A Spain side with a 100% record is up against a Czechia side that has lost both its Nations League matches so far, meaning the smart money is on another Spain win as they try to make it three from three. But Czechia never lose by many against this lot, so a Spain clean sheet in a relatively low-scoring match looks the way to go.
Spain - Czechia Betting Tip
Different competition, same result. After winning the World Cup this summer, Spain went to Wembley and beat England 3-2, then hosted Croatia and beat them 4-1 in their two opening Nations League matches to top the table. Perhaps the only surprise is that they conceded in both games, having kept clean sheets in six of their seven World Cup matches.
Lamine Yamal scored three of those five goals over the last week, a reminder that the sky is the limit for the Barcelona youngster, who is now the 1.8 favourite to win the Ballon d'Or, relegating Harry Kane to second favourite at 2.4. That man, Kylian Mbappe, is now a 20.0 chance.
But back to the game. Spain will be hosting a Czech side who were a bit unlucky against England, playing most of the game with ten men after star man P.Sulc was sent off for a bad tackle on England midfielder Elliot Anderson. But they also lost to Croatia in the game before that at home, so with zero points to date and Spain and England in their Group, there’s little chance of them progressing to the Final Four.
The good news for Czechia ahead of this one is that Spain may leave a few key players out with that tougher game against England coming up. That could include Yamal and maybe the likes of Rodri or Marc Cucurella, but by the same token, excellent players like Ferran Torres or Nico Williams, both rested against Croatia, could well come back into the team. So whatever side Spain put out, you know it’s going to be a strong one.
We fancy Spain to revert to type and keep a clean sheet here against a Czech side with little firepower anyway and even less now that Sulc is suspended.
But it may pay not to get overly ambitious about how many goals Spain could score. Czechia defended valiantly against England with ten men, and in their last fifteen matches, they have conceded more than two goals in a match only once, in a 3-0 defeat to a strong Mexico outfit at the World Cup.
Sure, Spain can score four or five on their day against just about anyone, but even just resting Lamal could make a big difference to how many goals they get here.
So, the best way of including a home clean sheet in our thoughts, while thinking it won’t be too much of a beating, is to go with Spain to win 1-0, 2-0 or 3-0, which is priced at 2.63 and looks a decent bet. Also, in the last two matches in which Spain hosted Czechia, they ended ‘just’ 1-0 and 2-0.
- Bet: Back Spain to win 1-0, 2-0 or 3-0
- Odds: 2.63 (at the time of writing)
Did You Know?
Two players currently in the Spain squad are in the Top 10 for most international goals: Mikel Oyarzabal (31) in sixth and Ferran Torres (25) in tenth, but both still have a way to go to catch up with record goalscorer David Villa, who has 59 in 98 games. But a special mention goes to Sergio Ramos, who scored 23 goals as a defender. He did, however, play for Spain a mammoth 180 times.
As the Czech Republic, they made the final of Euro 96 as huge outsiders, beating Portugal and France along the way before losing 2-1 in the final against a star-studded Germany. Though most of that Czech squad was unknown going into the tournament, they certainly weren’t by the end of it, with the likes of Karel Poborsky, Patrik Berger, Vladimir Šmicer and Pavel Nedved all going on to join some of Europe’s biggest clubs.
