Scotland vs Israel

Scotland and Israel will trade tackles at Hampden Park in a crunch World Cup qualification Group F match-up.

Scotland’s chances of advancing to the World Cup finals for the first time since the 1998 edition are on the line, as they sit just one point clear of third-placed Israel heading into this round. The hosts have bounced back from a 2-0 away loss to Denmark in their first World Cup qualifier in September, winning the subsequent two Group F matches by the identical 1-0 scoreline to move to second in the standings. In fact, that reverse against Denmark remains Scotland’s solitary defeat across their last 12 World Cup qualifiers (W7, D4), with Steve Clarke’s men keeping seven clean sheets in that spread of games. A victory against Israel would be a good omen, considering they have qualified for the World Cup finals the last time they won three straight qualifying matches (1998).

On the other hand, Israel collapsed in Denmark last time out, falling to a dreadful 5-0 defeat to bring their four-match unbeaten Group F start to a halt (W3, D1). However, the Israelis are very much in contention for reaching their first World Cup finals since 1970, though it means they need to snap a four-game winless competitive H2H run on Scottish soil (D2, L2 – 90 minutes only). Regardless of the outcome, neutral could be in for a treat, at least based on Israel’s away showings in 2021. Indeed, each of the visitors’ five internationals on hostile turf this calendar year has featured 4+ overall goals, on an average of 4.4 per game. Against this backdrop, four straight H2Hs have contained under 2.5 total goals.