The group stages in the Asian World Cup qualifiers get underway on early Thursday morning (GMT), and Will Burns has identified the three great bets giving us the best chance for profiting through the following opening games. Prices published as of time of posting.
🇦🇺 AUSTRALIA vs. BANGLADESH 🇧🇩
Thursday 16th November – 9:00am GMT
⚽️ Bangladesh +5
💷 1.5pt
Best Odds: 2.10 at Sky Bet
The Aussies, managed by Graham Arnold, are undergoing a significant transition and are not as formidable as they once were. Currently, their squad is vastly inexperienced, with 14 of the 23-man squad having collected ten or fewer international caps, with 10 of them yet to make their international bow. Familiar names like Mat Ryan, now with AZ Alkmaar, Harry Souttar from Leicester City, and Ipswich’s Massimo Luongo are recognizable, but beyond them, the team comprises players from the A-League or lower-ranking teams in the Scotland Premiership, along with Jackson Irvine and Connor Metclafe from St. Pauli in Germany. The players like Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka and Tim Cahill from the yesteryears seem far, far away.
To win the bet, we need Bangladesh to lose by no more than four goals. The last time Australia scored five goals was against Chinese Taipei in June 2021, and even in that 5-1 victory, they obviously concede and this would have landed. Going back to October 2019, the last time the Australians beat a team by more than four goals, it was a 7-1 score also against Chinese Taipei.
Facing Bangladesh, the Aussies are expected to win comfortably. The last time the Bangladeshis played a team of similar quality in the Asian Confederation was against Qatar in December 2020, resulting in a 5-0 defeat with the fifth goal coming in added time.
An additional factor supporting this play is the travel schedule for the Socceroos. After the squad meet for three days, they play this game then travel straight to Kuwait for a game against Palestine. The numerous and lengthy travel days could influence how they allocate their resources, and once they secure a couple of goals in this match, they might adopt a more relaxed approach.
Bangladesh reached the group stage of the qualifiers with a 3-2 aggregate win over the Maldives last month, marking their third consecutive advancement to this stage. However, their past two appearances in the group stage were unimpressive, scoring only six goals in 18 games without a win. Notably, they are adept at defending, with the 5-0 loss to Qatar being the only instance in their last 18 World Cup qualifiers where they lost by five goals.
🇯🇵 JAPAN vs. MYANMAR 🇲🇲
Thursday 16th November – 10:00am GMT
⚽️ Japan win to nil
⚽️ Over 6.5 Goals
💷 2pts
Best Odds: 2.10 at Sky Bet
One team that does not take their foot off the pedal is the Japanese and against Myanmar, ranked 158th in the world, I see a cricket score being racked up.
Like last month, I explain a few times why I was backing Japan to score goals and they scoring for fun as of late, as they emerge as a real force in world football. They have scored 24 goals in the last six friendly games as they awaited these World Cup qualifiers to kick off and against the likes of Germany (a 4-1 win), Turkey (won 4-2) and Canada (winning 4-1).
The goals are coming from everywhere across the squad. Kaoru Mitoma* (Brighton), Junya Ito (Stade Reims), Ritsu Doan (Freiburg), Takuma Asano (Bochum) and Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad) plying their trade in the biggest leagues in the world, have all scored for the Samurai Blue in recent games.
Also notching are Ayase Ueda (Feyenoord) and Kyogo Furuhashi (Celtic), who although star in weaker leagues they have seen action in the UEFA Champions League this season. I wish I could see bookies offering goalscorer markets for these games, they are many candidates that could have built us a decent builder.
Myanmar last met Japan in May 2021 and got pasted 10-0 but more recently they’ve saw a 4-0 drubbing against China in June this year, a 3-0 January defeat by Vietnam and thumped 6-0 by Thailand in December 2022.
Japan should have a field day here and we need a 7 clear goal different to win. Although the record for their biggest win, a 15-0 win over Philippines in September 1967, should be still in tact here.
Note: Disappointed to see in the UK that a lot of bookies are not covering this game with the same amount of markets as other games. Good luck if you are betting outside of the UK with your markets. Japan -6 would be the bet I would more likely advise here if the UK bookies had gave us more option.
*EDIT: Mitoma has pulled out of the squad due to injury.
🇰🇷 SOUTH KOREA vs. SINGAPORE 🇸🇬
Thursday 16th November – 11:00am GMT
⚽️ South Korea to score 4 or more goals
⚽️ A goal scored in Both Halves
⚽️ Both Teams to Score – No
💷 1.5pt
Best Odds: 2.20 at Sky Bet
Another gulf in class in this match as Jurgen Klinsmann leads his South Korean side into their first qualifier against the lowly Singapore (155th). South Korea played a pair of friendlies last month winning 6-0 against Vietnam and 4-0 against Tunisia. If they play as well against Singapore, they could score ten.
The majority of the Singapore squad play in their homeland, which is obviously a very low standard. Last month, they beat Guam (twice) in the preliminary round winning 1-0 and 2-1 who are classed as 201st out of 207 in the World Rankings. They have not faced anyone near the challenge of the Koreans but have saw defeats against Tajikstan (2-0) and Malaysia (4-1) within the last calendar year.
To help our cause, South Korea have proven strong defensively conceding no goals in the last four friendlies and picked just four goals out of the net in their last 16 World Cup qualifying group stage matches. Klinsmann’s boys should cover our two lines here no problem.
Good luck!
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