International Soccer Betting Preview For September 7-9
UEFA Euro Qualifiers Including Predictions and Picks
WagerTalk Soccer handicapper Kevin Dolan presents his UEFA Euro Qualifiers predictions for September 7-9. He gives betting previews for key matches including France vs Ireland and Estonia vs Sweden. Which teams is he looking to pick up points and which will have goals being scored? Read his betting preview now!
The Irish face a tricky test over in Paris on Thursday night as they take on a France team who currently sit atop of Group B with four wins from four games across qualifying so far.
Ireland meanwhile has just one win from three games, that coming against minnows Gibraltar back in June, and face a monumental task this week in trying to qualify from a group that contains France, Netherlands, and Greece.
Even worse news for Ireland ahead of this one is the fact that star frontman Evan Ferguson, the 18-year-old prodigy who plays for Brighton and who slotted three goals past Newcastle at the weekend, will be out for this game after suffering a knee injury against the Magpies, no doubt a huge blow for Stephen Kenny’s side who possess relatively little else at the elite talent level.
That said, Ireland gave the French a really tough game in Dublin earlier this year, with Benjamin Pavard’s thunderbolt strike early in the second half the only thing separating the two teams in that one, and they should provide a semi-decent test once again for the French this week.
Ireland have traditionally been a durable test for the bigger teams away from home, with their last seven competitive losses all coming via just one goal defeats, a run that stretches all the way back to their 2-1 loss against Portugal back in 2021.
France should win this game but there’s absolutely no value in backing them at the current odds of -425. Instead, look for Ireland to be resolute in this one and give the French a game in Paris on Thursday.
Prediction: France to Win by 1 Goal (+245)
Scotland have been arguably the standout team of the Euro qualifying campaign so far, with four wins from four games which includes wins over group favorites Spain and Norway also.
Probably the most impressive aspect of Scotland’s performances so far has been their defense, which has allowed just one goal across their entire qualifying run to date (that coming via an Erling Haaland penalty in Norway).
The Scots have also just allowed 8 shots per game on average with an opponent shot zone percentage of 56% from outside of the box, which is easily the best mark out of any team in Group A.
They face a Cyprus team on Friday that have regressed somewhat over the last few years, with Larnaca just not being the difficult venue to go to it once was perhaps four or five years ago.
Since registering a win over Slovenia and a draw against Bulgaria back in 2018, the Cypriots have struggled massively in major tournament qualification games at home, with a slender 1-0 victory against Slovenia, a game in which they were outplayed in for the most part as well, representing their only qualification win here since 2019.
Scotland dismantled Cyprus in Glasgow back in March via a 3-0 scoreline, restricting the Cypriots to just 13 dangerous attacks in that game (Scotland had 66), with an xG of just 0.15 also.
Similar to that game, we’re expecting Scotland to have relatively little trouble in dispatching Cyprus here on Friday also as they look to stay one step ahead of Spain and Norway at the top of the table.
Prediction: Scotland -1.25 (-150)
After an underwhelming start to their European qualification campaign so far which saw Sweden lose two of their opening three games, the Swedes now face an almost must-win game here on Saturday against Estonia in order to get themselves back into qualifying contention in Group F.
Sweden currently sits seven points off Austria who reside in the top spot (Sweden has one game in hand over Austria), and four points behind Belgium also.
With Belgium playing bottom-side Azerbaijan this weekend and the Swedes hosting Austria on Tuesday as well, any slip-ups here against Estonia could be punished and see the Scandinavian side all but eliminated this weekend.
The good news for Sweden however is that in Newcastle’s Alexandar Isak and Tottenham’s Dejan Kulusevski, the Swedes do possess the firepower to overcome the smaller nations and should do so in this one against an Estonia side whose last win in a major qualification game came all the way back in 2021 against Belarus.
Despite their slow start to the campaign so far, we expect Sweden to turn things around here on Saturday with a comprehensive win against an over-matched Estonia side in Tallinn.
Prediction: Sweden -1.25 (-130)
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