Matchplug

These two teams come into this game with the knowledge that a win would get them promoted to the second tier of European international football. Scotland’s win over Albania has made them favourites to win this group as they play Israel in this game, but the British side can’t afford to underrate this Israeli team in this game.

The Scots took the lead when both teams met in Israel in the reverse fixture, but they were still beaten by the Israelis 2-1. They would banking on home support to get them the win here, but Israel would come into this game with enough confidence to carry them through.

Israel’s consecutive home wins over Scotland and Albania has placed them at the top of this group and they come into this game in fine form. Apart from beating the other two teams in this group, they recorded a 7-0 win over Guatemala in a recent friendly game and they would feel they can cause problems for the Scots in this game.

Italian football has suffered its biggest setback recently and they continue to rebuild towards a better future with Roberto Mancini at the helm. The Italians are one of the world’s biggest teams and they are expected to partake in every global or continental showpiece, so it was a slap in the face when they couldn’t make it to the last World Cup.

That failure cost their then manager his job and Mancini has been given the task to restore their former glory days. He has largely been experimenting as he continues to search for his best team. They managed to avoid relegation from the Euro Nations League, but they have won just one of their last seven games and they should give their fans something to cheer in this game.

USA also failed to qualify for the World Cup perhaps in a more disappointing manner as the likes of Panama did qualify ahead of them. They had to fire two managers following that failed qualifying campaign and Dave Sarachan who remains an interim manager hasn’t have much success either.

They come into this game on the back of a single win in seven games, while they are a side filled with talented players, there seems to be so much work left to be done in the rebuilding of one of the biggest teams in North America.

France’s victory at the 2018 World Cup in Russia has made them the team to beat at the moment. Les Blues played and defeated the likes of Argentina, Belgium, and even Uruguay as they went all the way in Russia and they have not been doing badly in their games after that competition so far.

They beat the Netherlands and Germany in the Euro Nations League, but a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Netherlands in the reverse fixture now means that Germany has to beat the Dutch men for Les Blues to qualify for the next round. However, Didier Deschamps’ men would now focus on beating Uruguay for the second time in as many games in this match.

Uruguay reached the quarterfinals of the last World Cup before they were eventually eliminated by France and they would be looking for revenge in this game, even though their recent form doesn’t make them favourites.

The South Americans beat Mexico 4-1 just after their World Cup campaign, but they have since all three subsequent matches the last of which was a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Brazil.

Russia head into this game with the knowledge that a draw would be just enough for them to get promoted from group B into the elite group of this competition and the 2018 World Cup hosts should dig deep to get that here.

When Sweden visited Turkey at the weekend, Russia was hoping that the Scandinavians would be denied victory but that was exactly what they achieve, and that 1-0 win means the 2018 World Cup host would have to wait until the end of this game to confirm their qualification.

Russia has continued to improve since their impressive run at the World Cup and they head into this game having not tasted a defeat in any of their last 3 games in this competition. They are 3 points ahead of Sweden and have a superior goal difference, so mathematically they should qualify when one considers Sweden’s struggle in front of goal.

When these teams first met in Russia, it ended goalless and a low-scoring affair has overshadowed their past meetings as well.