Soccer Odds - Italy vs. Israel Match Preview

Israel was dealt an absolutely devastating blow to its chances of qualifying for the World Cup last week when it was beaten by Macedonia. Now, the only real hope the Israelis have is pulling off what would be one of the more shocking upsets of the entire World Cup qualifying circuits against Italy in Reggio.

This World Cup Qualifier duel will go down Tuesday, September 5, 2017, at 2:45 p.m. ET at Mapei Stadium. The match will be televised live on FOX Sports 1.

Opening Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Italy -700
Israel +2800
Draw +750
Over/Under 3

Odds Analysis

Italy has to be the huge favorite in this match, if for no other reason than the fact that it has one of the biggest teams in the world. The Azzurri are whopping -700 favorites and are favored by two full goals on the Asian Handicap.

This is expected to be a rather defense-based affair, but the total has to be higher due to the fact that Italy is favored so heavily. The total of 3 essentially insinuates that Israel isn't going to score significantly more often than not.

How They Got Here

Both of these teams are rather resigned to their fates at this point in respect to the World Cup.

For Italy, after losing in Spain 3-0 last week, it's clear that it is going to have to go through a playoff in November against one of the other second place finishers. This could end up being a horrid fate that could see Italy ultimately not even reach Russia in 2018.

Still, the Italians are 5-0-0 against the rest of this group aside from the two matches against Spain, and it's hard to see them getting beaten for the most part.

Israel is on nine points after seven matches, and after losing to Macedonia in shocking fashion, it really has no path left to the World Cup. The team would have to effectively win out, including winning this match, and it would need some help along the way just to get up to second, and then it would need to win a playoff against another second place team. Lloyd Christmas had a better shot than that.

Free Soccer Betting Pick

The sin of the whole thing for Israel is that there really is some talent here. Lior Refaelov plays his club soccer at Club Brugge, while his fellow midfield, Bibras Natkho is a midfielder at CSKA Moscow. The top striker on the team, Tomer Hemed, is going to be tasked with trying to keep Brighton & Hove in the Premier League for next season.

But the bottom line is that there just flat out isn't enough there to keep this team competitive against the rest of Europe.

Italy will be disappointed with its 3-0 loss in Spain last week, but the veterans on this side aren't going to let it slip up again and potentially get into a bit of a dog fight at the end of the qualifying campaign with Albania. Gianluigi Buffon will rally his troops in what will be his 171st career appearance for his country, and he'll ultimately get this defense back together again after a poor showing against Spain.

Israel actually scored a goal when these two teams met in Haifa, but even that wasn't enough in a 3-1 Italy victory that could have been far more emphatic than that. Especially after the bad loss to Spain, we have to think we're going to see a rejuvenated Italian side eager to prove that they're going to be the one team no one wants to be matched up with in the second round playoffs in Europe.

World Cup Qualifier Odds: Italy 4, Israel 0

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