Friday’s Football Bet of the Day see’s me focus on the South American World Cup Qualifiers and in particular a match that both sides need to win, in which has the potential for goals.
Venezuela vs Bolivia
🇻🇪 South American World Cup Qualifier 🇧🇴
⏰ Friday 28th January, 22:00
Bolivia will look to stay in contention to qualify for this years World Cup as they travel to Barinas to take on Venezuela. The visitors enter matchday 15 in eighth, just two points off fourth place, whilst the hosts are bottom and are eight points behind their opponents.
Venezuela are the only South American side yet to qualify for a World Cup and should they fail to win here, their hopes for ending that long wait will be over once more. The Venezuelans have collected just seven points from their 14 fixtures, leaving them 10 points adrift of fourth placed Columbia. However, all seven of La Vinotinto’s points have come at home, which includes wins over Chile and third placed Ecuador, as well as holding Uruguay to a draw. Seven of the nine goals Venezuela have scored in qualifying have also came at home, with Josè Pékerman’s side scoring in each of their last four. However, Venezuela have the second worst defence in qualifying, with them conceding 25 goals and recording a solitary clean sheet.
Bolivia come into this winning three of their last four in qualifying to leave them just two points behind fourth placed Columbia. Bolivia have made the finals of the World Cup just three times in their history, with the last of them coming in 1994, but they know a win here will certainly keep them in contention. Surprisingly, only Ecuador and Brazil have outscored the Bolivians, with them finding the back of the net on 20 occasions so far in the campaign, but they have the worst defensive record, conceding 28 goals, with 21 of them coming on the road. In fact, Bolivia have a shocking record when playing away from their iconic La Paz base, with La Verde failing to win any of their last 51 qualifiers away from home.
Bet of the Day
Bolivia are looking to qualify for their first World Cup since USA 94 and they’ll come into this match full of confidence, with La Verde winning three of their last four qualifiers. They face a Venezuela side that sit bottom, collecting just seven points from their opening 14 matches this campaign. However, whilst Bolivia may be confident, they have failed to win a Wold Cup qualifier away from home this century, a run of 51 matches. These two sides have the leakiest defences in qualifying, conceding 53 goals between them and with both sides needing to win, I can see there being goals here in Barinas. Therefore, I’m happy to back both teams to score, a play that landed in seven of the last 11 World Cup qualifiers between the two, including in the reverse fixture last June.
- Venezuela vs Bolivia – Both Teams to Score
- Pays 1/1 (William Hill)
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