Finland vs Netherlands prediction: EUROPE: World Championship – Qualification betting tips on match 2025-06-06 18:45.
[p]Finland are bidding to make history by qualifying for their first-ever FIFA World Cup finals, and they’ve certainly made a bright start, avoiding defeat in their opening two matches in this qualifying (WCQ) cycle (W1, D1). While that represents a decent start for new boss Jacob Friis, squandering a 2-0 lead to draw with Lithuania in their most recent outing represents a missed opportunity.[/p]
[p]Next up for Finland are the Netherlands, who sit sixth in FIFA’s world rankings, and will surely offer a much sterner test than Lithuania and Malta. Finland also don’t have a great home record in trying to qualify for this tournament, with just one of their last five WCQ home matches delivering a win (D2, L2). Each of Finland’s last three internationals on home turf have also ended in defeat, the last coming against Greece back in November (2-0). [/p]
[p]The Netherlands are playing catch-up in qualifying after they were on UEFA Nations League duty in March against Spain. Following a 2-2 draw in Amsterdam, they then shared a 3-3 draw in Valencia in the second leg before losing on penalties, with that defeat making it just one win from the Oranje’s last seven matches (D4, L2). [/p]
[p]Despite some rocky recent form, they should still be confident of starting this WCQ cycle in the right way based on their dominant H2H record. The Netherlands have won each of the last four meetings between these two, while their last such defeat came way back in June 1950 (W9, D2), albeit this will be a first meeting between the two since September 2011. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Forward Joel Pohjanpalo, who was handed the armband in Finland’s last game on home turf against Greece, has scored two first-half goals across his last six international matches. It was Xavi Simons’ late strike for the Netherlands that took the game against Spain to penalties in March, and he’ll come into this having grabbed a goal and assist in Leipzig’s final fixture of the campaign against Stuttgart. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: The Netherlands have scored two or more goals in six of the last seven H2Hs. [/p]
[p][i]Written by David H[/i][/p]