Kosovo vs Spain

Kosovo welcome visitors from Spain for this World Cup qualifying match early Wednesday morning Beijing time. Spain unsurprisingly lead the group with 10 points, Sweden are second with 9 points and Kosovo have picked up respectable 4 points so far. On paper the hosts still of course have a chance to qualify but I would say their chances are minimal. Spain are without a doubt superior in this group by raw class and also Sweden are clearly better than Kosovo, who have gradually improved their football in recent years though. However, the difference in class in every area of the game is huge here. Kosovo do have a few skilled individuals but Spain should have way too much class here, especially in offense. I rate them a bit higher than most football analysts globally - as a top-3 country in the World at the moment and in my opinion they were actually the best team in EURO 2020. They created more in goal expectancy versus Italy and also had a big ball possession % in the semi-finals but eventually lost in penalties. In fact, throughout the whole tournament Spain created a lot more in expected goals than they were able to score. I do realize some of their offensive players, especially Alvaro Morata, are "famous" for wasting great scoring chances and did these indeed happen in many matches but versus Slovakia they finally started making the most of the huge number of scoring chances they created and totally crushed the Slovaks 5-0. Overall I think Spain performed better than many experts, including myself, expected and their relatively young team should improve all the time moving forward..

I think the odds would be lower on Spain here had they beaten Sweden last week but Sweden won 2-1 at home. Spain dominated the match with close to 70% ball possession and created a lot more in expected goals than the Swedes. Sweden are a decent team though, known for very solid defense and fighting spirit and forced Spain into a scoreless draw in EURO 2020 too despite being massively dominated by Spain's World-class players. In their most recent match Spain comfortably swept past Georgia 4-0 who are not a bad team but of course Spain were very big favorites to win. Kosovo played a 1-1 home draw a few days ago with Greece and played well but I must say Greece have been in huge decline for years now and did not qualify for the EURO 2020. I think Kosovo are perhaps given too much credit for this match and the point they took from a traditional football country and former European Champions Greece. Spain and Kosovo already played a match last March and Spain won 3-1 at home after huge dominance and the numbers could easily have been bigger! They have an excellent chance of winning by at least two goals difference and even a bigger win would not surprise me at all..

To sum up, very strong Spain -1.5 goals handicap is my pick for my fans!

北京时间周三凌晨，科索沃迎来了来自西班牙的客队参加本届世界杯预选赛。不出所料，西班牙以 10 分领先小组，瑞典以 9 分排名第二，科索沃到目前为止已经拿到了可观的 4 分。从纸面上看，东道主当然还有机会晋级，但我想说他们的机会很小。毫无疑问，西班牙在这个小组中的生力军水平更高，而瑞典也明显优于科索沃，尽管近年来他们的足球水平逐渐提高。然而，游戏的每个领域的阶级差异在这里都是巨大的。科索沃确实有一些技术娴熟的人，但西班牙在这里应该有太多的课程，尤其是在进攻方面。我对他们的评价比全球大多数足球分析师高一点——作为目前世界前三名的国家，在我看来，他们实际上是 2020 年欧洲杯最好的球队。与意大利相比，他们创造了更多的进球预期，并且还有半决赛大控球率，但最终输给了点球。事实上，在整场比赛中，西班牙创造的预期进球比他们能够得分的要多得多。我确实意识到他们的一些进攻球员，尤其是阿尔瓦罗·莫拉塔 (Alvaro Morata)，因浪费大量得分机会而“出名”，这种情况确实在许多比赛中发生过，但在对阵斯洛伐克的比赛中，他们终于开始充分利用他们创造的大量得分机会5-0 击败斯洛伐克。总的来说，我认为西班牙的表现比包括我在内的许多专家预期的要好，而且他们相对年轻的球队应该一直在进步。

我认为如果西班牙上周击败瑞典，他们在这里的赔率会更低，但瑞典在主场以 2-1 获胜。西班牙以接近 70% 的控球率统治了比赛，并且比瑞典人创造了更多的预期进球。瑞典是一支不错的球队，以非常扎实的防守和战斗精神而闻名，尽管西班牙在 2020 年欧洲杯上也没有得分由西班牙的世界级球员大量统治。在最近的比赛中，西班牙轻松地以 4-0 横扫格鲁吉亚，这支球队并不差，但西班牙当然是夺冠热门。科索沃几天前主场1-1战平希腊，打得不错，但我必须说希腊多年来一直在大幅下滑，没有资格参加2020年欧洲杯。我认为科索沃可能为此受到了太多的赞扬比赛以及他们从传统足球国家和前欧洲冠军希腊那里获得的积分。西班牙和科索沃已经在去年三月进行了一场比赛，西班牙凭借巨大的优势在主场以 3-1 获胜，而且这个数字很容易更大！他们有极好的机会以至少两个进球的差距获胜，甚至更大的胜利也不会让我感到惊讶。

总之我预测西班牙-1.5胜