Finland will play in another international friendly on Thursday, hoping to improve upon their previous performance and boost their confidence before the start of their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.
The Huuhkajat last played in a competitive match in September, when they finished their UEFA Nations League campaign with a win away at Montenegro and a 2-0 draw against Romania to finish second in their group and move ahead of the latter.
On Monday, when they played Sweden in Portugal, they trailed 1-0 after Christoffer Nyman scored in the opening period. Joel Asoro would then score Sweden’s second goal in stoppage time to give Sweden a 2-0 victory.
After making it to the group stage for the first time in the postponed 2020 competition, Markku Kanerva’s team will now be focusing on the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifying, which starts with matches against Denmark and Northern Ireland in March and concludes with a win and two defeats.
Finland will try to get back to winning ways on Thursday in their final game before their attempt to qualify for a second consecutive continental tournament.
Prior to the European Championships qualifying, they will face an Estonian team that will also be looking for a victory. The Sinisargid enter the match after drawing with Iceland and placing third in the Baltic Cup late last year.
In November, Thomas Haberli’s team faced Latvia in the semifinal of that competition. After Sergei Zenjov’s second-minute goal was cancelled out by a goal from Raimonds Krollis, the match went to penalties, where Estonia lost.
As a result, they were forced into the third-place playoff, where the Sinisargid emerged victorious after defeating Lithuania 2-0 behind goals from Zenjov and Rasmus Peetson. They will play Iceland on Sunday in Portugal.
In that friendly, Zenjov continued his recent scoring streak to give his country the lead just before halftime. Haberli’s team appeared to be heading for victory until they gave up a penalty in stoppage time, which Andri Gudjohnsen converted to tie the game.
Before stepping up the preparations for the qualifying campaign, they will now try to get back to winning ways in the second and final friendly of their trip!
1×2 Betting Odds
Both nations are without the core of their squads, and with what is available, we see Finland as the stronger of the two and anticipate them picking up a narrow victory in Thursday’s friendly!
The market also sees Finland as the favourite! Their market odds of winning this one are @ 1.97.
Estonia will be hopeful of a victory, but that sentiment does not quite translate into market numbers! They are the underdogs in this contest @ 4.11.
The possibility of a draw being played out in this friendly, stands @ 3.45.
Total goals over/under
The odds that the total number of goals scored will be over 2.5, stands @ 2.21.
While the odds that the total number of goals will be under 2.5, stands @ 1.71.
There is not much in it! The market views this as a close low scoring game, with Finland picking up the victory before their road to Euro 2024 starts!
