win in their final qualification match against the Ukraine to book the second spot and get into the play offs. Greece had their struggles in Group H where they finished runners up to the powerful Belgian side, who they weren’t even close to catching. The question in this one will be whether or not the Greeks will be able to produce the goals against a very solid Croatian defence? Croatia are 4/11 at Ladbrokes To Qualify, leaving Greece as 2/1 underdogs.
Denmark v Republic of Ireland
It is going to be important for the Irish not to concede out in Denmark in the first leg. The Irish were another of the spies who only booked qualification in their final group stage match. They went to Wales and edged a necessary victory to get through and at the same time deny the Welsh a top-two finish. Denmark finished second in their group, five points back of Poland and despite a win over the Polish in the campaign, they don’t look a tremendous threat. This is probably going to be the tightest of the play off ties and the gritty Irish who are even money at Ladbrokes To Qualify with the Danes in at 8/11.
Sweden v Italy
This is the high profile clash and everyone else in the play offs will have been happy to avoid either of these. The Swedes are part of the reason why the Netherlands won’t be at the World Cup as the Swedes took second place in their group behind France. Italy couldn’t make it through automatically because of having had to deal with Spain in their group, the Azzurri suffering a crucial away defeat against the Spaniards and slipping to a draw against Macedonia. That was the only thing splitting the two nations in the group as Spain dropped just two points in a draw in Italy. The Italians do look the stronger of the two squads though and they are 2/5 at Ladbrokes To Qualify with the Swedes at 7/4.
