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After three weeks of domestic football, the first international break of the campaign is upon us. This is the first taste of international football since the European Championships as World Cup qualifying gets underway. For today’s betting tip, we’ll be focusing on Scotland’s qualifier against Moldova on the 4th of September.
Steve Clarke’s Scotland will taste their first international action since their group stage exit from Euro 2020. Despite their Euro 2020 disappointment, The Scots have made an impressive start to their World Cup qualifiers. After three games, Scotland are unbeaten with one victory and two draws so far.
The Scots haven’t been shy on the goalscoring front since the qualifiers began. Scotland have netted seven goals in three games, including a 4-0 victory over the Faroe Islands. But it isn’t all good news for Steve Clarke’s side. Star midfielder Scott McTominay and James Forrest are ruled out whilst John McGinn is a doubt after testing positive for COVID-19.
Moldova have had a polar opposite start to the qualifying process. The Moldovans are yet to record a victory and sit on a sole point through three match days leaving them bottom of group F. They also have the worst goal difference in the group. Through three games, Moldova has a -11 goal difference after a humiliating 8-0 defeat to Denmark on match day two.
As for Moldovan team news, the squad remains similar to recent qualifiers. Leading appearance-maker Alexandru Epureanu earns another callup and will surpass 100 caps when he plays Scotland. Roberto Bordin is likely to field his strongest eleven but it’s unsure whether they’ll pick up their first victory during these qualifiers.
Saturday’s fixture between Scotland and Moldova marks the third encounter between the two sides. The two haven’t clashed since 2004 and 2005 during another qualifying campaign. Scotland were held to a shock draw in 2004 before defeating Moldova in the reverse fixture. But both teams are on a different trajectory at the moment.
Scotland may have had a disappointing Euros but were unbeaten in their last five heading into the tournament. As for Moldova, they have registered one victory in the last 18 fixtures but that was their most recent fixture against Azerbaijan. Scotland, after struggling during the Euros up top, will fancy their chances in front of goal against a leaky Moldovan defence. Scotland will have a fully fit back-line which will help them keep a clean sheet against a poor Moldova attack.
Everything points to this game ending with a Scotland victory. The questions remain over the scoreline. Moldova have proven to capitulate which was demonstrated by the 8-0 Denmark humiliation but Scotland have found it difficult to finish teams off- proven by their two draws with Austria and Israel.
We’re therefore predicting a Scotland victory with over 2.5 goals in the game. This is available on Bet365 with 20/21 odds.
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