Israel vs Cyprus Betting Tips

The hosts currently occupy 3rd place, which would be good enough for a crack at the play-offs but they are only 2 points clear of Bosnia and have a very tough end to their campaign when they travel to Belgium next week.

That makes this a ‘must win’ game in every sense. It won’t be easy though and Israel have struggled since making a dream start to the group by winning their first 3 games including a 2-1 win in Nicosia. 2015 hasn’t treated them so well though and they’ve only added 4 points in their last 5 matches and 3 of them came via a home win against minnows Andorra.

They’ve been beaten well by Wales and Bosnia and couldn’t get anything out of their home match with 10 man Belgium. Cyprus can be a tough nut to crack and are the sort of side who are capable of frustrating Israel for long periods of this game. They were incredibly tough opposition for both Wales and Belgium last month and going into the final 10 minutes the games were both goalless only for Gareth Bale and Eden Hazard to pop up with late winners.

Israel certainly don’t possess anyone of that class and Cyprus are certainly capable of securing something from the game and are worth a bet at 2.000 in the Asian Handicap market (Cyprus +1.0).

The Cypriots have already won twice on the road in this campaign including an excellent early win in Bosnia and still have an outside chance of qualifying. A relatively defensive approach is likely from them here as they’ll fancy their chances of causing a misfiring Israel to draw blanks again at home.

If Israel get desperate they may get some joy on the break but whether Cyprus are good enough to exploit the extra space is another question and a 0-0 finish is a good shout here and can be backed at 17/2.