Ukraine – Kosovo

Group I of the 2018 World Cup European qualifiers will feature a duel between Ukraine and Kosovo, in Krakow. Ukraine won`t have home court advantage in this one, as they have to play the match in Poland.

Ukraine has failed to win any of their last 5 competitive matches, but the team has been rather good so far in these World Cup qualifiers. Two draws against Iceland and Turkey are pretty solid results and Ukraine actually should have won both of those matches, as they had plenty of chances to do so. The team has quality and is looking pretty good under rookie coach Andriy Shevchenko.

Kosovo started their first ever qualifying campaign with a solid 1-1 draw in Finland, but the second match was one to forget. Kosovo lost 0-6 at home against a weakened Croatia team and even if Kosovo did not deserve to lose that badly, the result was a testament to the weaknesses of the team. You do not lose 0-6 by accident. Today`s visitors have a relatively decent squad, but they are a long way behind sides like Ukraine and Croatia both in terms of quality and experience.

Team news: Expect both teams to line up in a similar manner to how they did a few days ago, though Kosovo might ring a few changes after the disastrous result against Croatia.

Ukraine is looking good right now, they are a solid side and they should have had 4 points at the very least after the matches with Iceland and Turkey. They had to settle for 2 points, so this becomes a must win game for the Ukrainians, who will surely go for it against a modest Kosovo side.

Bottom line, after the performance Kosovo put in against Croatia, it`s really hard to see them staying competitive against Ukraine. Indeed, Kosovo is better than the last result suggests, but even a massively improved performance won`t be enough to snatch points against Ukraine – and given Kosovo’s lack of experience at International level, it`s highly doubtful that they will be able to improve on their performance after a break of just 3 days.

My tip is Ukraine to win with a -1,25 asian handicap, even if they don`t have home court advantage. At the very least they should win this game by 1 goal, but that would actually be a surprise. I can see Ukraine winning by at least 2 or 3 here. Simple bet, pedestrian odds, but it should win. Prediction: Ukraine – Kosovo 3-0.

Pick: Ukraine (-1,25 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 1.61 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 4.88
Event date: 9 October