In the European Region of World Cup qualifying the group stages are over, but there are still four more ties that will determine the four teams that will qualify for Brazil.
Eight of the second place teams in group qualifying were in the draw held on Monday and after the draw Croatia have to be the happy campers when they drew Iceland and avoided France. Here is the draw and schedule for the four European Ties in the home and away matches:
World Cup Odds for European Qualifiers (check Sportsbook shortly:
Nov 15th Ukraine vs. France
Nov 15th Iceland vs. Croatia
Nov 15th Greece vs. Romania
Nov 15th Portugal vs. Sweden
Nov 19th Croatia vs. Iceland
Nov 19th France vs. Ukraine
Nov 19th Romania vs. Greece
Nov 19th Sweden vs. Portugal
Croatia has stumbled in the last several months, as they moved all the way to the top 5 in the world, but they have tumbled down the 18th spot in the FIFA rankings. They had to be happy to draw Iceland, who is the lowest ranked FIFA team left in the European ties.
In their last two qualifying matches Croatia lost their big home match to Belgium and were embarrassed in their last one losing to Scotland. Iceland is the 46th ranked team in the world and they played in one of the weaker qualifying groups finishing seven points behind Switzerland.
France has to be the favorite in their tie facing Ukraine even though they are only one spot ahead of them in the FIFA rankings. The French only had one loss in their group stage, but they were playing in the Group of Death along with reigning World Cup Sportsbook Spain.
Romania vs. Greece is a good match up and Greece was tied with Bosnia is the group stage, but still ended up second. They were in one of the weakest groups in qualifying while Romania was in one of the tougher ones having to beat out Hungary and Turkey to finish second behind Holland.
The Sweden vs. Portugal match up is an intriguing one featuring a couple of the best strikers in the world. Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo scored four goals in qualifying and surprisingly was not the leader in goals scored with Heider Postiga scoring six. Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the high scorer with his six goals and if Portugal can keep him in check they have a great chance to advance to Brazil.
The first leg of the ties will be on the 15th of November and Bet 365 already has odds posted for these matches.
Ukraine +210 France +130 Draw +225
Iceland +260 Croatia +100 Draw +250
Greece +100 Romania +275 Draw +240
Portugal -150 Sweden +400 Draw +280
Here are the odds for the teams in the European ties to win the World Cup and only Iceland does not have posted odds.
France +4000
Portugal +4000
Croatia +17500
Ukraine +20000
Sweden +25000
Greece +40000
Romania +75000
