Finland vs Ukraine - World Cup Qualification Europe Preview and Odds

Published on: 10/06/2017

Finland vs Ukraine - World Cup Qualification Europe Preview and Odds

June 11, 2017 17:00pm - Ratinan Stadion

World Cup Qualification - Group I

Finland have had a dismal World Cup qualifying campaign so far and must now face the challenge a far superior Ukraine side. They warmed up for this game with an embarrassing home draw to Liechtenstein, having previously earned a draw in Austria.

The Finnish side kicked off their campaign with a 1-1 draw at home to Kosovo but have lost all four of their matches since. In total, they have won just one of their last eight matches in all competitions.

Few people expected them to progress from the group but they have performed much worse than expected and are now in contention to finish bottom of a group that contains newly-established Kosovo.

On home soil, Finland have not won any of their last six games and their only win in their 14 was a narrow 1-0 victory over the Faroe Islands.

Meanwhile, Ukraine were surprisingly beaten by Malta in a friendly encounter on Tuesday night. That was their second defeat in a row following a loss to Croatia in this competition that left them in third place in the table, two points adrift of second-ranked Iceland.

The Ukrainians endured a difficult Euro 2016, exiting the event without scoring a goal or earning a single point. They face stiff competition in this group from Croatia, Iceland and Turkey who make up the list of four teams still in close contention for the top two places.

Recent form (All competitions)

Finland: DLLWL

Ukraine: LLWWW

Betting odds and tips

Ukraine have already acquitted themselves well on visits to Turkey and Croatia, although they only came away with a point from that tough pair of road trips. This game should provide an easier test and they should be expected to come away with all three points.

The visitors can be backed at 17/20 and that seems like a reasonable price when considering the respective form of the each team.

You can back Ukraine to win at 17/20 with Bet365.

By Neil Morris