The Czech Republic started their hunt for a first World Cup appearance since 2006 in exciting fashion, recording a 6-2 win over Estonia in what was their highest scoring World Cup Qualifying (WCQ) fixture since 2005. However against Belgium they face FIFA’s number one ranked nation, and considering they’ve lost by a 2+ goal margin in two of three games played vs top-five ranked countries since the start of 2019, it looks likely that the Czech Republic’s current 35-game streak without a draw will continue (W20, L15). However the one exception since 2019 was a victory over England, a game that saw the Czech Republic concede the opener but come back to win 2-1 - that’s been the case in three of their previous six home victories too. The last home H2H also saw the Czech Republic concede first but win 3-1, so counting them out if they go 1-0 down - as was the case vs Estonia - could be unwise. Only four Belgians have appeared in a World Cup final - but they were all match officials during the first three (1930/34/38)! Yet despite never winning the World Cup as a nation, Belgium are ranked number one for a reason, and have won 17 of the 19 games they’ve played since the start of 2019, including 15 by a -1 handicap. 2-3
The Czech Republic started their hunt for a first World Cup appearance since 2006 in exciting fashion, recording a 6-2 win over Estonia in what was their highest scoring World Cup Qualifying (WCQ) fixture since 2005. However against Belgium they face FIFA’s number one ranked nation, and considering they’ve lost by a 2+ goal margin in two of three games played vs top-five ranked countries since the start of 2019, it looks likely that the Czech Republic’s current 35-game streak without a draw will continue (W20, L15).
However the one exception since 2019 was a victory over England, a game that saw the Czech Republic concede the opener but come back to win 2-1 - that’s been the case in three of their previous six home victories too. The last home H2H also saw the Czech Republic concede first but win 3-1, so counting them out if they go 1-0 down - as was the case vs Estonia - could be unwise.
Only four Belgians have appeared in a World Cup final - but they were all match officials during the first three (1930/34/38)! Yet despite never winning the World Cup as a nation, Belgium are ranked number one for a reason, and have won 17 of the 19 games they’ve played since the start of 2019, including 15 by a -1 handicap.
2-3