Weekend Review: Kazakhs and Welsh deal blows to Europe’s elite
Denmark collapse after leading 2-0 with 73 minutes gone as Kazakhstan seal famous win while Rob Page’s Wales side peg back Croatia
The lull of the international break benefited the bookies as shock results and dogged performances in Europe hampered punters.
That said, England (1/3) followed their impressive 2-1 away win in Italy with a professional 2-0 dismissal of Ukraine at Wembley.
Harry Kane, fresh off the back of becoming his nation’s all-time top scorer, opened the scoring after turning in Bukayo Saka’s cross.
A few moments later Saka curled in an absolute beauty to give his side a 2-0 lead from which they rarely looked troubled.
England now sit pretty at the top of Group C with six points as the Three Lions look to make a charge at Euro 2024 glory with their new golden generation after a disappointing quarter-final exit at the World Cup last year.
Kindred Group’s Ali Gill said: “England’s easy 2-0 over Ukraine went pretty much to plan, although clearly punters had expected a bit more from Southgate’s men after an impressive win in Italy on Thursday, and we actually managed to squeeze some profit out of that result.”
Thank you Wembley ! 😁⚽️🏴 pic.twitter.com/FfFcGx3qwz
— Bukayo Saka (@BukayoSaka87) March 26, 2023
Fellow Home Nation Wales gave the layers a black eye on Saturday after Ipswich Town striker Nathan Broadhead scored a debut stoppage-time equaliser against Croatia (4/11).
Croatia peppered the Wales goal, registering 19 shots compared to the away side’s four and ending the game with 67% possession. Yet their failure to add to Andrej Kramaric’s opener was their undoing.
Elsewhere, Kazakhstan, ranked 115th in the world, pulled off a miraculous comeback to beat 1/5-shots Denmark.
Kazakhstan, who were 20/1 before the encounter in Astana, found themselves 2-0 down after 35 minutes before a late 17-minute blitz saw the game turn on its head.
A penalty from Baktiyor Zaynutdinov halved the deficit before a wonderstrike from Askhat Tagybergen drew the game level. Abat Aymbetov headed in a late winner to earn himself hero status and give his side a stunning win.
Betfair Sportsbook revealed seven customers backed Kazakhstan at 500/1 when 2-0 down while one person had £5 on the home side at 600/1.
On the Betfair Exchange, Kazakhstan had been available to back at the shortest odds possible, 1.01 (1/100), resulting in £63,000 matched with 17 minutes left on the clock. Pain for the backers, celebration for the layers.
Summing up the weekend’s action, Betfred’s Alan Firkins said: “The international break might be up there with a trip to the dentist (if you can find one), but Wales’ equaliser at the death on Saturday night was a fabulous tonic all round. Friday was a horror show with all the favs sluicing up, but Denmark losing was a decent result.”
Gill added: “Despite relatively few shocks across the weekend’s matches, there were still a couple which went well our way and took some accas with them too.
“Kazakhstan’s stunning comeback win over Denmark was our second-best result in the book over Euro qualifying this week, with Wales’ impressive 1-1 draw with Croatia taking top spot.”
Elsewhere, Cristiano Ronaldo popped into our collective consciousness again after disappearing to Saudi Arabia to score twice in a 6-0 thumping of minnows Luxembourg.
The Kazakhs’ win and the spectre of Ronaldo was a particularly bitter pill for bet365 to swallow, as Steve Freeth detailed for EGR.
WHAT A GOAL! 😱😱
A spectacular strike from Askhat Tagybergen stuns Denmark as Kazakhstan come from two down to equalise 🇰🇿💥#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/wv2HkUZt1I
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) March 26, 2023
Freeth said: “I’ll start with Cristiano Ronaldo who was part of a Portugal team that did the business for punters in a 6-0 victory over Luxembourg. The ageing superstar still has his backers, and his brace gave us one of the worst results of the weekend.
“However, he was outdone by Kazakhstan who scored three times in the final 17 minutes to defeat Denmark 3-2 in a remarkable victory. The result was so bad due to our ‘2 Goals Ahead’ early pay-out offer where we settle pre-match singles and multiple bets when a side goes 2-0 ahead.”
In horseracing, evens favourite Equinox was described as a freak of a horse after strolling to victory in the Dubai Sheema Classic, beating Irish Derby winner Westover into second to take the $6m prize.
Firkins said: “On the racing front Japanese superstar Equinox sauntered to victory in the Sheema Classic and is now around a 6/1 chance for autumn’s Arc de Triomphe. He was simply majestic, but will doubtless encounter easy ground in Paris and that would be a first.”
Finally, Freeth said it had been “carnage on the golf front” for the Stoke-on-Trent-based operator after a series of shrewd bets came up trumps.
World number 464 Nick Bachem won the Jonsson Workwear Open by four shots after a final round of 64 in Johannesburg in what is the 23-year-old German’s first full year on the Tour.
Meanwhile, Celine Boutier came out on top in the play-off against England’s Georgia Hall for the LGPA Drive On Championship.
Two years ago Nick Bachem was playing on the Pro Golf Tour.
He's now a winner on the DP World Tour!#JonssonWorkwearOpen | @Sunshine_Tour pic.twitter.com/E8ERWkqCk1
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) March 26, 2023
Freeth commented: “Our golf liabilities were a sea of red when I clicked on them this morning, with a number of nice singles and multiples being landed over the weekend in different tournaments.
“Jonsson winner Nick Bachem opened up at 160/1 before going off at 66/1, with a number of good judges tipping him up.
“Some of our customers also had some huge returns for small stakes on Matt Wallace at 25/1 for the Corales Puntacana Championship, Celine Boutier in the LPGA Drive on Championship and 40/1 shot Sam Burns didn’t go unbacked in the WGC World Matchplay either,” he added.