*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change
Safe Bet: Ireland to Win
Tuesday 7:45pm: Republic of Ireland v Qatar
Sky Sports Premier League
The one that everyone has been waiting for – Ireland vs Qatar in a meaningless international friendly for the second time in less than seven months. This is what international breaks are all about.
Ireland recorded their first competitive win in two and-a-half years when they beat Azerbaijan on Saturday and the positive result should do them the world of good.
As bad as Ireland have been in recent years, they have been desperately unlucky not to collect a few wins here and there, most notably in the penalty shootout defeat to Slovakia in last year’s Euro 2020 play-off and the last-gasp defeat to Portugal in September.
It is not too much of a stretch to say that an early win in the Stephen Kenny reign would have brought more confidence to the Irish team and resulted in more wins as a consequence. By extension, it is not too much of a stretch to say that Ireland should be confident ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Qatar.
The last meeting between the two sides ended in a 1-1 draw in late March, but Qatar have endured disappointing results against Ireland’s group rivals in the meantime, losing heavily against Serbia and Portugal (twice) and managing a draw with Luxembourg.
Ireland, on the other hand, have only lost once in their six games since that draw, and have clearly improved over the last six months.
The Qataris did reach the semi-final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the summer but only had to get past Panama, Honduras, Grenada, and El Salvador to do so. Ireland should have just about enough to record a second successive victory.
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Value Bet: Over 2.5 Goals
It seems like sheer lunacy to tip three goals or more in an Irish home game considering such a feat has not happened since Ireland beat New Zealand 3-1 in a friendly in November 2019.
However, Ireland have only kept two clean sheets in their last 10 appearances at the Aviva Stadium and clearly struggle to keep the opposition at bay while playing at home.
Despite keeping a clean sheet on Saturday, they still offered plenty of goalscoring opportunities to Azerbaijan and are likely to do so again against Qatar, so it wouldn’t be a huge shock if Ireland conceded.
On paper, Ireland’s chances of scoring two or more goals are slim at best. The Boys in Green have not scored more than one goal at home since that friendly win over New Zealand and have not done so in a competitive fixture since a win over Moldova in October 2017.
In fact, Ireland have only managed to score two or more goals at home on five occasions in the last five years. However, Qatar have conceded 11 times in their last four outings against Ireland’s group opponents and conceded five goals against the combined might of Panama and El Salvador at the Gold Cup.
Ireland will also be playing with a newfound confidence and should discover an attacking verve against the Qataris.
Long Shot: Troy Parrott to Score Two or More Goals
Troy Parrott kicked his international career into life with a brace against Andorra in June and it wouldn’t be the strangest occurrence if he was to repeat the feat against Qatar on Tuesday night.
The on-loan MK Dons forward is likely to start having started from the bench against Azerbaijan at the weekend and will get chances against a porous Qatar defence.
He has already recorded his best ever goalscoring season after just eight games with MK Dons and will probably be Ireland’s chief goalscoring threat on Tuesday night.
After Callum Robinson bagged a brace against Azerbaijan on Saturday, who is to say that Parrott can’t do the same?
Republic of Ireland v Qatar betting tips:
Safe Bet: Ireland to Win
Value Bet: Over 2.5 Goals
Long Shot: Troy Parrott to Score Two or More Goals
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change
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