World Cup
2025-03-24 - England vs Latvia
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: UEFA World Cup Qualifier
Monday 24th March 2025 - Kick Off 7:45pm
This game is live on TV
England
The World Cup Qualifier draw has not really given England too many issues when it comes to topping the section and taking their place in North America for the Finals next summer. The biggest threat is expected to be Serbia, who have to be respected, but England can get ahead of their main rivals while playing Qualifiers in a month Serbia have been playing in the Nations League.
Thomas Tuchel's era as manager of the national team begun with a comfortable 2-0 home win over Albania and England are expected to build on the early momentum that victory will have given them. The first real test under the current manager is not expected to be given to the team until September when travelling to Serbia and fans will be expectant in watching an attacking performance in this second Qualifier.
England have won 4 games in a row and the last 3 have all been with clean sheets, while the home record in recent Qualifiers has proven to be very strong. The victory over Albania means England have won 27 of their last 28 home Qualifiers with the sole exception being a 1-1 draw with Hungary in October 2021.
The new manager is expected to make some changes to offer the squad members a chance to impress. Anthony Gordon would have been one of those that would benefit, but picked up an injury on Friday as a substitute and has returned to his club for treatment.
Latvia
After finishing bottom of their League C Group in the Nations League, Latvia will be involved in the Relegation Play Off in twelve months time. This performance also meant being placed in a tough World Cup Qualifying Group, although Latvia were able to open with a 0-1 win at Andorra a few days ago.
In recent years, Latvia have struggled to make an impact in their Euro Qualifying Groups, but they have managed at least two wins in each of their last five World Cup Qualifying Groups and have already secured one in this Group. Beating Andorra is one thing, but Latvia know they have much bigger tests to face within this section and even finishing 3rd in the Group would be seen as a big achievement.
Latvia had not won any of 4 games in all competitions and had lost 3 of those matches before snapping the run with the victory in the opening World Cup Qualifier. They did lose all 4 away Qualifiers in their last Euro Qualifying Group, although things have been different under the World Cup Qualifying banner and Latvia are unbeaten in 5 away Qualifiers when chasing a place in the Finals.
Head to Head
This is the first time these two national teams are facing one another.
Prediction
Over the last several years, international football has tended to be a bit more competitive and the big wins are not as common as they once were.
In saying that, there is still a significant gap between teams like England and Latvia and anything other than a comfortable home victory would be a surprise.
During the Euro 2024 Qualifiers, Latvia were worn down and were beaten 5-0 at Croatia and 4-0 at Turkey and Thomas Tuchel is going to want to see his England team get forward and try and match those margin of victories.
He has suggested England have underachieved as an attacking force, despite the obvious qualities they have in the final third. Once that statement was made, England fans have already expected more and the 2-0 win over Albania may not have been completely satisfactory.
It would be more disappointing if England could not produce a wide win over Latvia, although it should be noted that Malta were only beaten 2-0 when visiting England during the last European Qualifiers. However, since 2021, San Marino, Andorra and North Macedonia have been beaten by at least four goal margins and the feeling is that England can show off some of their firepower with a comfortable home victory on Monday to make it two from two in the World Cup Qualifiers.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
England 4-0 Latvia
