Finland hosts Wales in round 1 of the UEFA Nations League B. The match will be played on Thursday, September 3rd at Helsinki Olympic Stadium (Helsinki)
The Finland national team has made incredible progress over the past few years. A year ago, it lost to Italy (1:2) after a penalty kick at the end, but before that, the Finns had not lost in the qualifying home rounds since June 2017. In other words, they suffered only one defeat in the last 12 official matches at home. With enviable ease, the Owls got out of a rather difficult group and advanced to the final part of Euro 2020, and now they are in optimal physical condition because the Finnish championship is in full swing. The forward Pukki is the main trump card of the Finnish national team. In Euro 2020 qualification, he became not only the top scorer in his group (10 goals in 10 matches) but also the third in the entire qualifiers. He is in great shape now, and his goals to the nets of Darmstadt and Dynamo Dresden in friendly matches of Norwich are proof of this.
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On the other hand, the players of the Wales national team are distressed and upset. Their main hope (Gareth Bale) fought with the coach and management during the season rather than playing football. Beyond that, the Welsh Premier League has not started yet, and its last matches were played back in March. Anyway, the Wales national team shows rather mediocre results on the road even in its best shape. Since September 2016, the team has held 11 away matches but won in only four of them. However, the Dragons met with very weak Azerbaijan and Georgia (both matches ended in a 0:1 victory), Ireland, which deserved to score at least twice, and Moldova (0: 2), which conceded twice after the 80th minute. Wales was lucky.
As for the match in Helsinki, the Welsh will not win but will avoid thumping. Coach Kanerva is faithful to his tactical 4-4-2 formation, which previously brought results, and he will not give up on it again. This scheme does not imply wide-open attacking football, so all nine previous home matches of the Owls ended with a maximum of three goals. Most Welsh footballers have not played for six months, which means they will not find the strength to attack intensively. Since 2012, each of the away matches of Wales has not exceeded three goals. And we are unlikely to see more now.
Prediction for the match: Finland to win with +0.5 handicap and Under 3.5 goals scored
