Wales get their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign underway with a tricky trip to Croatia. James Cantrill has a best bet for the game.
Football betting tips: Euro 2024 qualifying
1.5pts Under 2.5 Goals at 8/11 (BetVictor)
It feels like the start of a new era for both Croatia and Wales.
Gareth Bale hung up his boots after Qatar and now transitions into professional golf. The Dragons now must adapt to life without their all time leading scorer for the first time in over a decade.
Rob Page confirmed last week that Aaron Ramsey will be the new captain of Wales.
Along with Bale, Joe Allen also announced his retirement from international football after the World Cup, bringing a 14-year long international career to an end.
With two stalwarts of one of Wales most successful teams calling it a day, it is no surprise to see Page freshen things up here with maiden call ups for Oli Cooper, Jordan James, Nathan Broadhead and Luke Harris.
Zlatko Dalic, the most successful Croatian head coach, signed a deal to extend his tenure till 2026.
His Vatreni side have defied expectations for the last decade.
Since their group stage exit in the World Cup of 2014, the Croatians have reached the round of 16 in each Euro’s, the World Cup final in 2018 and came third in Qatar.
All this amidst a corruption case featuring two of the nations most prominent players; Luka Modric and Dejan Lovren.
The spine of that successful squad are all into the twilight of their careers. Luka Modric, Domagoj Vida, Marcelo Brocovic and Ivan Perisic have a combined age of 134.
Many wrote them off this winter, but this plucky bunch obviously do not listen.
En route to the semi finals, there was a succinct lack of goals in the matches Croatia were involved in.
Across the six games, there were 12 goals with UNDER 2.5 GOALS clicking on four occasions, three of which finished goalless in 90 minutes, and it's the unders that appeals again here.
Wales have not won in eight games since they qualified for the World Cup, losing six.
Over that period, the Dragons have only found the net six times with half of those games seeing two or fewer goals scored.
With a blunt Welsh side facing a pragmatic Croatian team, I expect goals to be of a premium.
Croatia v Wales best bets and score prediction
- 1.5pts Under 2.5 goals in Croatia v Wales at 8/11 (BetVictor)
Score prediction: Croatia 0-0 Wales (Sky Bet odds: 6/1)
Odds correct at 1930 GMT (22/03/23)
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