Romania vs Belarus prediction: EUROPE: Euro – Qualification betting tips on match 2023-03-27 18:45.
After a 2-0 win over Andorra in their opening Euro 2024 qualifier, Romania are once again huge favourites as they aim to reach a second finals from the last three cycles. Yet, with their latest maximum return from the first two European Championship Qualification (ECQ) rounds dating back to the autumn of 1998 (for Euro 2000), complacency isn’t an option.
Expect Romania to start well en route to any victory too, especially when taking their home results from the latest UEFA Nations League (UNL) campaign (W2, L1) at face value. Notably, all three games saw the day’s victors lead 1-0 at half-time, while Romania have also won the first half in a majority (three) of their previous five ECQ home victories.
Belarus could argue that starting against Group I’s top seeds at an empty Stadion Karađorđe in Serbia provides mitigation for Saturday’s collapse vs Switzerland (5-0). But Bucharest’s 55,000-capacity Arena Naţională offers no foreseeable respite, especially with September 2010 still marking Belarus’ last competitive win over a side in FIFA’s current top 50.
For that reason, it already looks as though Belarus’ maiden Euro finals appearance in the post-Soviet era will take a miracle. That feeling only gains traction when also looking at Belarus’ results posted as visitors in the 2022/23 UNL edition (D1, L2), within which they consistently dropped points via goals conceded beyond the hour mark.
Key battle: Dennis Man netted Romania’s opener in Andorra on Saturday, and did likewise in his nation’s latest home win last September, with both strikes arriving in the 31’-45’ period. Given that, Belarus goalkeeper Andrey Kudravets will do well to stop him, especially after conceding a hat-trick in the first half-hour of his own ECQ curtain-raiser!
Hot stat: All three of Romania’s prior home H2Hs vs Belarus have seen both teams combine to produce over 3.5 total goals (W2, D1).