Is heartbreak in store for Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, or can both sides make it through the UEFA play-offs to the 2018 World Cup?

Michael O’Neill’s men are first up this Thursday, and are chasing their first World Cup for 32 years when they host Switzerland at 7.45pm. While Northern Ireland were nowhere near Germany at the end of qualifying, trailing the world champions by 11 points, they still managed to hold off Czech Republic and Norway to reach the play-offs. They did so with a pretty stingy defence rather than blistering attack; in 10 games they only conceded 6 goals, 5 of which came against the Germans.



As for the Swiss, they can feel hard done by to have to go through the play-offs. They won their first 9 qualifiers on the trot, including an opening victory over Portugal. Yet a 10th game 2-0 defeat to the European champs relegated Switzerland to 2nd place in Group B, leaving them as the top-seeded runner-up. That stellar qualifying form gives the visitors the edge, at a Switzerland/Northern Ireland (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.24-0.45 alongside a tight Total Goals spread of 1.8-2.

The Republic of Ireland have to wait until Saturday for their play-off 1st leg, a trip to Denmark at 7.45pm. In what ended up being one of the tightest groups in qualifying, Martin O’Neill’s lot broke Welsh hearts back in October, with a 1-0 win in Cardiff allowing the Irish to steal 2nd place. Though they only lost once, a lack of killer edge goings forwards repeatedly let them down – of the teams to have qualified/reached the play-offs Ireland scored the fewest goals (just 12) during the group stages.



The Danes just couldn’t catch a Lewandowski-fuelled Poland in Group E, though they did manage to give them a 4-0 licking in Copenhagen at the start of September. Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen was easily their stand-out, banging in 8 goals (making him joint top scorer of those left in UEFA qualifying). He’ll also be the main concern for O’Neill on Saturday night, with Spreadex offering a Denmark/Republic of Ireland Goal Supremacy spread of 0.65-0.85 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.15-2.35.

In the middle of this Irish sandwich lie the other 2 play-offs; on Thursday Croatia take on Greece at 7.45pm. A fair close group saw the Croatians bested to the top spot by Iceland by 2 points, a deficit that can largely be traced back to the latter’s 90th minute 1-0 win over the former back in June. Mario Manduzukic scored a respectable 5 goals during the group stages, and heads into Thursday at a robust Super Mega PGM of 40-47.



Like the rest of Group H, Greece had to settle for being in the shadow of a free-scoring Belgium (who they did manage to hold to a draw in Brussels). It wasn’t the most difficult group, especially with Gibraltar sitting at the bottom, but the Greeks still had to overcome Edin Dzeko’s Bosnia & Herzegovina to reach the play-offs. It looks their journey might end here, however, with Spreadex offering a Croatia/Greece Goal Supremacy spread of 1.25-1.45 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.1-2.3.

In arguably the pick of the play-offs, Sweden host Italy at 7.45pm on Friday. In any other year one could see the Italians dominating a Group G consisting of Albania, Israel, Macedonia and Liechtenstein – yet they also had to take on Spain, who ended qualifying unbeaten. This left the Azzurri 5 points adrift of Spain, but with a solid 6 goals for Ciro Immobile.



Sweden were in an even more difficult situation than Italy, dealing with both eventual Group A toppers France and the Netherlands. Yet despite losing to the latter in the final game of qualifying, a whopping 8-0 win over Luxembourg had left the Swedes with a near insurmountable goal difference, allowing them to reach the play-offs ahead of the Dutch. They may not be so fortunate this time out, with the visitors at an Italy/Sweden (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.15-0.35 alongside a Total Goals spread of 0.15-0.35 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.1-2.3.