Armenia vs Latvia prediction: EUROPE: Euro – Qualification betting tips on match 2023-06-18 16:00.
Friday’s action saw Armenia pull off one of the biggest surprises in this summer’s first batch of European Championship qualification (ECQ) battles, running out 4-2 victors over Wales in Cardiff. Having finally won a qualification match of any kind for the first time since Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s retirement in March 2022, Armenia will now surely fancy their chances of bettering the nation’s best ECQ finish of third in 2011/12 and reaching a maiden Euro finals.
The hosts fell four points short of the play-offs for Euro 2012 on that occasion, and a strong start on their return to home soil will be key to keeping up the feelgood factor. And though Armenia’s latest competitive Yerevan outing (L 1-2 vs Turkey) might have turned sour after a tenth-minute lead, the fact that they’ve failed to score just once in five ECQ rounds on home turf is encouraging for any fan of the team known locally as ‘Havakakan’.
Unlike Armenia, Latvia have tasted success in Euro qualification during the post-Soviet era, but times have changed much across the near two-decade period following their unlikely appearance at Euro 2004. In a cruel twist of fate, the very team they conquered in that edition’s qualification play-offs almost 20 years ago, Turkey, snatched a late goal on Friday during the last-gasp 3-2 defeat that kept Dainis Kazakevičs' men pointless in Group D.
The result also marked Latvia’s 12th defeat in 13 ECQ outings dating back to October 2015, and there is already much to suggest that the Baltic outfit will finish bottom of the group yet again. There’s no doubt that the dismissal of Eduards Emsis late on against Turkey damaged their psyche too, making it seem all the more likely that October 2003 will remain the most recent occasion that Latvia beat a better-seeded team away from home in an ECQ match.
Players to watch: An aspiring future Bayern Munich first teamer, Armenia’s Grant-Leon Ranos was at the double against Wales, making it six goals in just three internationals for the teenager! The provider for Latvia’s first goal on Friday, Vladislavs Gutkovskis is still on a high from winning the Ekstraklasa title with Raków, and stands proudly as the only man to net a four-goal haul in that league across the previous two seasons.
Hot stat: Six of Armenia’s last seven ECQ home games have seen scoring inside the first 15 minutes.