NATIONS LEAGUE: The Ultra previews Thursday’s Nations League games between FRANCE v AUSTRIA and BELGIUM v WALES both with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
FRANCE V AUSTRIA
7.45pm We have a cracking night of Nations League action on Thursday! I know most football fans don’t enjoy International breaks, but we have two huge games on BETDAQ Betting Exchange here. Most UK eyes will be on Belgium v Wales, but we start the evening with a massive game in Group A1. At the moment, we have a very surprising situation in the Group with France sitting in last. They are without a win in their four games, and they are already seven points behind Denmark at the top. Obviously not finishing top in this Group is disappointing, but to get relegated would be highly embarrassing. Although they won the Nations League in 2020/21, at the end of the day not finishing top is no big deal for France, but they must avoid relegation – especially in a World Cup year for morale and pressure on the manager with team selection. To do that, they simply have to win this game. Austria are only two points ahead of them, and France are away to Denmark in the final Group game. What can you say about the French performances only that they were very poor, but they’ve had a good break now and those four games did come at the end of last season when most of their players had a tough year.
France come into the game as hot favourites, however at 1.4 you won’t find many football punters lumping on. Given their performance level so far in this Nations League, I wouldn’t be including them in any Acca this evening! Ralf Rangnick will set up Austria very well – we know that from his time in the Premier League – the way he spoke rather than what that Manchester United squad did! I would expect to see very negative tactics for Austria here, a draw for them would be a great result and leave France sitting bottom, don’t forget Austria have home advantage for their final Group game too. France will be without Benzema and Pogba, and although they might grind out a win here I don’t see them hammering Austria. For the most part, we have had very tight games in this Group and I would expect similar here – Under 2.5 goals looks nice value at 2.14 in my opinion. Given the shape of both these teams I would actually have the odds in the Under/Over market the other way around, especially given the likely negative tactics from Austria and France have been struggling to create chances lately too.
The Ultra Says:
Two points win Under 2.5 goals at 2.14 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/FraAus
BELGIUM V WALES
7.45pm All eyes are on Group A4 next as Belgium host Wales. We have another fascinating situation in this Group – at the moment the Netherlands are three points ahead of Belgium after Belgium lost 4-1 with home advantage in the first Group game. Belgium must play their final Group game away to the Netherlands too. At the bottom, Wales are in a terrible position with just one point from their four games and they are three points behind Poland too. That’s clearly a terrible position because they are odds on to get relegated, but they do play Poland with home advantage in the final Group game and Poland also have to play the Netherlands as well. So there is a little hope for Wales, but things really have to work out. They can take a step forward with a result here, but it’s very hard to see past Belgium. The market is confident on a Belgium win too with the home side trading 1.43 at the time of writing. Wales are clearly a little out of their depth in the A Groups, but at the same time they were levels above the likes of Republic of Ireland when they were in the B Groups – they might yo-yo up and down for a few seasons to be honest. They did manage to grind out a 1-1 draw when they had home advantage against Belgium which is a good sign for this fixture, but Belgium are usually different gravy in qualifying – it’s when they reach the major tournament that things start to go wrong.
I’ve said this before but the Nations League is really a competition that Belgium should be targeting. They clearly have issues performing in the major tournaments, but to not win anything with this squad would be a great shame. It’s hard to see them ever having a better squad than the one they have now; and the Nations League could be something they could win! The one thing you could say about this Nations League campaign for Wales is that they were a little unfortunate with the World Cup Playoffs running at the same time – clearly they were going to focus all their energy on that game against Ukraine, and it was easy to take their eye off the ball in this competition. It will be interesting to see their performance level here in that sense, but I expect they will be building to the World Cup. I feel this is a game for small stakes – Belgium look well priced at 1.43, I wouldn’t want to be against them but it’s hard to make a strong case that they should be shorter. Both sides have had a lot of goals in their Nations League games this season, and although Wales might play for a draw here I can see Belgium opening up the game – they have to win of course to catch the Netherlands, and Over 2.5 goals at 1.85 is worth a small investment.
The Ultra Says:
One point win Over 2.5 goals at 1.85 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/BelWal
