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Macedonia v Ireland Odds: Irish favourites to win Group B qualifier

Ireland continue their bid to qualify for Euro 2012 with a Group B qualifying fixture against Macedonia at the City Stadium in Skopje on Saturday night. The Irish start as favourites at nicely priced odds of 11/10 with Stan James as they look to increase a strong position at the head of the Group B table, while Macedonia can be backed at 12/5, with the draw a 9/4 punt.

Giovanni Trapattoni's Ireland side are joint top of Group B on 10 points with Slovakia and Russia and will be keen to build on their recent Carling Nations Cup success. Robbie Keane in particular was in fine form during that home nations tournament as he notched three goals in two matches, although the country's record scorer with 49 goals is a fitness doubt for this weekend.

Keane picked up a knock and a groin strain in training but he is expected to be fit and he looks to offer great value as a first goalscorer if he is fit as he is available at industry best priced odds of 5/1 with StanJames. If Keane fails to recover in time then Simon Cox is expected to replace him as Shane Long is still not fully recovered from Reading's Championship play-off final defeat to Swansea, and Cox can be backed at odds of 13/2 to score first.

Ireland are without the suspended Richard Dunne and the injured Keith Andrews, Kevin Doyle and Darron Gibson though. Even without those key men they will look to build on a run of four wins in the last five internationals and they emerged victorious 2-1 when they played Macedonia in Dublin in March.

Macedonia will play their first match in their new stadium on Saturday and are languishing second from bottom in the Group B table after picking up just one win in five Euro 2012 qualifying matches, losing three. Their main hope for goals will come from the experienced Inter Milan striker Goran Pandev, who is available at best priced odds of 15/2 with StanJames.com to score first.

However, Pandev only notched three goals for his club last season and goals have been an issue for the Macedonians. They have failed to score in three of their last four internationals and six of their last eight have involved under 2.5 goals. Under 2.5 goals this weekend could be well be worth a look at 4/6.

Meanwhile, Macedonia have picked up just one win in their last eight international fixtures and have only beaten Ireland once in five meetings. We fancy even a depleted Irish side should win this one and the correct score of 2-0 looks as if it could provide value as a 15/2 punt.

Find out more about the match odds, team form and latest news for Macedonia and Ireland at our dedicated Euro 2012 mini-site.

Macedonia v Ireland Form

Check the season's statistics for both Macedonia and Ireland plus the odds ahead of Saturday's Euro 2012 qualifying match.

Macedonia Stats | Ireland Stats

Macedonia v Ireland Tips

Tip #1: Ireland to win the match @ 11/10 wit StanJames.com
Tip #2: Robbie Keane to score first @ 5/1 with StanJames.com
Tip #3: Under 2.5 goals in the match @ 4/6 with StanJames.com

Macedonia v Ireland Odds

Match Betting

12/5 Macedonia
9/4 Draw
11/10 Ireland

Correct Score Odds

8/1 Macedonia 1-0
16/1 Macedonia 2-0
10/1 Macedonia 2-1
15/2 Draw 0-0
9/2 Draw 1-1
12/1 Draw 2-2
9/2 Ireland 1-0
15/2 Ireland 2-0
13/2 Ireland 2-1

First Goalscorer Odds

5/1 Robbie Keane
6/1 Shane Long
13/2 Simon Cox
15/2 Goran Pandev
8/1 Ilco Naumoski
8/1 Ivan Trickovski
8/1 Aiden McGeady
17/2 No Goalscorer
9/1 Andrew Keogh
9/1 Aco Stojkov
9/1 Ferhan Hasani
11/1 Bajram Fetai

Odds supplied by StanJames.com, who provide over 100 other betting markets, including live betting in-running, for this match and all the weekend's Euro 2012 qualifying matches.

Posted: Friday, 3rd June 2011
Author: Chris James
Tags: european championship, ireland, macedonia, robbie keane, stan james,

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