Bulgaria v Belarus Betting Tips

Neither of these two Eastern European nations in Group A have a realistic chance of making the World Cup in Russia in 2018 – neither through automatic or the play-offs. With Luxembourg in the group it is also unlikely that either team will finish bottom. This match is almost a dead rubber and merely just a matter of pride.

It is no surprise that Bulgaria have just the three points in three matches so far after having to face two of the group favourites in France and Sweden away from home. As expected, they lost these matches, but already had their first victory of the qualification campaign after beating Luxembourg at home.

They will expect a similar performance on home turf against Belarus.

There are not many big names in the Bulgaria squad these days, but they do have a couple of good players in the likes of Amkar Perm defender Petar Zanev and CSKA Moscow winger Georgi Milanov. The latter does not play on a regular basis for CSKA, although against Belarus he should have a chance to show his qualities.

Up front they have Spartak Moscow forward Ivelin Popov who is top of the Russian Premier League with his club side. The only problem is that he does not score on a regular basis and is often outshone by the likes of Quincy Promes and Ze Luis in Moscow.

With a lack of high-profile players in the squad, this means there is a lack of top level experience and it is interesting to note that only the aforementioned Popov has over 50 caps out of the 23 players.

The Bulgarians do have a good record at home and have only lost two of their previous six competitive matches, including a draw against former World champions Italy, whilst they have won their last two games on home soil.

Belarus have had a mixed start to their World Cup qualifying campaign. They managed to draw their opener against Euro 2016 finalists France, but then could only draw at home to minnows Luxembourg, with a 4-1 defeat to the Netherlands in between.

Unlike Sunday’s opponents Bulgaria, since becoming an independent nation, Belarus have never qualified for a major tournament and that doesn’t look like changing in the near future. However, the Belarusians are not a terrible side and they have only lost one of their last five matches (including friendlies). Additionally, they are generally pretty decent away from home with three wins in their last three friendly matches on the road which of course will give them confidence when they travel to a pretty average and inexperienced Bulgaria team.

However, their away record in World Cup qualification is absolutely abysmal with seven straight losses – although the fact they have played much stronger nations in most of those matches.

The bet to go for here is ‘Both Teams to Score’ at 23/20. When you look at both of these teams you hardly think goals, but in playing each other, teams of a similar calibre, an attacking encounter is expected. In addition, Bulgaria have scored in four of their last six matches whilst Belarus have found the back of the net in each of their last four games.

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