Can Czechia keep Group L exciting?
In Group L of the European World Cup qualifiers, a preliminary decision could already be made on Thursday evening. Given that only the group winner will qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, the Czech national soccer team, for example, is already fighting for its last chance. Only if a bet on the host’s success in the top match between Czechia and Croatia pays off is the world number 39 likely to
Currently, the table shows an excellent starting position in favor of the 2022 World Cup third-place finisher, which has won all four qualifying matches so far and, thanks to its brilliant 5-1 home win in the first leg against the Czechs, also has a significantly better goal difference. Strictly speaking, the “Vatreni” could even afford a defeat in Prague and still have all the trump cards in their own hands with three matches to go. However, the protégés of long-time coach Zlatko Dalic want to avoid such a pressure situation at all costs and remove any remaining doubts with three points away from home.
Basically, it is definitely worth considering predicting a win for the visitors before the match between Czechia and Croatia. After all, the Croatians have lost only one of their six international matches in the 2025 calendar year – 2-0 in France in the NL quarterfinals, after winning the first leg 2-0. In general, defense is the big asset of the ninth-ranked team in the world, which has kept a clean sheet in four of the six matches mentioned since the start of the year.
Considering their 17-1 goal difference in the current World Cup qualifiers and the fact that Kramaric, Modric, and Co. would probably be happy with a draw, there is every reason to believe that the “Fiery Ones” will come away with a good result in the end. In the three-way market, Interwetten is offering odds of 2.45 on a Croatian victory.
To make matters worse, the home side will have to do without their most dangerous attacker. Patrik Schick of Bayer Leverkusen is out with an injury and cannot be replaced by an equivalent player. For the Czechs, who are struggling offensively anyway and also prefer a primarily reactive approach, the task against the experienced Croatians will therefore be extremely complicated. In their last two international matches in September, the Czechs did not cover themselves in glory in attack against Montenegro (2-0 – second goal in the 91st minute) and Saudi Arabia (1-1).
Based on this subjective assessment, I am therefore confident in recommending odds of 1.75 on a Match Combo X2 & Under 3.5 ahead of the Czechia vs. Croatia match. You can use the Bet Builder on the website or the Merkur Bets app to combine different markets.
Czechia – Croatia Head-to-head record
After five international matches, the Czech team is still waiting for its first win against Croatia. Three draws are offset by two Croatian wins. The only meeting between the two sides in World Cup or European Championship qualifying to date was also the first leg, which took place on June 9 this year. Croatia won 5-1 at home in Zagreb, scoring four goals between the 62nd and 75th minutes. After almost an hour, the score was still 1-1. However, I think it is very unlikely that there will be so many goals in the return leg in Prague on Thursday evening. Three goals in 90 minutes should be the maximum.
Czechia – Croatia Tip
Croatia and Czechia are currently tied at the top of Group L. The only problem from the Czech perspective is that they have already played one more game and also have a much worse goal difference. This is partly due to their 5-1 defeat in the first leg in Zagreb. The situation is therefore easy to explain: Czechia desperately needs a home win to keep its mathematical chances of winning the group alive and to put pressure on the Vatreni in the three remaining matches. If the 2018 World Cup runners-up score, however, the direct ticket in this five-team pool will go to Dalic’s experienced side.
Because the hosts will have to take the initiative, while the Croatians can rely on their already stable defense, I expect a positive result for the visitors. Without star striker Schick, Czechia is unlikely to create many high-quality chances against the compact, multi-legged defense of the world number nine. I am therefore going with the Czechia vs. Croatia betting odds of 1.75 on X2 & Under 3.5. My fictitious stake is six out of a possible ten units.
