Finland v Iceland Betting Tips: Visitors can secure a pleasing result in Tampere

19:57, 31 aug 2017
19:57, 31 aug 2017
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Iceland will be looking to continue their meteoric rise on Saturday night as they bid to edge closer to World Cup qualification for the first time ever. Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men have enjoyed a steady campaign so far and, as things stand, are on course to make it through. However, even though they’re level on points with group leaders Croatia, Group I is very tight with four teams all still in with a shout and so continuing the winning trend is vitally important. Fortunately for the visitors, Finland have had a torrid time of it in this group and are now unable to qualify. A good opportunity to take three points if ever there was one.

Despite it being mathematically impossible for Finland to progress from this group, they aren’t likely to simply roll over and die so to speak. By all means, the visitors ought to fancy their chances here but they’ll need to have their wits about them in order to come out on top. Fortunately, Iceland have built their relative success on hard work and so they aren’t likely to be found wanting for effort. With this in mind, the visiting team look a good bet to get the job done, just as they did against this opposition in the reverse fixture.

When the pair did meet back in October, the crowd in attendance at Iceland’s Laugardalsvöllur stadium, witnessed a high-scoring game which saw the home side come out on top by three goals to two. Such a score-line suggests that there probably wasn’t too much between the two sides; however, that’s not strictly true. Despite requiring not one, but two stoppage time goals to bag the three points, Iceland dominated the contest both in terms of possession and chances created. Finland managed to score with two of their four shots on target and were particularly fortunate to lead at half-time. Eventually their defensive deficiencies came into play and the Icelandic boys deservedly came out on top. Hallgrímsson’s side are likely to guard against going behind in this one and should have the quality to make things a little more straightforward. After all, they have the quality in their ranks to beat a team of Finland’s calibre without too much of a fuss.

Unlike the hosts, who’ve picked up just a single point at home during this qualification campaign, Iceland come here in good form. The visitors won their most recent away match in this group, beating Kosovo 2-1, while they also recorded a very pleasing victory against a strong Croatian side in their latest match, keeping a clean sheet in doing so. If they can turn in a similar performance here, then victory should certainly be theirs.

In reality, even though Iceland are no footballing giants, this is still a bit of a mismatch. The visitors have become masters at making the most of what they’ve got and are unlikely to spurn the chance of putting one foot in next summer’s finals by failing to beat a side who’ve simply been someway off the level required during this campaign. All things considered, Sigurdsson and Co. are expected to get the job done in their usual efficient style and thus backing them to win is very much the way go.

More World Cup qualifying tips can be found here.

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