Qatar World Cup 2022 European Qualifiers: Banker of The Week (Archive)
Austria vs. Israel might not sound like the best of matchups in this week’s International games but when it’s a must-win game for either team we have to get involved. There are not many teams that have to win but Israel is one of them. The best sportsbooks have opened up Austria as the favorites coming in at -135, whilst the visiting nation is a massive +425. Is this too big for a team that has to win?
Austria vs. Israel
Friday, November 12, 2021 – 02:45 PM EST at Wörthersee Stadion
Austria Have Nothing Only Pride To Play For
The home nation cannot qualify for the World Cup as they are seven points adrift of Scotland and only have a maximum of six points that they can pick up in their remaining games. Austria’s 1-0 loss to Denmark last time out was their nail in the coffin that solidified their nonappearance in the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
It’s been a disappointing campaign all around for the Austrians, who most likely would have thought they would be in the mix for the playoff spot. Being officially knocked out of the World Cup with two games remaining in the group will be a disappointment for the home nation. Austria’s only two wins in recent games have come against the Faroe Islands and Moldova, beating both teams 2-0.
Last time these two teams met was on the 4th of September when Israel was the home team. They came away with a massive 5-2 win. Let’s be honest here, this is the game which Austria can look back on and say their World Cup dream was over, but they also didn’t deserve to make it to Qatar as Denmark and Scotland have been much better than them.
Israel has been even better than Austria, although the visiting team has been very inconsistent as of late. So Austria is a massive favorite on home soil, it’s a revenge game for them and they are also playing for “pride”. How much these two factors will weigh in on the game? Time will tell.
Israel Can Still Make The World Cup…. Just About
Israel can still qualify for the World Cup but things are looking bleak as they would need to secure victory against Austria in this game and beat the Faroe Islands in their next game, and even if they manage to achieve both these results, it all goes out the window if Scotland manages to beat Moldova, which they are most likely going to do as they are -500 to win that game, and that’s away from home.
It seems the team from the middle east is most likely going to be hoping for a win in vain. But who knows? Stranger things have happened. If Scotland only manages a draw to Moldova, then it will come down to the final game of the campaign in the nettle for second.
This is all if’s and but’s and Israel did only manage to pick up a total of 1 point from a possible 12 against the top two teams in the group, Denmark, and Scotland. This means they arguably don’t deserve to finish in a playoff position.
World Cup Qualifiers Banker Pick
We have a team who is playing for pride and a team who must win but realistically know their World Cup Journey is most likely coming to an end after this game as they will be fully expecting Scotland to beat Moldova.
This game screams goals to us and when we take a look at the goals stats, we can see that Israel has seen all four of their away games go over 2.5 goals with an average of 4.8 goals per game. Austria has seen two of their three home games go over 2.5 goals and a match average of 3 goals per game.
As we already discussed there were seven goals scored in the first game between these two teams and although we don’t suspect we will see seven goals here, we love the value to be had on taking the over 2.5 goals here at -120 with BetOnline.
Get on this soccer pick as soon as possible as the European Qualifiers’ odds opened up at +105 for over 2.5 goals and are getting shorter and shorter by the day. We expect this game to drop to at least -135 for over 2.5 goals here. Both teams can score for fun but are very lackluster at the back.
There could also be some amazing value to be had on Austria’s, Marko Arnautovic, and Israel’s Erin Zahavi to score in a combo at +650. Zahavi has scored 8 goals in 8 games this qualifying campaign and Arnautovic is returning to the squad for this game having sat out the previous two fixtures, he has scored 2 goals in 3 games this campaign.
We expect this game to go something like 2-2, so plenty of opportunities for the pair to find the back of the net.
Soccer Pick: Over 2.5 Goals (-120) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.