Betting Sites Make Netherlands Huge Favourites in World Cup Qualifiers
The penultimate round of World Cup qualifiers takes place over the coming week and the Netherlands have the opportunity to move one step closer to the tournament finals in Qatar.
Their first assignment is away to Latvia who are second-bottom in Group G and have never even registered a goal against De Oranjes.
Unsurprisingly, Dutch betting sites have the Netherlands as heavy favourites on Friday night, with some bookmakers offering odds as short as 1/14 on an away victory.
When the two sides met at the Johan Cruyff Arena in March, it was a comfortable evening for the hosts even if the 2-0 scoreline was far from spectacular.
An even more convincing result is projected for the return fixture, with the Dutch priced at 4/6 to win by more than two goals at the Daugava Stadium.
Memphis Depay leads the way in the first goalscorer market with odds of 3/1. The Barcelona man is priced at 4/7 to find the net anytime, and 7/1 to repeat his heroics from the Turkey clash last month and score a hat-trick.
Even after suffering that 6-1 defeat by the Netherlands, Turkey still have a good opportunity to move into second place in the group on Friday.
Stefan Kuntz’s men host Norway – a team level on points with the Dutch but without Erling Haaland for this round of fixtures.
Haaland is struggling with a thigh injury and while Borussia Dortmund have managed to cope without him to some degree, the betting odds suggest it will be more of a tall order for his national team.
If Turkey (11/10) see off the Norwegians and the Netherlands beat Latvia as expected, then there will be daylight between Louis van Gaal’s team and their nearest challengers.
After the trip to Riga, De Oranjes return home to host Gibraltar on Monday night in a fixture that should be a formality given the latter’s atrocious form in this qualifying campaign.
And while Norway are favourites in their game against Montenegro on the same day even with no Haaland, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that they drop points against the fourth-placed team in the group just as Turkey did in September.
The aim for Norway will be to try and stay within three points of the Dutch by the time the two teams face one another on the final matchday of the qualifying group next month, by which time they hope their main man will be back.
But with the Netherlands in pole position to progress to Qatar, they are in the mix as far as the outright tournament betting is concerned.
The Dutch are one of 10 teams that are priced around 16/1 or shorter, and there is then a big dropoff to Denmark at 40/1 after those 10 outfits.
Brazil are slight favourites at 11/2 with most betting sites, with France right alongside them.
England are next at 8/1, while Spain and European champions and Italy are at 9/1 and 10/1 respectively.
Argentina are the only other non-European outfit among the top tier, with Germany, Belgium, and Portugal all fancied as well.