Croatia vs Serbia Betting Pick | World Cup

World Cup

2013-03-22 - Croatia vs Serbia

A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt

Croatia v Serbia
Football : World Cup qualifiers
Venue: Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb (CRO)
Friday 22th March – Kickoff time: 18:00 GMT+1

Croatia

Croatia is second in group A on goals difference and it seems like there will be a heads up battle between them and Belgium for the top position during these qualifiers.

The two sides played out a 1-1 draw in Brussels, Guillaume Gillet's goal on the stroke of half-time cancelled Ivan Perisic’s opener. Those were the only two points dropped by Belgium and Croatia in this group.

Croatia recorded a comfortable 2-0 home victory over Wales on their previous home game in group A when Igor Stimac’s side prevailed through goals from Mario Mandzukic and Eduardo.

Coach Igor Stimac has to deal with the absence of Ivan Perisic who is out due to injury, but Niko Kranjcar should be a good option to replace him.

Serbia

Serbia’s qualifying hopes were dealt a huge blow back in October when they’ve lost in Macedonia and they are now six points behind Belgium and Croatia. A defeat here would pretty much put an end to their chances.

The White Eagles are struggling through a transition period, but they do have some influential players lefty in the squad, like Ivanovic, Kolarov or Vidic.

Sinisa Mihajlovic’s team will be hoping to get back on track against Croatia, but they’ll have to improve significantly on their previous performance when they sunk to a 1-0 defeat against Macedonia.

Serbia finished that match in ten men, which means that they won’t have defender Nenad Tomovic through suspension.

The Betting Verdict

Croatia looks good for the win here, but that 1.7 price for the home win is just not that attractive considering the fact that Serbia will be playing for their survival in this group.

There should also be a lot of tension around this match given the history between these two nations, so I expect a fierce battle in this one which means that we probably won’t see many goals.

Croatia could have problems against a stubborn defense, let’s not forget that they needed a 69th minute goal from substitute Jelavic to see off Macedonia (1-0) back in September. Serbia has a tough defense with lots of top class players which should give Croatia a hard time.

The Statistics :

CROATIA LAST SIX HOME FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2012-10-16	W	2-0	H v Wales
	2012-09-07	W	1-0	H v Macedonia
	2011-11-15	D	0-0	H v Turkey
	2011-10-11	W	2-0	H v Latvia
	2011-09-06	W	3-1	H v Israel
	2011-06-03	W	2-1	H v Georgia

SERBIA LAST SIX AWAY FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2012-10-16	L	1-0	A v Macedonia
	2012-09-08	D	0-0	A v Scotland
	2011-10-11	L	1-0	A v Slovenia
	2011-09-02	W	0-1	A v N. Ireland
	2011-03-29	D	1-1	A v Estonia
	2010-09-03	W	0-3	A v Faroe Islands