How Can Scotland or Israel Qualify for Euro 2021?
There is a spot in Euro 2021 Group D waiting for one of four teams, with Scotland and Israel also competing with Norway and Serbia for the chance to play at the European Championships which were deferred from last summer to next summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scotland and Israel are very much the outsiders to make it to the big tournament considering that they clash at Hampden Park on 8 October and the winner will then have to either beat Norway in Oslo or Serbia in Belgrade.
Nevertheless, one of these teams will be going through to the ‘final’ and anything can happen in a one-off match, with either side likely to be happy enough to operate as the outsiders and the other truth is that any match will be played behind closed doors.
Should Scotland Be Odds-On to Beat Israel in Glasgow?
Let’s face it, Scotland have never been a permanent fixture when it comes to major football tournaments and they have not qualified for a European Championship since 1996 when they featured in the same group as England. The Scottish national team has been in the doldrums for decades although there are a few green shoots.
Andrew Robertson and Kieran Tierney both play for leading Premier League clubs and manager Steve Clarke is also able to call upon the services of Liam Cooper, Scott McTominay, John McGinn and John Fleck. These players are all operating at a decent level in the English top flight.
Nevertheless, Scotland and Israel met in a recent Nations League clash which finished 1-1 at Hampden Park and the Scots were then underwhelming when winning 2-1 away to a Czech Republic side who were missing most of their first-team players due to COVID-19 quarantining.
Can Israel Pull Off a Shock Win in Scotland?
There’s no reason why Israel can’t win this match despite the fact that they are the betting outsiders to claim a victory which would move them to within one game of the rearranged Euro 2020 tournament.
The visitors actually managed more shots on target than their opponents during the ninety minutes during that recent meeting, with caretaker manager Willibald Ruttensteiner delighted with the second-half performance and he claims that the squad has many good technical players who are capable of winning this clash.
Veteran midfielder Eran Zahavi has an excellent scoring record for his country and bagged the equaliser recently, with the team then earning another 1-1 draw against Slovakia a few days later when Ilay Elmkies netted his first international goal from the penalty spot.
What Do The Bookies Expect to Happen?
We’re surprised that Scotland are trading at odds-on with most bookies considering that there’s very little evidence that the team are capable of winning this match. There’s plenty of talk about potential and talented individuals but in terms of the team, it’s been a long while since the Scots produced a performance which one would regard as high quality.
Israel look a massive price at 3/1 and the draw is trading at bigger than 2/1 with every bookmaker, with the visitors not having to contend with a passionate home crowd and they’ll draw confidence from earning a positive result at this ground just a few weeks previously.
What Are the Best Bets for This Match?
We can’t back potential and will therefore look to bet against Scotland for this clash, especially if Israel continue to improve and their second-half display at Hampden Park was pretty bright to the extent that the team deserved a draw.
We can back Israel with half a goal start at odds approaching even money and effectively get the away win and draw thrown in as part of the bargain, while this is likely to be a nervy encounter where the stakes are high and we can expect the match to start slowly.