France vs Ukraine prediction: EUROPE: World Cup – Qualification betting tips on match 2025-11-12 19:45.
[p]France stand on the brink of booking their ticket to the 2026 World Cup and will rubber stamp their ticket to the finals if they beat Ukraine. [/p]
[p]Match News and Current Form[/p]
[p]The mission for France here is simple – beat Ukraine and they’ll become one of the first European nations to book their spot at the summer’s showpiece event. They’ve cruised through World Cup qualification (WCQ) Group D so far (W3, D1), a campaign which they opened with a 2-0 win against Ukraine, although their sole stumble did come at the end of the last break when they threw a lead away to draw 2-2 against Iceland. Returning to winning ways here at the Parc des Princes seems highly likely for a side who’ve won four of their last five matches on French soil (D1), a record which should they extend here would secure an eighth successive World Cup finals appearance for the 2018 winners.[/p]
[p]Ukraine will be incredibly envious of France’s streak of World Cup finals appearances given they haven’t successfully advanced through WCQ since 2006. Despite winning their last two WCQ games in October, it’s difficult to see that record changing in this cycle, at least by the automatic route, as Ukraine need to come to Paris and stretch that winning streak to have any realistic chance of topping Group D. Sitting second, with a three-point pre-round cushion to third-placed Iceland who play the group’s whipping boys Azerbaijan, Ukraine may have half an eye on Sunday’s showdown with Iceland which looks set to be a winner-takes-all clash for the play-off berth. [/p]
[p]Head-to-Head History[/p]
[p]France have dominated the historical H2H stakes (W7, D5, L1) and are unbeaten in all six meetings on French soil (W4, D2).[/p]
[p]Hot Stats and Streaks[/p]
[p]France have scored 2+ goals in their last seven internationals.[/p]
[p]France have scored after the hour mark in their last six WCQ games.[/p]
[p]Ten of Ukraine’s last 12 WCQ matches (excluding play-offs) saw both teams score. [/p]
[p]Ukraine have never scored more than once in an away H2H. [/p]
[p]Key Players to Watch and Missing Players[/p]
[p]Kylian MbappĂ© has almost twice as many international goals (53) as the rest of the current France squad combined (28) – none of his last nine French strikes arrived before the 40th minute. Ukraine’s Ruslan Malinovskyi netted three goals across the October international window and another strike could be a positive omen, as Ukraine have won on six of his last seven scoring appearances. [/p]
[p]Injured PSG duo Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué are two big-name absentees from the France squad, while Oleksandr Zinchenko is absent for Ukraine due to a groin injury. [/p]
[p]For all the latest team news, please check the Flashscore match centre.[/p]
[p]Betting Analysis[/p]
[p]With the huge incentive of a win booking their spot at the finals, we’re backing France to win by a -1 handicap. [/p]
[p][i]Author: Chris Wilson[/i][/p]