Kazakhstan vs Romania Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Romania will have their eyes on making it to Russia in two years time with Poland their toughest challengers in this group. They got off to a poor start to their qualifying campaign though with a 1-1 home draw against Montenegro. However, almost everything went their way on Saturday in Armenia with the hosts reduced to 10 men in only the 3rd minute. Romania scored 3 goals in the 8 minutes that followed that which meant they could effectively turn on cruise control for the rest of a game they ultimately won 5-0.

This game falls into a similar category in that they are favourites to win it but it’s by no means a foregone conclusion, with trips to Kazakhstan seemingly harder these days than they once were. The Kazakhs held Poland to a 2-2 draw in their first qualifier which was one of the best results they’ve achieved since switching to UEFA in 2002. However, that may well prove to be something of a false dawn as they were blown away by Montenegro in the 2nd Half of their 2nd qualifier on Saturday and sank to a 5-0 defeat.

Romania have enough about them to come here and win and probably didn’t quite do themselves justice at Euro 2016 so they will be hungry to prove a point. Those 5 goals in Armenia would have been a real confidence booster to their attacking players, while defensively they are a very solid side and shouldn’t come under too much pressure from the hosts who are a bit one-dimensional.

The visitors have now kept 6 consecutive away clean sheets in qualifying matches and take on a Kazakh side who have managed just 3 in 34 European World Cup qualifiers. They may have to be a bit patient here but Kazakhstan aren’t the sort of side likely to be able to frustrate them for a whole 90 minutes and backing Romania to Win at 8/11 looks to offer value.