Romania vs Kosovo prediction: EUROPE: Euro – Qualification betting tips on match 2023-09-11 18:45.
When it comes to European Championships, Romania have maintained a ‘one-on, one-off’ sequence of qualification from the 2000 tournament onwards. After missing out in 2020, they are currently on track to reach the 2024 edition in Germany, coming into Tuesday’s fixture at the National Arena occupying second place in Group I. Head coach Edi Iordănescu remains “convinced” his team can qualify based on the belief and fight that his players possess.
The tricolours have built their success on having the meanest defence in the group, conceding only four times in five matches whilst keeping two clean sheets in the process. However, the campaign that got off to a great start with wins over Andorra and Belarus has stalled with three successive draws, albeit the last two were against their nearest challengers – top of the table Switzerland and third-placed Israel.
Romania’s first draw came against upcoming opponents Kosovo, who themselves are currently the ‘draw kings’ of the group with four stalemates from five. The Dardanians, who are having their second crack at qualifying for a Euros after joining UEFA in May 2016 and reaching the play-offs in 2020, have drawn six of their last seven matches and won only one of their last ten (D6, L3).
Primož Gliha’s side, currently down in fifth place, need to quickly start turning those draws into wins if they are to make up the five-point deficit to second and threaten the qualification places. A victory in Bucharest would go a long way to doing that, although Gliha conceded his side would need to improve upon their starts to do so, with their only first-half goal of this qualification campaign coming off the boot of Israeli defender Eli Dasa.
Players to watch: Denis Alibec is Romania’s joint-leading scorer in this campaign with two strikes and he has not been on the losing side for his country when he has both started and scored. Vedat Muriqi is Kosovo’s all-time leading scorer and is targeting a goal in his third successive game for the national side after netting once against Belarus in June as well as twice in the 2-2 draw with Switzerland on Saturday.
Hot stat: Kosovo and Romania have both scored in eight of their last nine games with the 0-0 H2H draw in June the only time when they have failed to score across those matches.