Weekend Soccer Parlay: Italy, Georgia Top Picks

Can Italy Find Rhythm Under Spalletti and Beat Malta?

It has been a tumultuous few years for the Italian national team, who won their first European Championship in 53 years at Wembley Stadium in November 2021, only to follow that up with one win and four draws in World Cup qualifiers.

The Azzurri were forced to go through the World Cup qualifying playoffs, where they would lose 1-0 to North Macedonia, missing out on a trip to the biggest tournament in sports for the second straight time. Today, they find themselves in grave danger of missing out on a spot in the Euros for the first time since 1992.

Italy began their Euro qualifying campaign with a 2-1 loss to England before beating Malta 2-0, with Mateo Retegui opening the scoring within a quarter-hour whilst Sandro Tonali would complete his brace of assists in the 27th minute and find Matteo Pessina for the second goal.

The summer would bring winds of change as Roberto Mancini stepped down after five years in charge. Luciano Spalletti took charge on the back of his first-ever Scudetto as a manager, when he guided Napoli to their first league title in 33 years. The 64-year-old signed up for his first international job but was unable to get off to a winning start in September.

Ciro Immobile opened the scoring before the break, only for Enis Bardhi to equalize in the 81st minute for North Macedonia. An unused substitute in their trip to Skopje, Davide Frattesi was given the start in their following match at the San Siro, where he plies his trade for Inter, and gave Italy a 2-0 lead within a half-hour, only for Ukraine’s Andriy Yarmolenko to pull one back before halftime.

Italy will face off against Malta in Bari before taking on England at Wembley in a rematch of the Euros final, whilst November will see them host North Macedonia before playing Ukraine in their final qualifier. They currently sit second in their group, six points behind England and level on seven points with Ukraine and North Macedonia – with a game in hand on all of their opponents. Malta is seven points back.

An archipelago in the central Mediterranean between Sicily and the North African coast, Malta is one of the smallest nations in Europe with a population of 500,000. While they have competed in every Euro and World Cup qualifier since becoming a FIFA member in 1959, Malta have never made it to the finals of any major competition, and it doesn’t look like they’re going to change that anytime soon.

They had a rare 12 minutes of hope in their first Euro qualifier when Yannick Yankam pulled one back for the visitors, but North Macedonia would nevertheless hold on for a 2-1 victory. Since then, Malta have scored zero goals and conceded nine. I’m expecting that trend to continue as they face off against an Italy side that is in desperate need of three points.

Which teams are the best soccer bets this weekend to win their matches this weekend? Whilst they will have a Herculean task in trying to come away with a victory against England at Wembley in what will be the first major test of the Spalletti era, it’s hard to not see Italy trouncing Malta and getting a comfortable result in what should be their easiest Euro qualifier.

If you plan to bet on soccer this weekend, make sure to put your money on a comfortable, high-scoring victory for the Azzurri.

PICK: Italy to win and over 3.5 goals (-110)

Mikautadze, Georgia to Strike vs Cyprus

Since seceding from the Soviet Union and becoming an independent nation, Georgia have unsuccessfully attempted to qualify for every tournament since Euro ‘96. The nation of 3.7 million had its closest encounter when they came within 90 minutes of reaching the 2020 European Championship after beating Belarus 1-0, only to lose to North Macedonia 1-0 in the playoff final.

Georgia kicked off their qualifying campaign for next summer’s Euros with a 1-1 draw against Norway on March 28 that would see Georges Mikautadze equalize within an hour. Over the next three months, Mikautadze would lead Metz to automatic promotion and finished atop the Ligue 2 scoring charts with 23 goals.

He opened the scoring within a half-hour in Larnaca, only for Cyprus to draw level before the break with a penalty, but Georgia would prevail with the three points courtesy of an 84th-minute goal from substitute Zuriko Davitashvili. Mikautadze would begin the 2023-24 season with an assist in their 5-1 loss against Rennes and a goal apiece in their 2-2 draw vs. Marseille and their 1-0 win against Clermont Foot before joining Ajax for €19 million with add-ons on Aug. 30.

Mikautadze would play the full 90 in their goalless draw to Fortuna Sittard before coming off the bench in their 3-1 loss at Twente, but he would have to wait another three weeks before making his third appearance, coming off the bench in the 40th minute of their 2-1 loss to AZ Alkmaar. Whilst the 22-year-old has yet to find the back of the net for Metz, he ended a 46-day goalless drought on Thursday when he scored four goals in a 8-0 win against Thailand, the most lopsided win in Georgia’s history as a national team.

It has been a shambolic start to the season for Ajax, who sit 16th in the relegation playoff spot, and it is clear that, outside of his turbulent club situation, Mikautadze can be an incredibly effective goal scorer when playing in the right context. Alongside Napoli winger Khvicha Kvaratshkelia, Mikautadze has what it takes to form a dynamic duo in attack for Georgia, and we’re expecting him to continue his red-hot goal-scoring form in our soccer betting predictions for the weekend’s Euro qualifiers.

Georgia sit six points behind Norway and 11 behind Scotland, with a game in hand on both, and eight behind Spain. Whilst they will struggle to qualify directly, they are assured of at least a playoff spot due to their Nations League ranking. Cyprus, meanwhile, have lost all six of their qualifiers thus far, scoring twice and conceding 21 goals, and they’ll be traveling to Tbilisi on the back of a 4-0 home defeat to Norway.

I’m backing Mikautadze to pick apart their leaky defense and lead the Jvarosnebi to victory.

PICK: Georges Mikautadze to score 1+ goal and Georgia to win (+104)

Q: Which soccer players are most likely to score goals this weekend?

A: After a historic poker against Thailand, Georges Mikautadze has what it takes to get on the scoresheet for Georgia as they take on Cyprus at home.