WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS: Our football tipster The Ultra previews Thursday’s World Cup Qualifiers including Wales v Austria all with a recommended BETDAQ bet.

ITALY V NORTH MACEDONIA

7.45pm It already feels like a massive gap without football since Sunday, but we have World Cup Qualifiers to enjoy on BETDAQ Betting Exchange! on Thursday. We have four games instead of six with FIFA kicking Russia out and then Ukraine understandably asking for more time to fulfil their fixture against Scotland. The Playoffs are always a dramatic time, and there’s no doubt we will have some amazing scenes at some point tonight. We start the evening with Italy hosting North Macedonia in a game that the home side should win. The markets agree with Italy trading as short as 1.2 at the time of writing. North Macedonia did very well to finished second in a Group with Germany in it, but as we saw at Euro 2020 they are very likely to come up short at this level. They didn’t manage a single point at the Group stage of Euro 2020 with Netherlands, Austria and Ukraine but you have to give them credit – getting to Euro 2020 and then getting to the Playoffs here is a massive improvement. In that sense, they are unfortunate to bump into Italy but they are always going to be up against it at this stage of qualification.

International football is remarkable at times. Italy play some superb football to win Euro 2020, and then can’t top their Group in the World Cup Qualifiers! Switzerland beat them to that, and that was down to Italy only drawing at home to Bulgaria and then away to Northern Ireland in the final matchday. They also drew with Switzerland twice, but those games were always going to be reasonably close and it was their draws against the smaller sides that let them down. That might give North Macedonia some hope, but based on everything we know about them this should be an easy win for Italy. North Macedonia will put XI men behind the ball here, and even when/if they go 1-0 down I can’t see them changing tactics then either. With Italy so short in the match odds market, we do have to look towards the goals market for value here and under 2.5 goals is a nice option at 2.23. While the market is expecting plenty of goals from Italy, I can see them having to grind out a 1-0 or 2-0 win.

The Ultra Says:
Two points win Under 2.5 goals at 2.23 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.

You can view all markets here -> https://bit.ly/BDQItaMac

PORTUGAL V TURKEY

7.45pm Next we have Portugal hosting Turkey and we have another big home favourite here as Portugal are trading 1.39 at the time of writing. Not quite as short as Italy against North Macedonia, but fully expected to win nonetheless. Turkey did well to finish second in a Group with the Netherlands in it – realistically it was the best outcome they could have hoped for and they held off Norway nicely. Portugal were very disappointing in their Group and they have no excuses to be honest. They should have easily won their Group with Serbia, Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan in it. Everything was going smoothly until the last International break when Portugal could only draw 0-0 away to Ireland and then lost 2-1 to Serbia with home advantage on the final matchday. Portugal were actually going through until a 90th minute winner from Serbia and we saw some incredible scenes. To be honest, Portugal should have closed the door against Ireland but they left it open with only a 0-0 draw. They should win here and qualify, but there’s something missing with this Portugal side and I wouldn’t fully trust them. I certainly wouldn’t put them in a BETDAQ Multiple tonight.

Turkey actually managed a 4-2 win over Netherlands in their qualifying Group, although they did have home advantage, and then they lost their away game in Netherlands 6-1. Turkey’s games were highly entertaining and usually packed with goals so it will be interesting to see what kind of tactics they go into this game with. Portugal have been a very cagey side in recent times, usually focusing on being solid at the back and keeping games tight. They huffed and puffed a little against the Republic of Ireland, and Turkey could benefit from sitting back here. Whether or not they employ those tactics is debatable, but I feel we could have a very cagey game here. I’m going to only have one point because of the slightly different styles of play, but under 2.5 goals looks the value here at 2.04. Portugal will likely grind out a 1-0 win in my opinion, but I wouldn’t be fully surprised to even see a 0-0 draw.

The Ultra Says:
One point win Under 2.5 goals at 2.04 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.

You can view all markets here -> https://bit.ly/BDQPorTur

SWEDEN V CZECH REPUBLIC

7.45pm Next we have Sweden taking on Czech Republic and we have two reasonably open markets to finish the night. We have an extremely open market as Wales host Austria, but we do have a decent favourite here in the shape of Sweden. They are still trading odds against though, which is a very different market to Italy and Portugal! This should be a cracking game, but Czech Republic will be delighted to be here after only managed third in their qualifying Group. They managed to top their Nations League Group and that’s obviously become very important. Sweden finished second in a Group with Spain in qualifying, but they were always going to get at least second given that they were in the Group with Greece, Georgia and Kosovo. They did manage to beat Spain in that Group with home advantage, and all of their setbacks came away from home. It has to be a worry that they lost to Greece and Georgia away from home, but Czech Republic have been on the decline for a while now. This is an intriguing affair from a betting point of view.

Czech Republic were unable to finish in the top two in their Group, but they had a much harder Group with Belgium and Wales in it. Belgium were always going to top that Group so it was going to come down to Wales and Czech Republic who finishes second. In the end Wales edged it by a point after a win against them in Cardiff and picking up a draw in the Czech Republic. Despite Czech Republic being a pretty average side, they are hard to beat and I don’t feel Sweden should be as short as 2.08 here. I know home advantage is a massive factor for them when you look at their setbacks away from home, but I really don’t see much between the sides here. I can only see a very close game here and from a value point of view the Sweden lay really stands out. I fully expect a closer game than 2.08 suggests and I feel Czech Republic are being a little underrated by the market here – Sweden aren’t level above them and this should be close.

The Ultra Says:
Two points lay (liability) Sweden to beat Czech Republic at 2.08 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.

You can view all markets here -> https://bit.ly/BDQSweCze

WALES V AUSTRIA

7.45pm We finish the evening with the most open market of the day as Wales host Austria. All eyes will be on this fixture from the UK, and Wales will strongly fancy their chances of going through here. Austria were unable to finish the top two of their qualifying Group, and got here through winning their Nations League Group. They were very poor in qualifying though, and finished fourth in a Group involving Denmark, Scotland, Israel, Faroe Islands and Moldova. They were odds on favourites, and heavy odds on favourites to finish second in that Group but to finish behind Scotland and Israel was very disappointing. They finished level on points with Israel but they were seven points behind Scotland. The market is overrating this Austrian side in my opinion, and Wales look very good value at 2.9. An obvious worry to consider when backing Wales here is that we’re going to have a very close game and the draw is really going to come into it, so laying Austria might be a good option for a lot of punters tonight, but I’m going to “go for it” with a Wales back.

Wales really grew as qualification went on, and I know Belgium had nothing to play for in their final game but Wales did well to draw 1-1. They had to grind out plenty of wins under massive pressure to finish second, and that will stand to them here. I have to say, it’s hard to see anything bar a very close game here and I can’t see many goals either. Like I said, I wouldn’t be surprised to even see the game finish 0-0 but Wales are too big at the prices considering how average Austria have been lately. You’d have to say under 2.5 goals has a great chance of winning here too, I can’t see an open game here at all but the market is expecting unders with the price being 1.56. Despite being as short as that, I still couldn’t put anyone off that bet because I do expect a cagey game here, but Wales can edge this one and find a winning goal at some stage. The 2.9 looks too big, especially with home advantage because Cardiff will be rocking.

The Ultra Says:
Two points win Wales to beat Austria at 2.9 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.

You can view all markets here -> https://bit.ly/BDQWalAti