Good Morning ☀️,

It’s Lucas here, your Chief Predictions Officer at What Are the Odds?

This week, we’re taking a break from the Premier League (or, more accurately, the Premier League’s taking a break from us).

So instead, we’re bringing you something even better — picks so good you’ll feel like you’re taking candy from a baby.

Yep, it’s that time of the season again — that time where relative nobodies take on the world’s strongest teams.

I’m talking about the World Cup Qualifiers, of course.

Here’s what’s up in this week’s edition of What Are the Odds?

• The safest picks from this week's batch of World Cup Qualifying matches. 🦵⚽

• A tale of switching allegiance (and some trivia to go with it). 🏟️✨

• A hot take courtesy of Zinedine Zidane. 🔥

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⚽ Austria vs San Marino
🏟 World Cup UEFA Qualification (Round 7)
Thursday 09 Oct; 20:45 (Europe/Paris)

• CXSports says: Austria is in really solid form in this qualifying campaign. So far, they’ve racked up 7 victories, 2 draws, and just one loss. Notably, their home record is more or less flawless (undefeated). San Marino, on the other hand, has had a terrible campaign, losing basically all of their matches. And just to make matters worse, the last time these two met in June, Austria destroyed San Marino 4-0 on the road. And this time, they’re playing at home. No prizes for guessing who’ll be coming out on top in this game.

• Score prediction: 5-0 for Austria

Option #1

• Bet: Austria Victory

• Odds Range: 1.01-1.01

Option #2

• Bet: Both Teams to Score (No)

• Odds Range: 1.20-1.35

⚽ Belarus vs Denmark
🏟 World Cup UEFA Qualification (Round 7)
Thursday 09 Oct; 20:45 (Europe/Paris)

• CXSports says: Belarus has put in a somewhat decent performance in this World Cup Qualifying campaign with a pretty even blend of victories, losses, and draws. That’s left them as a very ‘middle of the pack’ side that’s competitive against most, but not quite at the level needed to dictate play at higher levels. Denmark, on the other hand, is currently leading their group with some strong performances (including a 3-0 clean sheet against Greece) and decent stats across the board, including a ~60% possession rate. That should see them control this game comfortably.

• Score prediction: 1-3 for Denmark

Option #1

• Bet: Denmark Victory

• Odds Range: 1.07-1.15

Option #2

• Bet: Both Teams to Score (Yes)

• Odds Range: 2.30-3.35

⚽ Malta vs Netherlands
🏟 World Cup UEFA Qualification (Round 7)
Thursday 09 Oct; 20:45 (Europe/Paris)

• CXSports says: The last time these two met, the Netherlands absolutely dominated, with the game ending in a humiliating 8-0 defeat for Malta. And that wasn’t just a lucky, once-in-a-lifetime event — Malta has historically struggled against the Netherlands (although maybe not to quite the same extent). With that said, since that last meeting, there have been calls for big changes on the Malta side, so we might see a slightly more controlled scoreline this time around… but not by much.

• Score prediction: 0-6 for the Netherlands

Option #1

• Bet: Netherlands Victory

• Odds Range: 1.01-1.07

Option #2

• Bet: Both Teams to Score (No)

• Odds Range: 1.19-1.35

⚽ Kazakhstan vs Liechtenstein
🏟 World Cup UEFA Qualification (Round 7)
Friday 10 Oct; 16:00 (Europe/Paris)

• CXSports says: In the words of Borat, “Kazakhstan is greatest country”. Now, that might not be universally applicable (there are much greater squads hitting the World Cup Qualifiers), but it’s probably true in this game. While their qualifying run hasn’t been great (they lost 0-6 to Belgium!), it’s a whole lot better than Liechtenstein, who’ve suffered multiple defeats on that sort of scale to much lesser teams than Belgium. That makes Kazakhstan a clear favorite here.

• Score prediction: 3-0 for Kazakhstan

Option #1

• Bet: Kazakhstan Victory

• Odds Range: 1.06-1.16

Option #2

• Bet: Both Teams to Score (No)

• Odds Range: 1.30-1.50

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Zinedine Zidane is one of the greatest footballers to have ever graced the field.

So it’s no surprise that his son, Luca, also has a bit of talent. In fact, he even got a call-up for a World Cup squad in just the last week.

But here’s the surprise — he won’t be following in his father’s footsteps. Instead, he’ll be representing a different country — Algeria — after he switched allegiances late last month.

Now let’s see if you know what country he would have represented had he followed in his father’s footsteps.

Let’s find out with a quick quiz from our friends at Masters of Trivia.

Question: Zidane was born in which French city.

• A: Marseille

• B: Paris

• C: Lyon

• D: Nantes

Think you know the answer?

Read to the end to see if you were right.

⚽ France vs Azerbaijan
🏟 World Cup UEFA Qualification (Round 7)
Friday 10 Oct; 20:45 (Europe/Paris)

• CXSports says: There isn’t really much that needs to be said about this game that isn’t already obvious to most people. France is undeniably one of the top teams in the world. Azerbaijan, while not terrible, is much closer to being a middle-of-the-pack squad that can perform well against lesser squads but struggles royally against the top tier. And while they might have improved since their unforgettable 10-0 loss to France from way back in the day, their improvement hasn’t been that dramatic that they’ll be offering much in the way of resistance.

• Score prediction: 4-0 for France

Option #1

• Bet: France Victory

• Odds Range: 1.01-1.03

Option #2

• Bet: Both Teams to Score (No)

• Odds Range: 1.33-1.53

⚽ Germany vs Luxembourg
🏟 World Cup UEFA Qualification (Round 7)
Friday 10 Oct; 20:45 (Europe/Paris)

• CXSports says: While there’s a case to be made that Germany isn’t performing at its peak (its shock 2-0 loss to Slovakia being a case in point), there’s still plenty to suggest they’re far and away the hot favorites in this game. The aggregate head-to-head tally between these two (Germany 53-10 Luxembourg) illustrates this perfectly, and their 3-1 comeback victory over Northern Ireland recently suggests they’re not struggling as much as their shock loss might have suggested. In short, the most Luxembourg can hope for in this game is a respectable scoreline, but even that might be a struggle.

• Score prediction: 4-0 for Germany

Option #1

• Bet: Germany Victory

• Odds Range: 1.01-1.07

Option #2

• Bet: Both Teams to Score (No)

• Odds Range: 1.22-1.34

⚽ Portugal vs Republic of Ireland
🏟 World Cup UEFA Qualification (Round 7)
Saturday 11 Oct; 20:45 (Europe/Paris)

• CXSports says: No surprises here, but Portugal has kicked off this qualifying campaign in fine form, including a massive 5-0 victory over Armenia in September. Ireland has been much less impressive, and making matters worse are increasing fitness worries hanging over some key players’ heads. We should also not forget that, historically, Portugal has enjoyed a very comfortable upper hand in this fixture — to date, they’re undefeated, and this game won’t likely change that.

• Score prediction: 

Option #1

• Bet: Portugal Victory

• Odds Range: 1.12-1.21

Option #2

• Bet: Both Teams to Score (No)

• Odds Range: 1.39-1.73

⚽ Spain vs Georgia
🏟 World Cup UEFA Qualification (Round 7)
Saturday 11 Oct; 20:45 (Europe/Paris)

• CXSports says: When Spain comes up against a side like Georgia, you’d typically expect them to dominate. And they probably will. However, don’t expect to see a total bloodbath here. While far from being at the same level as Spain, Georgia has at least managed to make the occasional bit of progress when playing against Spain, whether that be picking off the occasional goal, or even winning an entire game (although that was in a friendly, way back in 2016 — Georgia’s never taken a victory in a serious competition). As for what this means for this game, expect to see Spain dominate with the possibility of Georgia sneaking in a single goal at some point along the way.

• Score prediction: 4-1 for Spain

Option #1

• Bet: Spain Victory

• Odds Range: 1.03-1.15

Option #2

• Bet: Both Teams to Score (Yes)

• Odds Range: 1.90-2.48

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In life, it’s easy to let thoughts about what we don’t have weigh us down.

We’re all prone to it, even Zinedine Zidane.

But then he had a realization.

Moral of the story?

Sometimes, it’s worth taking stock of the things we do have rather than fixating on what we don’t have.

More often than not, it empowers us to do a lot more than we might otherwise think.

Want to learn more about Zinedine Zidane?

Masters of Trivia is the only trivia app where every player is rewarded. Play all the trivia quizzes you can handle and earn real rewards simply for participating.

Take Masters of Trivia for a spin with the Zinedine Zidane Trivia Quiz today.

PS: The answer to this week’s question was [A] — Zidane was born in the French city of Marseille. Discover more trivia like this with the Zinedine Zidane Trivia Quiz.