World Cup 2014: Olsen problems to continue

Cheer up, Egil. On second thoughts...
Ben Lyttleton scours the fixture list across Europe and finds some interesting betting angles for Friday night's World Cup qualifiers...
England coach Roy Hodgson was not the only national team boss to have a problem on the Underground this week. While Hodgson told a passenger about his plans for Rio Ferdinand's international future, his Norway counterpart Egil Olsen had his wallet stolen on a busy train - and that was probably not the worst news of his week.
Norway centre-forward Mohammed Abdellaoue is out of Friday's game against group leaders Switzerland and Joshua King, Alexander Soderlund and Daniel Braaten are fighting it out to be the sole striker in his 4-5-1 formation. With two international goals between them, how Norway will score could be a problem in Switzerland, especially as Olsen's side looked toothless in their last away match, a surprise 2-0 loss in Iceland. That has left them lagging the Swiss after only two games, and though they must get something out of this game to prevent a bigger deficit, I can't see them beating the hosts, who are 1.715/7 to top Group E .
Swiss coach Ottmar Hitzfeld has no such selection problems; in fact he named his starting eleven on Wednesday morning, a 4-2-3-1 system with Valon Behrami and Gokhan Inler behind Xherdan Shaqiri, Granit Xhaka and Tranquilio Barnetta. With back-to-back 2-0 wins behind them, including a tricky game in Slovenia, Switzerland could be a team to watch in Brazil. Unfortunately, Norway, who when the draw was made might have fancied their chances, might not be joining them. With Norway's striking problems, the Under-2.5 Goals price at (1.768/11) looks a tempting one, while a narrow Switzerland win, 1-0, is 6.86/1 .
Group A is tight, with Croatia, Serbia and Belgium all fighting it out for top spot. With the latter two playing each other, this should be an opportunity for Croatia to take advantage, but they face a tricky trip to Macedonia. Croatia beat these opponents 1-0 thanks to a late Nikica Jelavic goal last month, but were out-played for large parts of the game. I have been down on new coach Igor Stimac, and after he called up Dinamo Zagreb attacking midfielder Sammir, it seems I am not alone.
Stimac has been accused of pandering to the wishes of Dinamo vice-president Zdravko Mamic, and picking Sammir, Brazilian-born but now naturalized, to help him earn a move away from Dinamo. One player, Daniel Pranjic, has even retired from international football, citing the call-up as his reason. It all adds up to more pressure for Stimac - where even would Sammir play in a system that is struggling to fit in Luka Modric, Ivans Rakitic and Perisic and Niko Kranjcar? - and makes laying Croatia at 1.824/5 seem the best bet here .
Selection issues are dominating the build-up to the Turkey-Romania game, which is already looking like a first-leg play-off for which team will finish behind Holland in Group D. Turkey coach Abdullah Avci needs to choose between Nuri Sahin and Mehmet Topal for the last midfield slot, while Emre Belozoglu and Arda Turan, the pair whose form has helped Atletico Madrid top La Liga, will start. Turkey lost to the Dutch last month but had more possession and struck the crossbar twice; there is a weakness at the back, though, as the young centre-back pairing of Semih Kaya, 21, and Omer Toprak, 23, lacks experience.
That's exactly what Romania have, as coach Victor Piturca has recalled Adrian Mutu and Ciprian Marica to the squad, neither of whom have scored this season. But Piturca has a great record behind him: he qualified Romania for Euro 2000 and Euro 2008, since returning to the job 14 months ago, Romania have lost only twice in 14 games. That's why I like the 3.814/5 for a draw in this game.
Czech Republic take on Malta in Petr Cech's hometown of Plzen, and with confidence high after a decent goalless draw against Denmark last time out. As always, the problem is where the goals will come from: Milan Baros has now retired from international football, and Tomas Pekhart and Jan Rezek have been called up despite calls for Vaclav Kadlec and Stanislav Tecl to get the nod. "They will get a chance in future but for now I am banking on these guys," said coach Michal Bilek. They might not struggle too much against Malta, goalless and pointless in Group B: a 2-0 Correct Score is 6.611/2 for the Czechs .