2018 World Cup Qualifying Odds and Preview
Published September 5, 2016 by Sol FH
Spotlight on Israel vs Italy and Ukraine vs Iceland all tonight at 19:45 GMT with live in play odds throughout the matches.
Tonight will begin another round of the World Cup Qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. For some teams, the road to the World Cup will be much easier than for others, but there are always a few upsets along the way. Tonight, we focus on two matches that could very well end in favor of the underdogs and punters could also capitalize on the odds prior too, and during the games.
Israel vs Italy
Israel is set to host Italy in Haifa tonight with a sold out stadium. Some 30,000+ fans will be there to see if their team can pull off an incredible upset against the Italians and Captain Eran Zehavi thinks it's more than a possibility. They haven't made it to the tournament since 1970, but this is arguably the best team that Israel has ever had. Problem is, Group G also includes Spain in addition to the Azzurri. Group G also features Albania, Macedonia and Liechtenstein.
Zahavi, who broke the record for goals in the Israeli Premier League last season, began a new career in China, where is is among the top scorers therein. He is now scored 6 goals in 8 appearances in the Chinese Super League and hopes that his team will be able to beat, or at least draw with the Italians. Italy lost to France in a friendly match on Thursday night 1-3 and they didn't look like they were in top form.
Odds are in favor of Italy with bet365 Sports posting outright odds at 1.66, while Israel has some catching up to do at 6.00 and a draw is at 3.80.
Ukraine vs Iceland
Tonight will be the debut of the Ukraine's new Head Coach and former star Andriy Shevchenko. Taking over the team after a terrible Euro left Ukraine ousted after they lost all three of their matches to Germany, Poland and N. Ireland respectively. Iceland however are coming off of the best Euro that they could've hoped for after beating England 2-1 in the Round of 16. Even though they were eliminated by France in the quarterfinals, Iceland, the tiny country is finally being taken seriously.
Expect Iceland to win a tough match 1-2 tonight. bet365 has posted huge odds against Iceland at 5.00, while Ukraine are huge favorites at 1.85.
