Lithuania vs Finland prediction: EUROPE: World Championship – Qualification betting tips on match 2025-03-23 17:00.
[p]Coming off a disastrous Nations League campaign where they were relegated after finishing bottom of Group C2 with six defeats, expectations were low for Lithuania when they kicked off their World Cup qualification (WCQ) campaign against Group G favorites Poland. They surprisingly resisted until a late strike condemned them to a 1-0 defeat, which stretched their dismal run in WCQ games to just two wins in their last 19 matches (D3, L14). [/p]
[p]Lithuania have also lost eight straight games across all competitions, albeit the last five only saw them go down by a one-goal margin. That includes three home defeats, which saw the Trispalvės concede exactly once in the opening 35 minutes, so perhaps a better start could hold the key to ending their current winless run and boost their chances of reaching a first-ever World Cup finals. [/p]
[p]Also in search of their first-ever participation at the World Cup, Finland started their WCQ campaign with an unconvincing 1-0 win against Malta in what was manager Jacob Friis’ debut. More importantly, the victory halted Finland’s run of eight matches without a victory (D1, L7), as they now square off against Lithuania for only the second time since the turn of the century, losing the last meeting 1-0 in 2014.[/p]
[p]Friday’s victory over Malta at least saw Finland maintain their run of at least one win in each WCQ cycle since 1966, but they’ll need much more if they are to better their effort in Euro 2024 qualifying, which saw them lose in the play-off round. Finland will also need to improve on their travels to have a shot at the first two spots as they had lost four consecutive away outings before their win against Malta, scoring just once in the process.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: After scoring twice – with both goals arriving on or beyond the 70th minute – for Torino since January, Gvidas Gineitis will be looking for his second-ever goal for Lithuania. Oliver Antman netted Finland’s winner against Malta and he has now contributed to eight goals (G4, A4) in his last five competitive matches.  [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Four of Finland’s last five matches saw a 1-0 half-time score, whilst Lithuania were trailing 1-0 at half-time in four of their last seven.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Tomáš Vlasák[/i][/p]