Ireland – Finland will play on Sunday, September 6, starting at 19:45 in the League of Nations. The match will be played in Dublin and will be led from the center by the Italian Fabio Maresca.
It is noteworthy that Ireland is undefeated in the 4 direct confrontations, winning 3 of them, but the most recent meeting was in 2002.
The home team comes after a 1-1 draw in Bulgaria at the debut of Stephen Kenny on the “greens” bench. Before the debut in the League of Nations, Ireland finished on the 3rd qualifying group for the Euro, ranking after Switzerland and Denmark.
On the other hand, the guest team started on Thursday in the League of Nations with a defeat at home, 0-1 with Wales, the goal being scored in the 80th minute by K. Moore. It is noteworthy that this was the only shot on goal in the whole match.
Before this match, Finland managed a historic performance, finishing on the 2nd qualifying group for EURO and thus, it will be present at the final tournament next year.
According to the bookmakers, Iralnda has the first chance to win and we will most likely not witness a very spectacular match. Ireland usually play “closed”, and Finland comes after failing to score a goal in the game against Wales.
-Ireland, average of 1.5 goals per match in the EURO qualifying group;
-Ireland have scored in the last 6 home matches;
-Finland without a draw in the last 11 trips;
-Finland, for the first time in history, will be present at a final European tournament;
Ireland: Darren Randolph, Matt Doherty, Shane Duffy, John Egan, Enda Stevens, Jeff Hendrick, Robbie Brady, Conor Hourihane, Callum O’Dowda, Adam Idah, Aaron Connolly;
Finland: Lukas Hradecky, Leo Vaisanen, Juhani Ojala, Daniel O’Shaughnessy, Ilmari Niskanen, Glen Kamara, Tim Sparv, Joni Kauko, Jere Juhani Uronen, Joel Pohjanpalo, Teemu Pukki;
PREDICTION: Ireland to win @ 1,85
