2017 Confederations Cup Preview and Odds – Russia vs New Zealand

June 17, 2017 16:00pm

Stadion Krestovskyi

Confederation Cup – Group A

Recent Form (All comps):

Russia: DWDLW

New Zealand: LLWWD

In what is more than just a dress rehearsal for next summer’s World Cup Finals, hosts Russia will look to get their home Confederations Cup tournament off to a flying start when they take on rank outsiders New Zealand at the 68,000 seater Stadion Krestovskyi on Saturday afternoon.

Russia have not made much of an impact in the international stage in recent years and few pundits have backed them to do well here. However, Coach Stanislav Cherchesov has made steady progress since taking his place in the hot seat less than a year ago, bringing in a host of new faces to line up alongside the old guard.

Keen to do well here but with one eye also on next summer’s event, Cherchesov could give youngsters such as Aleksandr Golovin, Aleksei Miranchuk, Georgi Dzhikiya and Ilya Kutepov a chance to impress. That alone should give the home fans reason to feel excited.

They arrive here having drawn against Chile and Belgium, and beaten Hungary in their most recent friendly encounters, with the memory of last summer’s dismal Euro 2016 performance now fading fast.

Meanwhile, New Zealand have rightly been marked as tournament underdogs. They arrive here as OFC Nations Cup champions, having defeated Papua New Guinea on penalties in last summer’s final. But while some may question their credentials here, they can boast one of their best squads in many years. Whether they are good enough to earn any points in this group remains to be seen.

The Kiwi’s squad features a couple names that will be familiar to English football followers with Chris Wood (Leeds United) and Sam Brotherton (Sunderland) both selected. They arrive here on the back of back-to-back friendly defeats to Northern Ireland and Belarus. Their last significant result was 1-1 friendly draw with USA back in October.

Prediction

With players such as Igor Akinfeev, Yuri Zhirkov, and Fyodor Smolov at their disposal and a decent defensive line-up, it is hard to imagine anything other than a win for the host nation.

New Zealand have drawn blanks in three of their last four away games, so the Russia Win to Nil could come into play here.

Russia Win to Nil can be backed at 4/5, while Russia to win 2-0 also looks good at a price of 5/1 with Betfair.

Our recommended bookmaker for all your 2017 Confederation Cup bets is Betfair.

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