Israel vs Liechtenstein Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Israel managed to break out of their winless streak on Thursday when two first half goals helped them to a 2-1 win over Macedonia away from home. A 63rd minute goal from the hosts led to an edgy final half an hour, and despite a 94th minute sending off for defender Eltan Tibi, Israel managed to hang on for a vital three points.

It’s unlikely to matter for Israel in the long run, as the likes of Italy and Spain provide almost unbeatable opposition for the top two spots in this World Cup qualifying group. However, it’s a much needed boost of morale after a poor run of six games without a victory.

In all fairness it’s been a very tough run of fixtures for them. They opened qualifying with a 3-1 defeat to Italy, and prior to that they had lost to Serbia, Croatia, Belgium, and Cyprus after a draw against Wales. This resulted in them finishing 4th in their Euro 2016 qualifying group, four points adrift of the playoff spot that Bosnia-Herzegovina occupied.

There is just one automatic qualification spot for the World Cup though, with the runner up going into a possible playoff for a chance to appear in the finals. Israel will need a miracle to claim one of these spots ahead of Italy or Spain.

Liechtenstein should provide the hosts with a fairly easy to beat opponent though as they look to boost their points tally. The visitors lost 2-0 at home to the low scoring Albania on Thursday, to make it two defeats from two in this qualifying campaign. To be fair it was a lot better than the 8-0 hammering they incurred at the hands of Spain in the first match.

This makes it 12 games without a win in all competitions, and they have lost ten of these. Away from home Liechtenstein have won just one of their last 24 games, losing 21 of them and scoring a total of three goals. Their last goal on the road was almost two years ago when they beat fellow minnows Moldova 1-0. Since then they have shipped 25 goals without reply.

Five of Liechtenstein’s last seven away games have seen them lose by more than a two goal margin, and considering Israel’s confidence boosting midweek win is fresh in the memory, I expect them to get a comfortable victory over the minnows. Odds of 1/1 for an Israel -2 Handicap Win look very good value to me, so I’m going for that along with a 3-0 correct score prediction at 9/2.