Saudi Arabia vs Mexico - 2022 World Cup Betting Guide

Saudi Arabia Team Info – Impressive in Qualifying

Despite not winning any major tournaments for almost 20 years, Saudi Arabia had a fine qualifying campaign. They finished in first place in their group, which consisted of the likes of Australia and Japan. Since the retirement of Mohammad Al-Sahlawi in 2018, who scored 28 goals for the national team, they have had difficulty replacing his shoes, even 2 years on. Forward Saleh Al-Shehri added 4 goals to put his tally at 8 whilst midfielder Salem Al-Dawsari added 2 goals to his goal tally, which is 17.

All the players in the Saudi Arabian team play in the Saudi Professional League, for the major clubs such as Al-Hilal, Al-Shabab, Al-Nassr, and so on. This can be an advantage to Saudi Arabia, as the players will be more familiar with each other, and those who play in the same club may be able to bring their partnerships and teamplay to the national squad. In goal, they have Mohammed Al-Owais, who has 36 caps. Yasser Al-Shahrani has the most caps amongst the defenders, having played 69 times for Saudi Arabia. Next to him, there are younger options such as Sultan Al-Ghanam, Saud Abdulhamid, and Hassan Tambakti. Midfielder Fahad Al-Muwallad has 70 caps, and is the current player with the most caps in the team and has scored 17 goals. Next to him, they can play Salem Al-Dawsari, who has also scored 17 goals, but from 65 caps. In attack, they have Firas Al-Buraikan, who scored 4 goals in the qualifiers, to put his tally up to 6. He is only 22 years old, and is already showing that he has the potential to challenge Majed Abdullah's record of 72 goals, whose career spanned from 1978 to 1994.

Mexico Team Info – A True Threat in the Group Stage

Mexico is a team that has consistently made the round of 16 in every World Cup since 1994. The team's last major title came in 2019, when they won the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The CONMEBOL qualifiers, that were held from 2021 to early 2022 were quite surprising. Canada gave the top teams a run for their money, and though Mexico managed to equal Canada's record by winning 8, drawing 4, and losing 2, they had less goal difference than Canada, thus coming in second place. Mexico scored 17 goals in the competition, whilst top place Canada scored 23, and the United States scored 21.

This should not disturb Mexico's striking force, which contains some highly valued players such as Javier Hernandez, Hirving Lozano, Henry Martin, Jesus Corona, and Raul Jimenez. Behind them, there are options such as Hector Herrera, Edson Alvarez, Orbelin Pineda, Uriel Antuna, Erick Gutierrez, Rodolfo Pizarro, Carlos Rodriguez, Roberto Alvarado, and Andres Guardado, who has a whopping 175 caps for his country. In defence, they have Hector Moreno, who has an equally impressive 124 caps. Next to him, they can play Jesus Gallardo, Nestor Araujo, Cesar Montes, or Jorge Sanchez. Theis main goalkeeper is Guillermo Ochoa, who is 37 years old and has 129 caps. They have backup options in Alfreda Talavera and Rodolfo Cota, who are also older players, aged 35, and 40.

Saudi Arabia vs Mexico Head-to-head

Saudi Arabia has played against Mexico 5 times. The two sides have only played against each other in the 90s, and Mexico won all but one of these games.

Saudi Arabia vs Mexico Betting Preview

There are many bets for you to pick from for the match between Saudi Arabia and Mexico. You can bet on Mexico, the favourites, to win - but if the odds are not long enough, you can always use handicaps or combine several bets to lengthen the odds. Betting on Saudi Arabia to win will come with far longer odds, but if you want to make it less risky, you can always apply handicaps in favour of Saudi Arabia, or pick options such as double chance or draw no bet.

Double Chance

Double chance are bets on the match result that help narrow down the chances of you losing. You will find bets on Saudi Arabia to win or the game to end in a draw, Saudi Arabia or Mexico to win, and Mexico to win or draw. If the match ends in one of the two chosen outcomes, you will win.

Draw No Bet

Draw no bet allows you to bet on a team and not worry about the possibility of the match ending in a draw. You can bet on Saudi Arabia to win or Mexico to win and if the game does end in a draw, you will receive your stake back

Asian Handicaps

You can bet on a team to win by over a certain margin, or bet on a team to not lose by over a certain margin with handicap bets. There are lines which you can pick from, which will either be added or subtracted from the chosen team’s score and they will have to win the game after the handicap has been applied.

For example, you may place a bet on Mexico to beat Saudi Arabia with a handicap of -1.5. That number will be taken off the number of goals that Mexico scores during the game so they will need to win by 2 or more goals for you to win your bet. If you place a handicap of -2, this will mean that Mexico will need to win the game 3 goals ahead of Saudi Arabia. If they finish the match only 2 goals ahead, the result is determined to be a draw, and you will receive your money back.

You can go halfway between the two handicaps by betting on Mexico to win with a handicap of -1.75. This will take half your stake and put it on a handicap of -1.5 and put the other half on a handicap of -2. If Mexico wins by 3 or more goals, you will receive the full return. If Mexico only manages to finish the match 2 goals ahead of Saudi Arabia, you will receive half the money you staked.

Over/Under Total Goals

You can bet on whether there will be many goals in the match between Saudi Arabia and Mexico or whether the two teams will score a few goals with the total goals bet. There will be numerous betting lines and you can simply pick a line and bet on the game to end with over or under that number of goals. If you think either or both teams will score 4 or more goals, you can bet on over 3.5. If you think that Saudi Arabia and Mexico will struggle to score, you can bet on under 1.5.

Many More Bets

Your betting options are not restricted to the bets listed here as there are many more waiting for you. You may bet on Mexico to win the first half, Saudi Arabia to score the first goal, both teams to score 2 or more goals, Mexico to keep a clean sheet, Saudi Arabia to take the lead in the first 15 minutes, Mexico to win the match 4-1, and there are far more betting opportunities.

If you feel like you are spending too much money or too much time gambling on the World Cup, then we strongly urge you to check out gambleaware.co.uk. There is a lot of useful information on how you can keep track of how much money you are spending and how you can create budgets for yourself that are extremely useful.