Finland vs Kosovo Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Finland are in terrible form at the moment. They failed to qualify for Euro 2016 after picking up 12 points from their ten group games in what was a fairly easy group, but the real issues have come in the friendlies since qualifying ended.

They have lost six of their seven matches since their 1-1 draw against Northern Ireland ended the qualifying stage. Sweden, Iceland, Poland, Norway, Italy, and Germany have all beaten them, and they have scored just one goal in these seven matches.

Things aren’t much better for Finland at home either. They have won just one of their last 11 matches and have lost seven of them. Their singular win came against minnows Faroe Islands, whilst a defeat at home to Estonia marks the lowest point during this period.

Kosovo don’t have much of a history to look back upon. They were brought in as a member of UEFA and FIFA in May this year and this will be their first ever competitive match. They were granted permission to play in friendly matches again as recently as 2014, and since then they have played just eight games.

The most recent of these was in June when they beat Faroe Islands 2-0, a result which made it three games without defeat for Kosovo. The only top team they have faced in their short history ended with a 6-1 defeat to Turkey, although a 2-2 draw against Albania under a year ago is a pretty good result as far as many are concerned.

Kosovo will feel like they have a decent chance in their first ever competitive game. Finland are in shocking form and have failed to beat a number of very small teams at home in recent years. The visitors will be chomping at the bit as well after such a long wait to be recognised by FIFA, so odds of 13/8 for a Kosovo Win or Draw Double Chance look very good value. I don’t think they have enough to get the win though, so I’m going for a 1-1 correct score prediction at 15/2.