World Cup
2021-11-13 - Wales vs Belarus
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: UEFA World Cup Qualifier
Saturday 13th November 2021 - Kick Off 7:45pm
This game is live on TV
Wales
Some of the jeopardy about their World Cup Qualification campaign has been removed by winning their Nations League Group and Wales are almost certainly going to be involved in the Play Offs in March. This is an opportunity for them to at least build some confidence towards those Play Off ties as they look to make it back to the World Cup for the first time since their sole appearance in 1958.
In recent years Wales have made the European Championship Finals in 2016 and 2020, but they will have to battle through the Play Offs to join the elite of the world next year in Qatar. Belgium have long looked the outstanding team in the Group, but Wales are in a position to at least finish 2nd in the section if they can earn 4 points from their remaining two Qualifiers.
Wales were crushed by Denmark in the Euro 2020 Second Round, but they are unbeaten in 5 games since then, although Wales have struggled for wins with just 2 from their last 7 played. They had to settle for an incredibly poor goalless draw with Estonia in their last World Cup Qualifier here, but Wales have won 4 of their last 6 home Qualifiers.
Kieffer Moore is suspended, but Gareth Bale is back in the squad having missed the October Qualifiers.
Belarus
There are plenty of discussions about Belarus in the political world, but the football team has made little noise since joining the UEFA Qualifiers. Their best finish has been 3rd in a Group and that has only happened once, while Belarus were beaten in the Euro 2020 Play Offs by Georgia who eventually were downed by North Macedonia for the final place in the Euro 2020 Finals.
Getting into the European Championship Finals may be more of a realistic ambition for Belarus with the one place offered to the lower Ranked nations under UEFA's umbrella. Even that may be a long way away for Belarus who are bottom of this World Cup Qualifying Group below Estonia and they will need a positive result on Saturday to have any chance of finishing any higher.
Belarus have lost 7 in a row since beating Estonia 4-2 at home in this World Cup Qualifying Group. They have lost all five Qualifiers played since September, while Belarus have lost their last 5 away games overall.
Artem Bykov is suspended for the visitors.
Head to Head
These teams met in September and Belarus did lead 2-1, but a Gareth Bale hat-trick was enough for Wales to come away with a 2-3 victory.
Wales have hosted, and beaten, Belarus three times in a row.
They last met here two years ago in an international friendly won 1-0 by Wales.
Prediction
Some of the intensity of this fixture may have been removed by the fact that Wales are almost certainly assured of a World Cup Play Off spot, but Robert Page would like to see his team produced two top performances before those are played in March.
It is important for Wales to show they have the capabilities of doing enough in the final third to win games- they don't concede many, but Wales don't score many and they could be without both Gareth Bale and Kieffer Moore at the start of this one.
Belarus have not played well of late, but they gave Wales a big scare when leading them 2-1 at home in September before eventually succumbing 2-3. That will offer encouragement, but Belarus have not scored in their last couple of away Qualifiers at Czech Republic and Estonia and the defensive vulnerabilities means they have lost 5 away games in a row.
I expect them to lose here, but Wales rarely blow teams away.
The last two times they have hosted Belarus have seen Wales win 1-0 each time and I would not be surprised if that is the outcome of this one. Wales might be able to finish this opponent off on the counter, but I think they will ultimately win a relatively low-scoring game.
The Statistics :
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pick :
Wales 1-0 Belarus
