Another international break is back and the action in midweek sees Iceland taking on the Czech Republic. After their heroics at Euro 2016, Iceland made a bit of history by becoming the smallest nation ever to qualify for a World Cup after their successful campaign in the Russia 2018 qualifiers. They topped their group and have some planning to do for next summer. The Czech Republic not so much as they finished third behind Germany and Northern Ireland in their group. Iceland are 13/8 to take this friendly win, with Czechs at 19/10.
Friendly Match – Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha – Wednesday 8th November – 14:45 UK Time
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Draw Best Odd of: 11/5 at Skybet |
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Iceland
Czech RepublicIceland Form
Iceland are pretty much the epitome of team spirit. They qualified from their group with a W7 D1 L2 record to make it to Russia 2018, beating out the likes of Croatia and the Ukraine. So they are on song and this is a little tour out in Doha, Qatar that they are on and after facing the Czech Republic, they’ll meet Qatar on November 14th. Iceland are W7 L3 in their ten games played during the 2017 calendar year. Their only serious competitive defeat happened in a 1-0 loss at Finland back in September. But they recovered well with a three-match winning streak and they have actually conceded just one goal in their last six games.
Czech Republic Form
So it was an unsuccessful campaign from the Czech Republic in trying to get to the World Cup next summer. They posted a W4 D3 L3 record in their group, finishing third behind Northern Ireland and Germany. During the 2017 calendar year, they have produced a poor W4 D1 L3 record and their wins have only been against lower ranked opposition as well, namely Lithuania, San Marino (twice) and Azerbaijan in that sequence. They have struggled against decent opposition and that may make them vulnerable in this one. Will they be able to break the resilient Icelanders?
Head to Head News
These two nations were last together in the Euro 2016 qualifiers and they each earned a home win on that occasion. Those are just two of five overall meetings between the two nations and from those five previous games the Czech Republic are 3-2 ahead. Both teams have scored in all but one of those previous meetings.
Top Betting Tips
The Czech Republic are certainly not a major force and although they hit the back of the net frequently and edge the previous head to head, Iceland are brilliant and keeping the opposition at bay and nicking important goals. Look for a low scoring game, but Iceland to take it by a one-goal margin. There is also a coverage of a good 4/5 price on an Iceland draw no bet.