Finland vs Croatia
European Qualifiers – 2018 World Cup
Date: Sunday, 9th October 2016
Kick-off at 17:00 UK
Venue: Tampere Ice Stadium, Tampere.
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Finland slipped down to 5th place in the group I table after the 3-2 defeat at Iceland on Thursday night, they will now face Croatia on Sunday night as they hope to get their first win of the campaign.
Finland succumbed to Iceland on Thursday after taking the lead twice in the game but couldn’t land themselves a win. T. Pukki put Finland in front in the 21st minute, but K. Arnason equalized in 37 minutes. Finland took the lead again 2 minutes later via R. Lod and it looks like they will celebrate a win until the 90th minute when A. Finnbogason and R. Sigurdsson equalized and scored the winning goal respectively.
Croatia on the other hand are the leaders of the group, courtesy of their 6-0 away trashing of Kosovo on Thursday night. Mandzukic’s hat-trick put them 3-0 up in the first half, while Mitrovic, Perisic and Kalinic completed the rally as they claimed 3 points. They now hope to win this game to maintain their unbeaten run in the campaign.
Finland vs Croatia: Head to Head Statistics
Jthis two teams have never met in the field of play before, thus this will be their first game against each other.
Finland vs Croatia: Prediction
Croatia have a better form compared to their host, I suggest they are huge favorite in this fixture. The Croats have lost just one of their last 5 games, which was against the European Champions Portugal. They have won 2 of their last 5 and drawn 2. They will come into this game in full confidence having won 6-0 away against Kosovo on Thursday.
Finland will enter this game in low spirit despite playing at home ground. The lost to Iceland made it their third defeat in their last 5 games. They have now conceded at least 2 goals in 3 of their last 5 games. Also they have not kept a clean sheet in their last 5 games.
Finland vs Croatia: Tips
- Both Teams to Score and Croatia to win at 4.00
- Over 2.5 goals at 2.10.
