Northern Ireland U21 take on the visitors Luxemburg U21 in UEFA Euro U21 qualification match. The match will be played on Thursday, September 7th at Mourneview Park (Lurgan).
The Irish youth team is not particularly impressive; they struggle to achieve significant results, and they often play the role of modest statistics producers. As for the upcoming match, yes, the hosts are the favorites as Luxembourg have a very modest youth team. However, it's perhaps not necessary to rush to label the hosts as overwhelming favorites who will win 5-0. The Irish team has serious problems with their attack; they score few and infrequent goals. Moreover, the Irish haven't won a match in a long time; they approach the upcoming game on a streak of seven matches without a victory. So, expecting a massive victory from the hosts is unlikely.
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This is also the first match in this qualification for Luxembourg, just like for the Irish team. In the previous qualifying cycle, Luxembourg didn't make much of an impact, finishing the tournament with just one point and conceding 26 goals in 10 matches. Well, that's a decent stat for a group-stage performer. Conceding 26 goals in 10 matches averages less than 3 goals per game. As for the upcoming match, the guests will likely pay more attention to their defense, as they naturally struggle with their attack, and they can't rely heavily on scoring goals. Additionally, one can remember their previous qualification campaign where Luxembourg managed to defend decently even against much stronger opponents than the Irish team. So, it appears that this battle is fairly evenly matched.
Northern Irish youth teams don't produce as impressive results as their national senior team. The same can be said for Luxembourg; they also perform better at the national level. As for the upcoming match, it could be a game where just one goal decides the outcome, and having a positive handicap in such a scenario seems like a good option. Therefore, I would go with the handicap (+2) on Luxembourg.
Prediction for the match: Luxemburg U21 to win with +2.0 handicap.
