WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS: The Ultra previews the World Cup Qualifiers as the next International Break begins on Thursday with the focus on Kazakhstan v Wales and Luxembourg v Northern Ireland both with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
KAZAKHSTAN V WALES
3pm: It feels like the domestic season has only just returned, but the first International Break of the 2025/26 rolls around quickly on Betdaq Betting Exchange. We’ve only had two matchdays in Serie A and the Bundesliga, and I have to say this International Break comes far too quickly in the season. Despite only two matchdays, it didn’t stop Bayer Leverkusen sacking Erik ten Hag though! Nevertheless, the World Cup Qualifiers are back and we’ll have three International Breaks coming up thick and fast now. We have Matchday 5 and 6 over the next few days – then Matchday 7 and 8 in one month time followed by Matchday 9 and 10 another month after that. It definitely makes the domestic season feel stop-start for the first three months – it’s hard for sides to build up too much momentum with that schedule but here we are. We kick things off with Kazakhstan hosting Wales in Group J. This is a massive game for Wales who find themselves in second place behind North Macedonia – everyone is expecting Belgium to top this Group so that second place is going to be the target for Wales and getting into the playoffs.
By the looks of things, they are going to face some stiff competition from North Macedonia who are one point ahead of them after both sides have played four games. They even took points off Belgium with a 1-1 draw. This is a game that Wales will be expected to win but Kazakhstan have improved a lot in recent years, however that could have ran its course now. They come into World Cup qualifying after a woeful Nations League campaign that saw them relegated from a B Group – in 2022/23 they topped a C Group so perhaps that gulf in class is just too big and they might jump up-and-down between Groups like Wales do with A and B to be honest! Wales come into the game as the odds on favourites at 1.62 with Kazakhstan 7.2 and the draw is 4.1 at the time of writing. I feel this will be a very competitive game, and while Kazakhstan might not be firing at the moment, I still feel the 1.62 is a little short on Wales who have struggled to score goals in recent years. They didn’t have that problem when the sides met in March 2025 however; so I’m going to keep stakes small here but I like a small lay on Wales from a value point of view.
The Ultra Says:
One point lay (liability) Wales to beat Kazakhstan at 1.62 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/KazWal
LUXEMBOURG V NORTHERN IRELAND
7.45pm Next we move over to Group A to finish Thursday. The World Cup Qualifiers have been broken up quite a bit with the Nations League playoffs and Finals, which means we are only starting Group A while other Groups have already had four matches. There’s only four sides in Group A, and Germany will be fully expected to top it. Luxembourg will be expected to finish bottom, so that leaves a battle for second place between Slovakia and Northern Ireland. It’s fair to say that Slovakia will be the favourites in that battle, but Northern Ireland will fancy their chances! From that point of view, they simple cannot afford to drop points against Luxembourg – it’s not dramatic to call this a must win game for Northern Ireland. Of course, we have some very recent history between the sides as they were in the same Nations League Group. Northern Ireland topped a C Group and Luxembourg finished last. When the sides met here, they drew 2-2 so perhaps that explains why Northern Ireland don’t come into this game as the odds on favourites. Northern Ireland are trading 2.3 with Luxembourg 4.2 and the draw is 3.0 at the time of writing.
Northern Ireland won 2-0 when they had home advantage earlier in the Nations League, and in generally they have a lot more quality in their squad compared to Luxembourg. Although the sides had four goals between them when they met here, those goals came from a pretty low xG! Luxembourg scored twice from an xG of 0.63, and Northern Ireland can feel unlucky in that game given they were 2-0 up. I’d lean towards a tight game here – I can see Luxembourg approaching this game quite negatively and Northern Ireland will have to make the running. Something which they don’t have to do that often to be honest. The market is expecting a quiet game with Under 2.5 goals trading as low as 1.42 – there’s no value there in my opinion. Again this is a game that I want to keep stakes low, and on balance the value bet is Northern Ireland at 2.3. We’ve seen these sides enough recently to feel Northern Ireland are the better side, and I’d have them marginally shorter than the current 2.3.
The Ultra Says:
One point win Northern Ireland to beat Luxembourg at 2.3 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/LuxNir
