RoPS Rovaniemi and Haka meet forces at Rovaniemen Keskuskenttä, in a match for Matchday 3 of the Veikkausliiga. There is only record of 2 recent direct confrontations between these two teams: on 09‑02‑2020, which ended with the victory of Haka by (0‑1), and on 16‑03‑2019, which ended with the victory of RoPS Rovaniemi by (0‑1). The home advantage may play an important role in this match, since both teams present considerable differences in the results achieved at home and away.
RoPS Rovaniemi :
Currently in 12th position, the home team did not conquer any point until now. On the 1st day they lost out to Inter Turku by (3‑1). On the next day, the final scoreboard recorded a defeat by (0‑1) in the home game against HIFK. This is a stronger team with the support of their fans, since in the last 30 games they have registered 1 victory, 4 draws and 10 losses as a visitor, with 11 goals scored and 30 suffered; against 5 wins, 3 draws and 7 losses in his stadium, with 15 goals scored and 15 suffered. In the last 10 home matches for all competitions, RoPS Rovaniemi has won 5, tied 1 and lost 4. The team has allowed goals to the opponent in 9 of the last 10 matches, so there are defensive processes that need improvement.
The RoPS comes to this match unmotivated, as it faces a difficult phase, as it lost its last 3 matches, 2 of them for this competition, having scored only 1 goal in these 3 matches. We note that his defensive system is in a negative phase, in addition to that his offensive system is in a goal crisis, being a great concern, because he urgently needs a victory to leave the last place of the competition.
If we look at his record more generally, in the last 20 home games this team has lost half, 10 in total, with 4 draws and only 6 wins. Of those 20 games, in 15 the team suffered goals. We can see then that, despite playing at home, this team is still very fragile and with great defensive weaknesses.
Haka :
The visiting team is currently in 9th position, with 1 point won. In its debut, it tied at home against Honka Espoo by (1‑1). On Matchday 2, they lost to HJK Helsinki by (3‑1). This is a team that curiously tends to achieve more positive results as a visitor than at home, since in the last 30 games it has recorded 11 victories, 2 draws and 2 defeats as a visitor, with 30 goals scored and 16 suffered; against 10 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses in his stadium, with 37 goals scored and 15 suffered. In their last 10 away matches Haka has recorded 6 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses. His attack has scored regularly, as he has scored at least one goal in each of the last 10 games.
Haka Valkeakoski is a traditional Finnish team, having already won the first division championship 9 times, in addition to being runner-up 7 times. Therefore, he has a lot of history and many achievements on his resume. However, the last time he won this championship was in 2004. Since then it has been 16 years without conquering the cup. The team goes through a phase that is not very good, as it did not win 3 games in a row, with 2 losses and 1 draw. Anyway, if we are going to see his more extensive history, we will see that he is positive, since in the last 12 games he added 7 victories and scored at least one goal in each of these 12 games.
Incredibly, if you look at the history of away games, it is even more positive, because in the last 24 games he won 18, so, we can see that despite not having won the last 3 games, he has an excellent record in this condition, which makes us believe that it is a team that risks away from home.
PREDICTION: Haka to win @ 1,90
