Estonia vs Ireland: watertight visitors can take big Euro 2012 step
Published:Ireland once again head into the play-offs of a major international tournament and, finally, it promises to end well for the Boys in Green.
They have lost four of their previous five play-offs for either the World Cup or the European Championships but, with the likes of Robbie Keane, Shay Given and Richard Dunne all set to start against minnows Estonia, Ireland will never have a better chance of making it through…
Match odds
Ireland are favourites for this game but they shouldn’t have things all their own way.
Estonia came through a pretty strong group that contained Serbia and Slovenia and have lost just three of their previous 13 games on home soil.
They can be backed at 9/4 to get the win and 21/10 to go to Dublin with a draw under their belt.
However, it’s hard to look beyond an increasingly impressive Ireland side who have not lost in their last nine games and haven’t lost by more than one goal since a 2-0 friendly defeat against Brazil over 18 months ago.
Backing Ireland to win at 11/8 could yield a very decent payout.
Goal markets
Ireland have a brilliant defensive record and have shipped just one goal in their previous nine games. However, they haven’t scored more than two goals on the road since a 4-0 friendly win against Denmark in 2007.
Backing under 2.5 goals to be scored at 8/15 or, if you’re feeling adventurous, under 1.5 goals at 13/8 could be well worth considering.
Finally, with Leon Best, Kevin Doyle and Shane Long all missing for Ireland, there really is only one man to back in the first goalscorer market.
Ireland’s record goalscorer, Robbie Keane, is currently 6/1 to bag the first goal and, after scoring at the weekend for LA Galaxy, he’ll be heavily backed.
