Finland vs Kazakhstan prediction: EUROPE: Euro – Qualification betting tips on match 2023-10-16 16:00.
Anything less than a victory could be a devastating blow to the ambitions of Finland and Kazakhstan, who are tied on 12 points and four points below the two automatic qualification places for the 2024 European Championships. Group I leaders Slovenia and Denmark could be out of sight for any side that drops points here, a fate the Fins will be desperate to avoid as they look to participate in just their second major tournament.
Markku Kanerva’s men lost to those group leaders in their two previous European Championship qualifiers (ECQ), and having seen his side fail to score in both of those outings, it’s up front where they’ll be desperate for an improvement. The Eagle-owls should be grateful to be at home, as their defeat to Denmark in their last home ECQ was preceded by a five-match home winning streak. It’s likely to be an all or nothing approach to this crunch encounter, as they’ve not drawn an ECQ match on home soil since October 2015 (W6, L2 since)!
Kazakhstan are similarly averse to stalemates, with none of their last 12 matches ending level (W6, L6). A 3-1 defeat to Denmark at the weekend drove them to the point of no return, but even if they fail to reach the next Euros, this campaign can already be considered a success with the four ECQ wins they’ve amassed the most in their history.
Their hopes of reaching their first-ever major tournament as an independent nation now depend on a maiden H2H victory, but as all five prior competitive meetings have ended in defeat with the Hawks netting just once, confidence may not be too high when they first face their opponents. But playing away from home has certainly suited them of late, as Kazakhstan have taken out three of their last five ECQs on the road (L2), after losing 14 of their first 20 (W2, D4)!
Players to watch: Finland’s Benjamin Källman directly contributed to three goals in five ECQ appearances this cycle (G2, A1), including setting up the winner in the reverse fixture. Kazakhstan forward Abat Aymbetov has netted twice in Group I, one of which was the decisive strike in the Hawks’ latest away win over Northern Ireland.
Hot streak: None of Finland’s last six matches saw both teams score on the day.