The road to the 2026 FIFA World Cup starts on Thursday for these two countries as Group A of UEFA qualifying gets underway. The group consists of Germany, Slovakia, Luxembourg and Northern Ireland. Germany and Slovakia will face off against each other before Northern Ireland visits Luxembourg.
Germany will be considered big favorites not only for this game but to win the group outright. For Slovakia, they will be looking for their second World Cup appearance in the country’s history after making it to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Can they book their tickets to the USA?
Germany are -210 favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook for this one, with a draw available at +350. Fancy a Slovakia upset? They are +600 on the moneyline.
Slovakia vs. Germany prediction, pick
This bet can be found under the “Match Parlays” tab. These two countries face off for the first time since 2016 as we get the UEFA World Cup qualifiers started. Germany are ranked ninth in the world in the FIFA World Rankings, while Slovakia comes in at 52nd.
Germany have won three of the last five games between these two nations dating back to 2005, but Slovakia have won this fixture twice. Both games were friendlies, and Germany’s three wins were all in the Euro’s.
I expect another German win in this one, as they should have too much firepower for Slovakia. Even on the road, I expect them to dominate possession, territory and on the scoreline. Slovakia will likely try to counter-attack with pace to get on the scoresheet.
Germany have only won one of their last four games going into this, but they played some stiff opposition in the Nations League against Italy twice, Portugal and France. In the four games before that, they won three times. For Slovakia, they go into this game winless in their last four, suffering losses to Slovenia, Greece and Israel.
There have only been three or more goals scored in one of Slovakia’s last six fixtures, and in Germany’s case, there have been two games with four or more goals.
If this game were in Germany, I’d lean towards the over, but having to go away from home in Europe is never straightforward. I like the Germans to come away with the three points in a low-scoring affair.
