Russia vs Northern Ireland Betting Pick | World Cup

World Cup

2012-09-07 - Russia vs Northern Ireland

A Sports Betting Pick by Addicted

RUSSIA v NORTHERN IRELAND
Football : World Cup 2014 : Qualifier
Friday, September 7th, 2012, 4:00PM GMT

PREVIEW

This is a massive mismatch of a game. Northern Ireland are a poor side who have gone ages without qualifying for a big tournament and they are now on the road against a side that could well tear them to shreds. Russia messed up after a scintillating start to the Euros so you can expect concentration to be at max to win this game without any f-ups.

Northern Ireland warmed up with a home friendly in mid August, allowing visiting Finland to hit 3 past them. It ended 3-3 but you know the Russian defence is going to be a lot tighter than the Finns. Plus, Russia are at home, where they dominate on defence. Looking back at their last 6 competitive home games you will find just 3 goals conceded, with the most recent 3 games seeing them keep clean sheets.

Russia did concede in their own friendly last month, drawing 1-1 with the Ivory Coast, but their form in competitive games at home cannot be ignored. Also, they have a new manager in Fabio Capello who, if you remember, oversaw an impressive start to his reign as England manager. This needs to be a match they not only win, but do their best in because they will want to pull away in goals as they also have Portugal to play in the Group.

Not much more to be said about this one. We know which way this will go.

BETTING VERDICT

Russia are going to win, that much is clear. It's game 1 and they will play this in ruthless fashion. The offence is good enough to easily score as many as the Finns did last month in Ireland.

At the back, the Russian defence is good enough to keep a clean sheet. Even if they do concede, I still think the AH can be cleared. In the early match this Friday, let's take Russia to win comfortably, allowing us to collect if they win by more than 1 goal.

The Statistics :

RUSSIA LAST SIX HOME FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2011-10-11	W	6-0	H v Andorra
	2011-09-06	D	0-0	H v Ireland
	2011-09-02	W	1-0	H v Macedonia
	2011-06-04	W	3-1	H v Armenia
	2010-09-07	L	0-1	H v Slovakia
	2009-11-14	W	2-1	H v Slovenia

N. IRELAND LAST SIX AWAY FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2011-10-11	L	3-0	A v Italy
	2011-09-06	L	4-1	A v Estonia
	2011-03-25	L	2-1	A v Serbia
	2010-10-12	D	1-1	A v Faroe Islands
	2010-09-03	W	0-1	A v Slovenia
	2009-10-14	D	0-0	A v Czechia