Iceland vs Croatia betting preview

The Icelanders and the Croats were both lucky to be handed a second chance at qualification, but which side will be travelling to Brazil next year?

Kick-off: 19:00, Laugardalsvöllur Stadium

The current qualifying setup in Europe allows only for the group winners to advance to the World Cup finals automatically. The runners-up are on the other hand drawn together in a two-legged sudden death. Win and you’re on your way to to the World Cup. Lose and its a four year long wait until the next World Cup. Iceland and Croatia gained the joint least points out of all the runners-up with 17 apiece, giving some indication that perhaps neither team have the quality to be truly competitive at the tournament proper in 2014. Both nations have some top class players amongst them however and with so much riding on this particular fixture, expect a thoroughly entertaining spectacle. View the best free bet offers for this match here.

Iceland, despite never reaching the finals of any World Cup or European Championship, go into the game as favourites over Niko Kovač’s Croatia. They find themselves unbeaten in their last three matches, three of which they won. There is the feeling that this Iceland side, managed by Lars Lagerback who has worked with the Swedish and Nigerian national sides, have their sights firmly on making entering the record books and qualifying for a major tournament for the most time in the nation’s history. A home win against Croatia is priced at 16/5 with Boylesports.

The Eiður Guðjohnsen who practised his trade at the likes of Chelsea and Barcelona may be long gone, but with 76 caps and 24 goals for his country, he remains arguably Iceland’s greatest football export and a force to be reckoned with for his Balkan opponents, Croatia. In Kolbeinn Sigþórsson, Iceland have Guðjohnsen’s natural heir with many who believe the Ajax star will go on to be better than his now 35 year old countryman. Still only 23, Sigþórsson will most likely start up front alongside Guðjohnsen and has already surpassed the halfway mark of his strike partner’s leading goals tally with 13 from a mere 19 international caps. Both frontmen are a handsome bet to score break the deadlock and score first, evenly marked with 17/2 odds with Bet Victor.

Despite a wide array of familiar Premier League faces of the past and the present, Croatia are a long way from the side that reached the quarter-finals of Euro 96 finished third at the 1998 World Cup. In attack, with Bundesliga goal-machine, Mario Mandžukić, you would think the former Yugoslav nation would never struggle in that department although in fact, none of the qualifying runners-up netted fewer times than Croatia’s 12. It is a completely different story at the Bavarian giants, Bayern Munich. Mandžukić has eight goals in 12 games and so there is no question that the potential is there for him to run riot in Reykjavik if the striker is on form. bet365 give huge 66/1 odds for him to bag a hat trick. The gifted Luka Modrić will be key to Croatia’s chances of qualification but suffers from severely limited game time in Madrid having made just 46 appearances since arriving for big money in the summer of 2012.

Iceland will be looking to cause a colossal upset against Croatia and deny them qualification for only the second time since they first qualified in 1998. It must not be ignored however that in the two previous meeting between these two nations, Iceland have been rolled over comfortably. This time though, things should play out differently. Gylfi Sigurðsson has match-winning credentials within him for sure and may be the difference in the Icelanders sneaking past their opponents and into the World Cup finals next year. Lagerback’s men are 14/1 to secure a 2-1 victory at Coral whilst the Spurs offensive midfielder sits at 11/2 to score anytime with Paddypower.

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