It’s been a long qualifying campaign but for a number of sides, it’s not quite over yet. The European play-off matches have been given a good going over in a previous article but that still leaves another 9 games to take a look at. Not all are playoff matches, some are still going through the qualification process I’m not going to go through them all. Instead, I’m just going to try to pick out a few good bets for you.
The first game I’m looking at is South Africa v Senegal from Group D in the African qualifying section. Senegal currently sit at the top of Group D with South Africa in the lowest possible spot. It’s quite a drop for a side that hosted a World Cup not that long ago. These two have a history of playing out draws with 3 games ending all square in the last 5. This could well be another game where the points have to be shared. Pinnacle are offering 3.09 on the draw and that does hold some value as I work out anything above 2.8 is good money.
Algeria faces up against Nigeria in Group B and this looks like a very one-sided game. Algeria have never beaten Nigeria in competition and have only managed to scored 3 goals against them, shipping 11 at the same time. Nigeria have a really strong squad as well with players like John Obi Mikel captaining the side, Onazi and Ndidi battling it out for a place alongside him and any combination of Ahmed Musa, Simon Moses, Odion Ighalo or Kelechi Iheanacho in the front line.
With that in mind, a bet on a Nigerian win (currently top of their group) at odds of 3.95 with 888sport looks like a solid option. Their defence is very young though and Algeria will be looking to profit from any youthful mistakes. Zambia v Cameroon is an interesting match. There’s often goals when these two meet and the game is often quite tight. Both Teams To Score has only failed to come in once in their last 5 meetings. The two sides played out a 1-1 draw last November but even with all of that in mind, the bookies have BTTS (No) as the favourite in the betting. I’m always happy to oppose a bookie but neither side have been prolific goalscorers and this is a risky bet. BTTS (Yes) is at evens at top green-listed bookmakers.
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