2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar - UEFA Qualifiers

[kayiboyu]

Italy was playing world cup qualifiers terribly, they were unable to win most games, achieving only boring ties against considered weak teams such as Northern Ireland and Bulgaria. And even though Switzerland isn't a weak team, Italy should have been superior to them, but they were unable to do it as well, staying in second position in group C. Considering it, Portugal seems to have some advantage over them.
However, at same time, Italy has played Eurocopa 2021 brightly and that is a very strong factor at their favour. I could even believe Italy has totally focused their effort and energy in Eurocopa until now and since it's over, they can fully concentrate their skills in world cup from this phase on.

Italy really got surprising results in the World Cup Qualifiers. But they are still a very strong team. And as we are talking about the chance to join the World Cup now, I expect them to improve their performance a lot compared to before. They would eliminate North Macedonia easily. But let's say that they have a matchup against Portugal in the final round of the playoffs, then things are going to get really interesting. But I still believe in Italy to advance.

[joker_josue]

Italy really got surprising results in the World Cup Qualifiers. But they are still a very strong team. And as we are talking about the chance to join the World Cup now, I expect them to improve their performance a lot compared to before. They would eliminate North Macedonia easily. But let's say that they have a matchup against Portugal in the final round of the playoffs, then things are going to get really interesting. But I still believe in Italy to advance.

It is normal for Italia to perform better in the final stages of major competitions than in qualifying. Even so, this qualifying didn't go so well.
Either way, although I prefer Portugal, I believe it's Italy that we'll see in Qatar.

[babygun]

From what people write here, it seems to be easy money to bet against Russia and Austria 

The vast majority of people bet on emotion and not rationality. They easily bet against countries they don't like, especially if they are going to play against someone they like.

Haha, you are right about that, I still make the same mistake from time to time but try to avoid it. When you are a fan of a team, you will be inclined that they will win everything with ease.

I don't think bookmakers look at the U17, these are completely different teams after all. I suppose to some extend the quotes could be affected by hedging (if a lot of people put money on Team A it might be good to offer a better rate for Team B and a worse rate for Team A) but also by which team is playing in their home country. In fact the latter seems to have a huge influence when looking at the quotes discussed here as home teams have much smaller quotes than away teams. I wonder how big this influence in times of Covid and (at least semi-)empty stadiums is?

From what people write here, it seems to be easy money to bet against Russia and Austria 

I agree, bookies don't care about the U17 teams; they have their own team of analysts that analyse all news/stats/... of all the teams and based on that, they make their judgement. They can be wrong sometimes and than you can win with nice odds, but it is up to the player to find them.

[Reosta_]

Betting on some team by thinking emotionally could be one of the most dangerous actions to take. This can cause the bettor to lose a lot of money. Bookmakers nearly always know what they are doing and we should always take their data into account also. For example, I see Ukraine as the favourite side against Wales here but bookmakers think the opposite. And I bet so many people think the same as me like Ukraine would advance to the final stage.

[joker_josue]

For example, I see Ukraine as the favourite side against Wales here but bookmakers think the opposite. And I bet so many people think the same as me like Ukraine would advance to the final stage.

If you think about it, I think we have more fans from Wales able to invest more money than fans from Ukraine. 

Honestly, I think the same, I see Ukraine winning over Wales, rather than the other way around.

[DatKing]

I will especially be following Path C matches in this playoff stage for the World Cup. Because there are two really big teams there like Portugal and Italy. And most probably, we will be seeing a final match between them. Because Portugal can beat Turkey maybe with a slight difference. And Italy have a much more easy job to do against North Macedonia. And after a final match like this, Italy can defeat Portugal and move them out of their way.

[buwaytress]

If you think about it, I think we have more fans from Wales able to invest more money than fans from Ukraine. 

British "investment" perhaps, I think if it really comes down to it, there's more money in Ukrainian betting than Welsh any day, I'd wager. Not got the numbers to back it but there's a lot of powerful old money looking for Ukrainian interests in football

@KTChampions: you're right, Ukraine seems to be the best value bet here. I generally don't lock money in for a long time unless it's huge outrights or specials (I'd be watching bookies for that closer to the contest) but if you like outrights like me, and want to book in small amounts (say 10-50 just for fun) then I'd go for the price boosts every day to milk maximum value.

[joker_josue]

British "investment" perhaps, I think if it really comes down to it, there's more money in Ukrainian betting than Welsh any day, I'd wager. Not got the numbers to back it but there's a lot of powerful old money looking for Ukrainian interests in football

I did not mean that there is less money in Ukraine. What I mean is that culturally, people in the UK like to gamble more than perhaps in Ukraine.
Maybe from Ukraine we have single bets with higher value. But perhaps in the number of people participating, we will have from the UK. I don't know the numbers, it's just a guess.

[coco23]

I did not mean that there is less money in Ukraine. What I mean is that culturally, people in the UK like to gamble more than perhaps in Ukraine.
Maybe from Ukraine we have single bets with higher value. But perhaps in the number of people participating, we will have from the UK. I don't know the numbers, it's just a guess.

Yea I would think so too. Sport betting is widely popular in the UK and socially accepted, whereas most people in Ukraine probably don't care or don't have the money for it. (Except maybe some billionaires with large bets  )

[buwaytress]

I did not mean that there is less money in Ukraine. What I mean is that culturally, people in the UK like to gamble more than perhaps in Ukraine.
Maybe from Ukraine we have single bets with higher value. But perhaps in the number of people participating, we will have from the UK. I don't know the numbers, it's just a guess.

Neither do I, just guessing at the numbers, but I was also talking about the volume or actual financial value of betting too though. I personally think there are more whales putting money from Ukraine than all the Welsh gamblers combined. But that's just me and my pre-built assumptions about how the rest of the world gambles when it comes to World Cup. I know as in my home country, there's only black market sports betting, so yeah we probably have 100 times fewer gamblers, but those who do go underground put crazy money on World Cup. Sort of like revenge betting as they couldn't do it for the other 3 years before heh.

[skscengeng]

Maybe Wales are favoured for the Ukraine game but I don't think the same as bookmakers. Ukraine never should be an underestimated team. They don't underestimate Ukraine actually, I know. Because the difference between the odds of Wales and Ukraine is not big. But taking Ukraine's great attackers into account, I can't see Wales being one step ahead of them.

[joker_josue]

Neither do I, just guessing at the numbers, but I was also talking about the volume or actual financial value of betting too though. I personally think there are more whales putting money from Ukraine than all the Welsh gamblers combined.

Look, you have a lot of non-Wales bettors, betting on Wales. For example, Russian bettors are more likely to bet in Wales than in Ukraine. (They don't like each other...  )

[buwaytress]

Look, you have a lot of non-Wales bettors, betting on Wales. For example, Russian bettors are more likely to bet in Wales than in Ukraine. (They don't like each other...  )

Dude, I've no intention of arguing a point I don't even really think is important and one neither of us can back up with numbers. So okay, you win Let's close this and let me focus on club football haha.

All this started from me commenting on your original line about fans from Wales and fans from Ukraine:

If you think about it, I think we have more fans from Wales able to invest more money than fans from Ukraine. 

[maju69]

Italy really got surprising results in the World Cup Qualifiers. But they are still a very strong team. And as we are talking about the chance to join the World Cup now, I expect them to improve their performance a lot compared to before. They would eliminate North Macedonia easily. But let's say that they have a matchup against Portugal in the final round of the playoffs, then things are going to get really interesting. But I still believe in Italy to advance.

It is normal for Italia to perform better in the final stages of major competitions than in qualifying. Even so, this qualifying didn't go so well.
Either way, although I prefer Portugal, I believe it's Italy that we'll see in Qatar.

But don't forget one thing, I call it the "Cristiano Ronaldo Effect", most of the current Portuguese players are stunning, besides Cristiano Ronaldo of course there is also Bruno Fernandez who both defended Manchester United. The player who plays as a midfielder is able to provide strength in the MU midfield.
It's interesting to look forward to their contribution in their country, especially since Ronaldo will definitely go all out to compete in Qatar, because this might be his last appearance at the four-year event.

[joker_josue]

But don't forget one thing, I call it the "Cristiano Ronaldo Effect", most of the current Portuguese players are stunning, besides Cristiano Ronaldo of course there is also Bruno Fernandez who both defended Manchester United. The player who plays as a midfielder is able to provide strength in the MU midfield.
It's interesting to look forward to their contribution in their country, especially since Ronaldo will definitely go all out to compete in Qatar, because this might be his last appearance at the four-year event.

That's true. But the problem for Portugal is not the quality of the players, who have the best in the various possibilities on the field. The problem lies in the strategy set up by the coach, who is not being able to monetize that quality.

~~

Quiet friend!

[Alanaz]

But don't forget one thing, I call it the "Cristiano Ronaldo Effect", most of the current Portuguese players are stunning, besides Cristiano Ronaldo of course there is also Bruno Fernandez who both defended Manchester United. The player who plays as a midfielder is able to provide strength in the MU midfield.
It's interesting to look forward to their contribution in their country, especially since Ronaldo will definitely go all out to compete in Qatar, because this might be his last appearance at the four-year event.

That's true. But the problem for Portugal is not the quality of the players, who have the best in the various possibilities on the field. The problem lies in the strategy set up by the coach, who is not being able to monetize that quality.

Portuguese players are actually quite good and some of their names can be said to be famous names but their performance in the national team is very different at the club.
they seem to lose momentum and cooperation when playing at the national team level.
talking about their coach actually i see ronaldo more often giving instructions than fernando santos

[joker_josue]

Portuguese players are actually quite good and some of their names can be said to be famous names but their performance in the national team is very different at the club.
they seem to lose momentum and cooperation when playing at the national team level.
talking about their coach actually i see ronaldo more often giving instructions than fernando santos

This is very true! Fernando Santos is heavily criticized in Portugal, for always using players who no longer pay to the detriment of other good players. In addition to not putting players to play in their usual ways (so the "darlings" can continue playing). It was because of this bad strategy that they are now in the playoffs.

[wxa7115]

To see the World Cup's quality to increase, I think that Fifa need to increase the quota that they have given to European teams. I hope that we can watch many more European teams in the World Cup after the next format of the tournament.

European have many slot country on every world cup and make them easy how to win from each word cup competition, I think FIFA need to make balance between each region to get same slot country like Asian, African and American have the same country get by European, now need to change maybe next world cup FIFA should give more for other region and not priority again with European.

I disagree with this, if only the best teams qualified to the world cup regardless of the zone in which they were located then the overwhelming majority of the teams will come from Europe and South America.

However if this was the way national teams classified then it could be hardly be called a world cup as most of the world will not be represented in the competition, this is why FIFA went for the current system in which each federation gets a limited number of spots and national teams fight for the right to go to the world cup, by doing things this way FIFA can get a tournament in which there is a enough diversity while still maintaining a high quality of play as the strongest federations receive more spots to qualify to the world cup.

[alegotardo]

To see the World Cup's quality to increase, I think that Fifa need to increase the quota that they have given to European teams. I hope that we can watch many more European teams in the World Cup after the next format of the tournament.

I don't think it's fair!
For those who want to see top-level Europe football, just follow UEFA.

As several people have already commented here, FIFA's intention is to increasingly open space for all confederations to have a fair opportunity to participate in the World Cup.
If there is any continent that should benefit from more teams qualifying, in my opinion it would be the one with the most countries interested in participating in the championship, and not the best.

[Trojane]

To see the World Cup's quality to increase, I think that Fifa need to increase the quota that they have given to European teams. I hope that we can watch many more European teams in the World Cup after the next format of the tournament.

These is your own suggestion as you said .
FIFA will always wanna do it the way they want and yet, many people like you around the globe are giving diverse suggestions too.
The European football association has always made the world cup distinguished for the European countries only so if the should be an advancement, then it's left for FIFA to decide