Lithuania vs Slovenia
European Qualifiers – 2018 World Cup
Date: Sunday; 4-September-2016
Kick-off: 17:00 UK
Venue: LFF Stadium, Vilnius.
Sports Livestream ⚽ JOIN NOW for FREE
Instant access to the BT Sport, Sky Sports and Eurosport
Lithuania welcome Slovenia to the Vilnius stadium on Sunday on the opening day of the European Qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The Lithuania national football team are yet to qualify for a major tournament since they regained independence from Soviet Union in 1990. They finished 5th in the 6-team group during the qualification phase of Euro 2016. They were in the bottom two for the last three World Cup qualification campaigns.
Slovenia on the other hand, will be looking to put behind the disappointment of the Euro 2016 qualification play-offs, where they were denied a ticket by Ukraine, who defeated them 3-1 on aggregate. Slovenia qualified for the World Cups on 2002 and 2010, both via play-offs. While they missed out on 2006 and 2010.
Lithuania vs Slovenia: Head-to-Head
All of the four competitive meetings between Slovenia and Lithuania were during the European Qualification campaigns, the latest for the 2016 edition.
Lithuania lead the head-to-head with 2 wins, 1 draw and a loss from the four matches. During the Euro 1996 qualification round, Lithuania won both home and away legs by the same 2-1 margin.
The latest meeting was at Ljubljana, which end in a 1-1 stalemate. While Slovenia won the leg in Vilnius by 2-0 margin.
Lithuania vs Slovenia: Prediction
The home side, Lithuania are huge underdogs here. They are ranked 125 in the FIFA rankings and are short on experience at the international level. While the 59th ranked Slovenia might look like favourites, they are also an inexperienced side at the international ground. However, with a number of players from Europe’s elite league gives them a much needed edge over the Balkan opponents.
Slovenia has plenty of worries in the goal scoring department as they are left with 2 goals from their last five matches. The likes of Josip Illicic, Roman Bezjak and Robert Beric have scored 4 goals between them from 61 appearances. Lithuania will be ultra-defensive and match could open up in the final 15 minutes. A goal-less draw is highly probably and a 1-0 win possible for either sides. So it is better to bet on under 2.5 goals for this World Cup qualification match.
Lithuania vs Slovenia: Betting Tips
Under 2.5 goals at 2/5 (1.40)
2nd Half – Over 0.5 goals at 4/11 (1.36).
