Denmark Favourite To Win First Leg of World Cup Playoff

Published on November 7th, 2017 2:50 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel
Denmark and Ireland will be playing this week to determine which club will be heading to the World Cup in 2018 and which club will be heading home.

The stakes couldn't possibly be bigger. After years of qualifying, Denmark and Ireland's fates boil down to a home-and-away match that will take place over the next couple of days. It will obviously be a heart-breaking loss for the team that doesn't go through, while the winner will find themselves playing amongst football's elite teams in just a few months.

Of the four UEFA playoff matches, this is likeliest going to be the closest of the four. In fact, Denmark has a very slight edge to qualify, as you can see here:

Denmark, 1.61
Ireland, 2.25

Here are the odds for Saturday's match between the two clubs, which is set to take place in Denmark:

Denmark, 1.75
Draw, 3.6
Ireland, 5.75

Here are the top three correct score odds:

Denmark 1-0, 5.0
Draw 1-1, 6.5
Denmark 2-0, 6.5

There are three players who have better than 3.00 odds of scoring on Saturday - they are:

Nicolai Jorgensen, 2.75
Nicklas Bendtner, 2.87
Andreas Cornelius, 2.75

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Denmark finished with 20 points in Group E of World Cup qualifying, finishing 5 points behind Poland. Denmark played in a group that included the aforementioned Poland, Montenegro, Romania, Armenia and Kazakhstan.

Ireland, on the other hand, finished in 2nd place in Group D with a total of 19 points. Ireland was in a group that included Serbia, Wales, Austria, George and Moldova.

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Who do you think will take it?