Qatar VS Iceland Match Prediction
2018-11-19
18:30:00
Qatar
VS
Iceland
Our Prediction Tip
Qatar will win this match.
2018-11-1918:30:00 Qatar will win this match.
This is the second consecutive year the two nations have met in a friendly, having also played in Doha 12 months ago. On that occasion, Vidar Orn Kjartansson gave Iceland the lead but Mohammed Muntari snatched a stoppage time equaliser for the hosts.
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Ordinarily, Iceland would have been big favourites for this game – especially on neutral soil – but their results in the past 12 months have been very poor.
Qatar, on the other hand, are on the up – the win against Switzerland proving as much last time out, when Akram Afif continued his recent goalscoring form.
Afif, Almoez Ali and Hassan Al-Heydos have all been in the goals in recent friendly wins and that front three could cause Iceland problems.
Iceland, for their part, are without several key players – particularly in midfield – with the loss of Gylfi Sigurdsson in particular a blow.
Alfred Finnbogason should return up front and Aron Gunnarsson is back from injury in midfield but they are otherwise lacking a great chunk of the core of players who helped them to Euro 2016.
Iceland are going to have to rebuild, having lost every one of their four UEFA Nations League matches too, and they look there for the taking at the moment – Qatar can take advantage of that and continue their own purple patch.
Iceland are favourites for this game but their poor form and long injury list means it could be dangerous to back them at a best price of 7/10 with Betway. Qatar beat Switzerland last time out and are 9/2 with Bet365 to beat Iceland.
The narrow win against Switzerland was a rarity for Qatar of late who have scored plenty through Akim Afif, Almoez Ali and Hassan Al-Heydos, and over 2.5 goals in Eupen will return a best price of 19/20 with Bet365.
Both teams to score has been set at 10/11 with 10Bet, meanwhile – and Iceland will hope the return of Alfred Finnbogason will prove key for them up front.
A Qatar win and BTTS will return a tempting 10/1 with Bet365 – they are outsiders, but with Iceland in poor form they could well upset the odds.
Qatar are outsiders for this game but they are in far better form than Iceland, who have not won for more than 12 months in an official friendly. Add their injury woes to that and it hard to back the Euro 2016 quarter-finalists.
Qatar are looking to tune their squad ahead of next month’s AFC Asian Cup but, after beating Switzerland last time out – and a strong Swiss line-up at that – they might have stumbled upon their best XI already. Karim Boudiaf stepped off the bench to set up Akram Afif’s winner and will be hoping to start this time out, but Felix Sanchez may otherwise opt to reward those who shut the Swiss down in Lugano.
Akram Afif – Scored the 86th-minute winner to earn Qatar an unlikely win against Switzerland last time out and now has six goals in 2018.
Almoez Ali – Has scored four international goals since September, having scored in wins against China, Palestine and Ecuador.
Yousef Hassan – A clean sheet against a strong Switzerland line-up should give him and the Qatari defence confidence they are stepping in the right direction.
With just one defeat in their last five matches, Qatar go into this game in good form. They have won the other four and against relatively notable opposition too – not least the 1-0 defeat of Switzerland thanks to Akram Afif’s goal last time out. They did lose 2-0 in Uzbekistan before that but had won their last three consecutive friendlies – Almoez Ali scoring in all three games. Qatar beat China 1-0 then put three past Palestine with Akram Afif and Hassan Al-Haydos adding to Ali’s early goal. All three scored again in a 4-3 defeat of Ecuador, with Ali at the double to earn Qatar victory.
Captain Aron Gunnarsson is back in the Iceland team after his long injury lay-off, having returned for Cardiff last month. His fellow Premier League stars Gylfi Sigurdsson and Johann Berg Gudmundsson both withdrew from the squad injured, however, as did Birkir Bjarnason, while Emil Hallfredsson has not recovered from the injury which forced him to miss last month’s matches too – likewise with defenders Ragnar Sigurdsson and Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson. It means Arnor Sigurdsson and Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson made their debuts against Belgium last time out.
Aron Gunnarsson – The midfielder’s return is a boost after his long injury lay-off, as he won his 81st Icelandic cap in the defeat to Belgium.
Alfred Finnbogason – The Augsburg striker did not start against Belgium but with 15 goals in 52 appearances he could be set to return against Qatar.
Kolbeinn Sigthorsson – The Nantes striker and Iceland’s Euro 2016 hero could be handed a rare start after featuring from the bench against Belgium.
LLDLLIceland have lost six of their last seven matches and are without a win in their last 14 official games. The one game they have not lost since the World Cup, they should have won – having been 2-0 up with five minutes to play – but an own goal and a late penalty earned world champions France a 2-2 draw. And, since then, Iceland have lost 2-1 at home to Switzerland despite Alfred Finnbogason’s late goal before a 2-0 defeat away to Belgium capped a miserable UEFA Nations League campaign.
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