Scotland v Czech Republic betting tips: Clarke clan hyped up for Hampden
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Scotland get their campaign under way against familiar opponents Czech Republic on Monday in their first major tournament in 23 years and the teams are hard to split.
Steve Clarke’s side beat the Czechs home and away in the Nations League in the autumn and they are 17/10 to win their Group D opener at Hampden Park.
The mood in the Scottish camp is going to be high so let’s examine some of the odds for your Scotland v Czech Republic betting tips.
Match Odds
Lyndon Dykes and Ryan Christie gave Scotland a 2-1 victory against a makeshift Czech side in Olomouc in September and Ryan Fraser’s sixth-minute winner proved to be the only goal of the game at Hampden Park a month later when Oli McBurnie also hit the crossbar.
24 hours to go…#EURO2020 | #SCO pic.twitter.com/uZ8unh66cj
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) June 13, 2021
The Czechs beat England during their qualifying campaign which saw them finish runners-up to Gareth Southgate’s men but they lost to Kosovo and Bulgaria while they have had a mixed start to their World Cup qualifiers, thrashing Estonia before drawing with Belgium only to then lose 1-0 in Wales.
Jaroslav Silhavy’s side are 33/20 to get off to a winning start and 2/1 to draw, although only one of their last 39 matches – competitive and friendlies – have finished all square.
Interestingly, the last three games between the nations have produced the opening goal inside the first 11 minutes so we go Scotland 10/1 and 9/1 to break the deadlock between 1-10 and 11-20 minutes respectively while it’s 9/1 and 17/2 for Czech Republic.
In those matches more goals were scored in the first half and that is available at 12/5.
Talking Tactics
Clarke went for a 3-5-2 in the 4-0 World Cup qualifying win against Faroe Islands, with Che Adams and Dykes in attack, but was more conservative for the draws with Austria and Israel, opting for a 3-4-2-1 formation, alternating the strikers in those games.
Silhavy deployed a 4-2-3-1 system in the 1-0 defeat by Wales, with Tomas Soucek one of two holding midfielders and Bayer Leverkusen striker Patrik Schick leading the line.
Vladimir Darida is one of the Czechs’ best players and he will start in central midfield, with Slavia Prague’s Lukas Provod and Sampdoria winger Jakub Jankto operating on the flanks.
Goalscorer Odds
Scotland will pin their hopes on Adams and Dykes getting among the goals but it was midfielder John McGinn who topped the scoring charts in qualifying with seven.
Clarke’s men had to resist second-half pressure from the Czechs in Glasgow where Soucek spurned the easiest of chances, scooping the ball over from three yards out.
However, the West Ham midfielder scored a hat-trick in the 6-2 win in Estonia and he is 12/1 and 6/1 either to break the deadlock or score, but Schick, who struck four times during qualifying, is the Czechs’ favourite at 5/1 and 14/5.
Match Info
Where: Hampden Park
When: 14:00, Monday 14th June
How to watch: BBC 1
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
