Aron Wright - March 23, 2018
Finland vs Malta
International – Friendly Match
Date: Monday, 26 March 2018
Kick-Off at 17:00 UK
Venue: Arcadia Futbal Kompleksi – Field 1 (Belek).
Finland and Malta are going to face each other on the neutral venue in Belek in a friendly match. Finland want to keep their run of positive results going, while Malta are searching for a good result after a series of defeats.
Finland had an average campaign in the qualifiers and they managed to improve the impression in the final rounds when they booked two wins and two draws. There was no difference between their home and away performances and their attacking work could have been better. Teemu Pukki and the lads managed to win nine points in their group and they were not expected to challenge for one of the top two spots. In the last two friendlies, Finland managed to celebrate against Estonia and Jordan.
Malta snatched just a point in the qualifiers, and it was on their ground against Lithuania. Tom Saintfiet’s side are the underdogs in all the cycles of any competitions and they have scored only three goals so far. Being the worst side in the group is not strange for them and this time they couldn’t do more. Their defence was leaking everywhere and they have conceded 25 goals in 10 games. Malta suffered a defeat against Luxembourg in their lasts friendly match on Thursday, and they shouldn’t hoe of getting a good result in this one.
Finland celebrated three wins in their head to head clashes and Malta managed to get away with a draw only once. Just in one occasion, one of the teams wasn’t able to score.
Finland are strong favourites in this one, they’ve been in a much better form and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t continue their good streak.
Although these two sides are not very efficient, Finland should drive this match to over 2.5 margin.