A place in Qatar is still up for grabs with Wales ready and waiting in the play-off final. The battle between Scotland and Ukraine decides who will take them on in Cardiff for a shot at a ticket to the 2022 World Cup.
We preview the action below.
Ukraine
Despite a tough draw in Group D, which included World Cup winners France, Ukraine put together a strong qualifying campaign, finishing unbeaten in their eight matches. That saw them finish in second place, claiming an invaluable spot in the play-offs.
Two wins and six draws were sufficient for Ukraine to finish one point above Finland on 11 points, and book a play-off semi-final match against Scotland on June 1, which they are priced at 23/10 to win in 90 minutes.
It was an impressive qualifying campaign for the EURO 2020 quarter-finalists, beating a stubborn Finland and gaining two dramatic 1-1 draws against France, scoring the opening goal in the second fixture. They are 7/5 to take the lead first against Scotland on Wednesday.
Ukraine scored 11 goals in eight matches during the qualifying process with top scorer Roman Yaremchuk, netting three times over the course of the campaign. Yaremchuk, along with Artem Dovbyk, Danylo Sikan and Andriy Yarmolenko are all priced at 11/4 to get on the scoresheet for Ukraine.
West Ham’s Yarmolenko is given a 17/2 chance of scoring from outside of the box after a fruitful season with The Hammers and the odds of the game going to penalties, are high at 4/1. If this was to happen, Ukraine are 9/1 to emerge victorious.
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Scotland
Scotland go into the tie as favourites at 13/10 to win in 90 minutes. After an excellent qualifying campaign that saw the British nation winning seven out of their ten fixtures, Scotland finished only four points behind group F winners and EURO 2020 semi-finalists Denmark, who only dropped points when Scotland beat them in the final fixture.
Only conceding seven goals in their ten matches, Scotland have a resolute defence and are 4/5 to score first. They scored 17 goals throughout the qualifiers with top scorers, John McGinn and Lyndon Dykes, scoring four goals each. They are 13/5 and 21/10 to score at any time in the match, though its Southampton’s Che Adams at 9/2, who is more likely to score first.
The match is to be played at Hampden Park, giving Scotland the edge over their opponents and the potential path to the final against Wales. They are 5/2 to beat Ukraine and then go onto to win against Wales on the 5th of June.
Though Scotland have the home advantage and arguably better form coming out of the qualifiers, the match will be tight and could be decided on fine margins. It is therefore predicted to be a game of few goals with the most likely scores in 120 minutes, 1-1, and 1-0 to Scotland at 9/2 and 24/5 respectively.
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