The Owls are in a pretty good situation if we take into account the formation in Group D. The team has played only two matches since the beginning of qualification, but most importantly, their direct competitors have lost points. Finland played very aggressively in the first meeting and this helped to survive in the match with Bosnia and Herzegovina (2:2). In the second round, the team managed to upset Ukraine, as the confrontation also ended in a draw again (1:1). In the event of a victory over Kazakhstan, Markku Kanerva’s wards will be able to bypass the Ukrainian national team, so the motivation of the Finns is off scale, especially since the third fight will take place at home.
After the failure at Euro 2020 the Russian national team received a new head coach in the person of Valery Karpin. The mentor did not have too much time to prepare for the first match with Croatia, but at the same time he made radical changes. First of all, it was decided to rejuvenate the squad and change the scheme. The Russians went to the duel with the Croats without nominal strikers. Karpin failed to radically change the style and pattern of the team’s game in such a short time, but the team looked pretty bold and especially in the first half it was under high pressure. The match began aggressively on both sides, but gradually the team’s risk was minimized, resulting in a goalless draw. This result became strategically positive. Russia retained the second line in the group and did not allow Croatia to break away. Mario Fernandez and Alexei Ionov, who were injured in the match with the Croats, did not fly to Nicosia, but players will most likely have time to recover by the duel with Malta. More 2 odds soccer prediction can be obtained from the link provided.
