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Wales vs Croatia betting tips:
- Wales or draw - 5/6 with Betway
- Under 2.5 goals - 7/10 with William Hill
- Petar Musa to score any time - 9/4 with BoyleSports
Wales face a must-not-lose Euro 2024 qualifier against Croatia at the Cardiff City Stadium on Sunday (7.45pm, S4C/BBC iPlayer).
With only two games of the campaign remaining after the weekend, Rob Page’s side would have a mountain to climb if they suffer defeat.
Turkey top Group D with 13 points, followed by Croatia on 10, while Armenia and Wales have seven apiece.
Wales and Croatia have played one fewer game than the rest, underlining the importance of this head-to-head encounter on Sunday.
Dragons can avoid defeat in Cardiff
There is no doubt that without Gareth Bale, Wales are a weaker team. The national team’s long-time talisman hung up his boots after World Cup 2022, a tournament at which he was not at his best.
Wales have duly enjoyed a mixed campaign without him. A record of two wins, one draw and two defeats leaves their chances of advancing to the European Championships hanging in the balance.
Page’s side do have an insurance policy. Based on the fact they competed in League A of the 2022/23 Nations League, Wales are in line to earn a play-off spot should they finish outside the top two of Group D.
Qualifying directly would be preferable, of course, although Wales would still have work to do even if they were to beat Croatia this weekend.
But having left Split with a 1-1 draw on matchday one, Page will believe that his team can once again avoid defeat to the 2022 World Cup semi-finalists, especially with the backing of the Cardiff crowd.
Croatia lost 1-0 at home to Turkey last time out, so they are not in the best form right now and Wales are capable of getting a result.
Looking at football betting sites, we're backing them to get a win or a draw at 5/6 with Betway.
Goals could be few and far between on Sunday
Wales put four past Gibraltar in a friendly on Wednesday night, but they will find it tougher to breach Croatia’s backline at the Cardiff City Stadium.
The Dragons have scored only six goals in their five qualifiers, three of which came against last-placed Latvia.
Kieffer Moore’s brace against Gibraltar should be enough for him to keep his place at centre-forward, which means Wales will look to make the most of crosses into the box and set-piece situations.
Croatia have not always been prolific in Group D either.
No team in this section has a better goals-per-game rate than their 1.8. Yet five of Croatia’s nine strikes came in a thrashing of Latvia. They failed to score in that recent defeat to Turkey, a result which saw them displaced from top spot by their opponents.
The first meeting between these teams featured two goals and the return fixture could be a similarly low-scoring affair. We're backing under 2.5 goals at William Hill.
Croatia provide best anytime scorer pick
The aforementioned Moore is one option in the anytime goal scorer market, while many UK bookmakers have Bruno Petkovic as their favourite despite the fact he might not start.
Petar Musa was preferred up top against Turkey and he is likely to get the nod again here.
The Benfica frontman was something of a late bloomer at international level. The 25-year-old only made his senior debut in March when Croatia drew 1-1 with Wales.
He has yet to find the back of the net for his country but has notched four goals in 10 appearances for Benfica so far this season.
With the likes of Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic supplying the ammunition, Musa could get chances to break his duck this weekend.
Wales have kept two clean sheets in Group D but both of those came against minnows Latvia. If Musa is on form, they could be denied another shut-out in this one.
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Last Updated: 14th March 2024, 07:22 AM
