Northern Ireland v Russia Prediction 22nd March 2013

Northern Ireland v Russia Betting Preview
Northern Ireland need a win and that is the bottom line on this match. A place at the 2014 FIFA World Cup is looking pretty slim after failing to pick up a win in their opening four matches. There has been a good resiliency about the Irish, but they haven’t been able to take the extra step forward and get three points on the board. If they don’t do that on Friday night, then they could be out of the picture to even scrap their way into second spot. Israel and Portugal are already battling for that, and this is a tough fixture for the Irish to start turning things around.

Northern Ireland v Russia Betting Odds at online bookmaker Bet365
Russia 8/13, Draw 11/4, N Ireland 11/2

Northern Ireland v Russia Recommended Bet:
The last fixture for Northern Ireland was a little costly to them as they slid out of the top 100 in the FIFA rankings after a 0-0 draw with Malta. The international friendly was really an opportunity for them to build some confidence ahead of two difficult 2014 World Cup qualifiers. Instead it turned out to be a frustrating night for Michael O’Neill’s men. The head coach is still looking to record his first win after taking over from Nigel Worthington over a year ago. So far in his eight matches in charge, O’Neill has posted five draws and three defeats. There wasn’t a lot of positives to take away from the Malta game, the most disappointing fact being that N Ireland can’t find a winning edge even against low ranked opposition. That has been evident in the World Cup qualifying Group F as well, after the Irish took disappointing home draws against Azerbaijan and Luxembourg. The only defeat in their opening four matches came against Russia, a match in where the home nation was looking fairly solid defensively, but a harsh penalty, giving the Russians a second goal, sealed the match. N Ireland’s biggest result in qualifying so far was a tremendous defensive effort in a 1-1 draw out in Portugal.

The Russians will take heavy backing in this match, given the start they have made to the qualifying campaign. They have rattled off four wins from four and along the way, they have scored eight goals and have conceded none. Putting that up against Northern Ireland’s record of just three goals in four matches, then it could be worth averaging things out to a 2-0 Scoreline for the Russians in this one. Russia have only played one other away game in the group so far and on that occasion they rounded out a convincing 4-0 win over second placed Israel. That is what they are capable of and are the stand out side in Group F. Sitting top of the group, directly behind Russia are both Israel and Portugal on seven points, and those two meet on Friday night as well. So three points here for Russia could see them comfortably cruise towards Brazil 2014. The Russians start five points clear already of those two and if they go out and make it five from five then they will be pretty much booking their tickets to Brazil in the summer of 2014. It should be a Russian victory.

Northern Ireland v Russia Head To Head
There have been just one actual meeting between Russia (not the USSR) and Northern Ireland, and that was out in Moscow last year, which ended in a 2-0 win for the hosts.

Online bookmaker Promotion
After having taken three draws away from their first four matches, a point may not be a bad result for the Irish here. Take some 0-0 Bore Draw coverage at online bookmaker Bet365. Place a pre match Correct Score, Scorecast or Half Time/Full Time bet and if the game ends 0-0 then you will get lost stakes on those markets refunded. Great coverage for your international football betting and new customers registering an account can get up to a free £200 bet as a welcome bonus, the bookie matching the value of your initial deposit with a free bet.