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We take a break from the Premier League this weekend and instead turn our heads toward the UEFA European Championship 2024 Qualifiers. There are lots of matches being played across six days where most teams play twice, such as England. I’m picking out a 4-fold over the weekend with most of the games being played on Friday and the final match being played on Saturday. Here are my accumulator tips as 4-fold bet (9/1) for the international fixtures.
4-fold European Championship Qualification Accumulator – Bulgaria, Austria, France & Croatia @ 9/1 with Betfair
BULGARIA vs Montenegro (5:00pm GMT, Friday)
We start with possibly the biggest gamble of the four bets. Bulgaria take on Montenegro on Friday and it looks to be a close encounter. However, what sways me with Bulgaria is the improved form under their new boss, Mladen Krstajic. Since his appointment, Bulgaria have won 3 and drawn 1 of their last 4 matches played. They beat Gibraltar 5-1 at home and then won back-to-back away victories without conceding beating both North Macedonia and Cyprus. A 0-0 draw away to a resilient Luxembourg was their last result.
Montenegro, on the flip side, have not won in their last 4 matches. They didn’t even score in 3 of those matches and drew 2-2 with Slovakia, at home. They actually drew with Bulgaria 0-0 at home in their last meeting back in October 2019 but I think with Bulgaria now being the home team they’re worth siding with.
AUSTRIA vs Azerbaijan (7:45pm GMT, Friday)
Next, I’m going with Austria. Burschen look to start their qualification campaign against Azerbaijan. After missing out on the 2022 World Cup, Austria will try to qualify for the third successive edition of the European Championships. They finished bottom of a tough group in 2016 but they were edged out by Italy (after extra time) in the last 16 in the 2020 edition and will see this group as one they should get out of. If they are to qualify, however, they will need to win this one with harder matches to be played against Belgium and Sweden.
Azerbaijan will know it will be another tough ask for them to qualify here. They’ve never qualified for a major competition and looking at the group, I think it’s fair enough to say that it’s likely to be a similar story here. Austria are unbeaten in 20 of their last 23 matches in Euro Qualifiers whilst Azerbaijan have lost all of their last 5 away matches in Euro Qualifiers. They’ve also failed to score in their last 3 Euro matches. I’ll go with Austria as my banker in this 4-fold.
FRANCE vs Netherlands (7:45pm GMT, Friday)
I’m taking France to beat Holland in the next pick. The beaten finalists in Qatar lost on penalties to Argentina but I think they can take the positives from the campaign and ‘go again’ in this tournament. A tournament they’ve failed to win since 2000. Although they did make the final in 2016 when they hosted the event. Ultimately though, despite the retirements of the likes of Hugo Lloris, Raphael Varane and Blaise Matuidi, they still have one of the best squads in world football.
The Netherlands now have Ronald Koeman back in charge for his second reign. There hasn’t been a great amount of time for him to stamp his authority on the team with the players not really getting together since the World Cup. However, they did have a good World Cup and probably achieved above their expectation by making the Quarter Finals losing out to the eventual winners. That said, Koeman has already spoken out that he will move back to a 4-3-3 and it makes you wonder if that uncertainty and the upheaval of a new manager and system is positive or negative.
France will actually be without their first-choice keeper and two starting centre-backs. With Lloris and Varane now retired and William Saliba injured. Although they have players ready to step in, it wouldn’t surprise me to see both teams scoring. I think France win this though. It will be a key victory for France to go forward and win their group.
CROATIA vs Wales (7:45pm GMT, Saturday)
My final pick is Croatia to beat Wales. Croatia has a strong lineup available, including the legend that is Luka Modric. On the contrary, Wales will now go into a transition period without Gareth Bale. He’s now retired from all forms of football. I actually think it will do Wales a favour and will bring out players from their shadows. I just don’t think they can beat Croatia this weekend
Croatia are coming into this game off the back of a World Cup third-place finish and have won 4 of their last 5 matches. They beat Brazil on penalties and have only lost to Argentina in their last 6 matches. Croatia also beat Wales the last time they met in Croatia by a 2-1 score. I think Croatia win this one and I’m not convinced that Wales end up scoring in this fixture.
All odds are correct at the time of writing.
