Kosovo vs Iceland Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Kosovo managed to pick up a point in their first ever competitive matches back in September as they held the dismal Finland to a 1-1 draw away from home. They haven’t been able to hit those heights since though.

Their last outing was a 2-0 defeat in Turkey, which followed on from a 3-0 loss to Ukraine and a 6-0 battering at home to Croatia. Of course with this being a newly formed international squad you can’t expect much more, but they will be hoping to pick up a few more points before this World Cup qualifying campaign is over.

Iceland will be difficult opponents though. The tiny nation stunned Europe in the summer when they made it to the Euro 2016 quarter finals, with victories over Austria and England and draws against Portugal and Hungary winning them plaudits the world over. They were eventually eliminated by host nation France, but it was an excellent run from such a small country.

They started their World Cup qualifying campaign with a draw away to Ukraine, and since then they have beaten both Finland and Turkey at home, before succumbing to an expected defeat in Croatia. This leaves them 3rd in the group with seven points from their four matches, just three fewer than leaders Croatia. They will be battling it out with them, Ukraine, and Turkey for the top two spots, so every point counts in this competitive group.

Iceland have played a few more games since their last qualifier, beating Malta in a friendly and then getting a win and a defeat in the China Cup in January. They also lost 1-0 in Mexico in a February friendly, but these sorts of results won’t discourage them too much.

Iceland are obviously favourites for this one, but I think the bookies expectation of a hammering are a bit ambitious. Kosovo limited Finland to just one goal and then only lost 2-0 away to Turkey last time out. Six of their last nine games have seen fewer than three goals, and Iceland are well known for their defensive tactics. They have only seen three or more goals in two of their last nine games, so odds of 13/10 for Under 2.5 Goals look good value. I’m going for a 2-0 correct score predictions at 6/1 as well.