Euro 2020 Qualifying Predictions > Nov 12th

[StevieDay1983]

The 2020 European Championship Qualification Play-Off Finals are coming up in November. Four matches with the winners taking the remaining four spots in the final tournament next summer. Who will prevail? Let us know your bets below! 

[StefanBB]

Northern Ireland vs Slovakia

Northern Ireland made it to the EURO qualifiers’ finals after a dramatic victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina after the penalty shootout. Although the odds were not in their favor, Nial McGinn and the lads held their nerve, and now, they are one step away from the main tournament. However, Ian Baraclough’s side booked the last victory in the regulation time more than a year ago when they were better than the Czech Republic. The Green and White army played seven matches since then, and besides the clash against Bosnia and Herzegovina, they managed to remain undefeated only twice. After securing a place in the finals, Northern Ireland lost against Austria and Norway, and the hosts didn’t manage to find the back of the net. They need to improve a lot to come out as the winners from this clash as well. Jonny Evans should be ready for this match despite the injury, while Corry Evans will be sidelined for this game.

Slovakia booked just a bit better results lately, and they also needed to come through the penalty drama against the Republic of Ireland. After the goalless draw in 120 minutes, Pavel Hapal’s side scored four penalties that were enough for a place in the finals. However, they lost the next two games against Scotland and Israel, which made Hapal sacked and replaced by Stefan Tarkovic. Slovakia lost three games since September and managed to keep the clean sheet only against the Republic of Ireland. The visitors will be stronger for Milan Skriniar, while Vladimir Weiss should make the first appearance for the national team since 2018. He might bring more creativity that can help Slovakia to improve their finishing.

Full-Time Winner Odds & Prediction

Neither of the national teams can be happy with its form, and the moment of inspiration should decide the winner of this game. We believe that can be Slovakia, and the visitors have never lost against their upcoming rivals from three head to head clashes.

Goals Market Prediction

Northern Ireland has lots of trouble in converting their chances into goals, while Slovakia cannot be proud of its finishing, too. Their last two head to head clashes were pretty tight, and since the stake is very high, we don’t expect to see more than two goals in total.

Slovakia to win @ 3.20

Under 2.5 FT @ 1.50

Correct score 0:1 @ 7.00

Source: https://www.bat-bet.com/northern-ireland-vs-slovakia-betting-tips-predictions-match-previews-uefa-nations-league/

[StevieDay1983]

Northern Ireland vs Slovakia

OK, so @bat-bet.com has covered this game well but I thought I'd give my own two cents on Northern Ireland versus Slovakia which kicks off at 7:45pm GMT from Windsor Park with just over 1,000 spectators actually allowed inside the stadium to watch this highly anticipated 2020 European Championship qualification play-off final. Who will prevail victorious?

Northern Ireland are aiming to reach their second successive European Championship finals tournament after qualifying for the 2016 edition. That was a very different side under Michael O'Neill to this one that has struggled to transition to life under Ian Baraclough. No win within 90 minutes in their last 7 matches shows just how out of the blue the victory on penalties against Bosnia-Herzegovina was. In terms of competitive action, it's 6 losses from their last 10 games and even though they are at home it's not the fortress it used to be with the Green and White Army without a win at the venue in four attempts.

Slovakia head into this game hardly exuding masses of self belief themselves. Caretaker head coach Stefan Tarkovic will take charge of this game after he replaced former head coach Pavel Hapal was sacked just days after he saw his team lose back-to-back matches against Scotland and Israel in the UEFA Nations League despite previously leading his nation past Republic of Ireland on penalties in the play-off semi-final. Tarkovic has an array of stars available for this game including record cap holder Marek Hamsik, Vladimir Weiss, Milan Skriniar, and Ondrej Duda. Can they end this run of 5 matches without a win?

The head-to-head statistics don't make very encouraging reading for Northern Irish fans with the national team losing 2 and drawing 1 of their last 3 encounters with Slovakia. You compare the two nations and have to say that Slovakia's quality outweighs Northern Ireland by some margin but we all know that Norn Iron have a habit of raising their game for the big occasion. Something isn't working for the Slovaks right now but can the new man Tarkovic inspire them to a win? I suspect it's going to be tight, it's going to be dull, and a winner could, once again, come on penalties. I just think Slovakia could sneak it.

Draw @ 3.00 with Bet365

Total Goals Scored Under 1.5 @ 2.43 with Unibet

[StevieDay1983]

Serbia vs Scotland

The second big game previews for the 2020 European Championship qualification play-off finals tonight is the 7:45pm GMT kick-off between Serbia and Scotland at the Rajko Mitic Stadium in Belgrade. Can the home team qualify for a second successive major tournament or will the away side reach their first major competition since the 1998 World Cup?

Serbia defeated Norway by a 2-1 score-line after extra time in their semi-final back in October. It has been two competitive matches without a win since for Ljubisa Tumbakovic's men who followed that result with a 1-0 loss at home to Hungary and a 2-2 draw away to Turkey. It's also now 3 home matches without a win for Serbia since they beat Luxembourg 3-2 last year. The team was struck a double blow today with Luka Milivojevic and Filip Djuricic both ruled out after testing positive for covid-19. That news has added further woe to the team's plans after Werder Bremen centre back Milos Veljkovic was prevented from departing his club for international duty. This remains a strong Serbian side though with the likes of Aleksandar Kolarov, Dusan Tadic, and Luka Jovic all still in contention.

Scotland face one of their biggest games in a generation as the Tartan Army stand on the brink of ending a barren run of 22 years without a major tournament. Steve Clarke's side are on a decent run of 8 matches without defeat. It's an unbeaten streak that has helped the nation remain in with a chance of reaching Euro 2020 and start their 2020/21 UEFA Nations League campaign on a positive footing. The nation has gone three matches without conceding a goal as Clarke's trademark defensive rigidity has started to set in. Ryan Fraser and James Forrest are big losses for the team but there is a growing sense of quiet confidence within this Scottish camp.

The winners of this tie will be put into Group D at the 2020 European Championship alongside England, Croatia, and Czech Republic. Not that either of these sides needed further motivation to spur them on to a win. The form book backs the Scots to win but their fixtures have been arguably easier than Serbia over recent months. I think it's going to be a tall order for the Scottish team but they have built those confidence levels and this Serbia team is always prone to capitulating when it matters. It's a tough one to call and I wouldn't be surprised to see it go to extra time or even penalties.

Draw @ 3.60 with Bet365

Total Goals Scored Under 2.5 @ 1.62 with BetVictor 

[StevieDay1983]

13 hours ago, BrandNew said:

I think there is a false hope around the Scotland team at the moment, due to somehow being on an 8-game unbeaten run.

 

If we dig a bit deeper though, there was nobody of note faced or beaten in that time. Serbia away from home is a big step up, and there are far too many players in the Scotland team who are not international class. Great odds for a home win, I think. (Win to nil, if you’re feeling greedy or fancy a risk.) 

This is the feeling I've had over this run but it feels like Steve Clarke is now starting to find a system that works well. I thought Scotland have played really efficiently in their past 4 matches. @allyhibs is no doubt on the biggest covid-19 secure piss-up since he was born but I'll be interested to hear how he feels after that win. Their next couple of UEFA Nations League games could really see them enter the 2020 European Championship in a very good place. It's going to be a very interesting 6 months or so for the Tartan Army. If they keep on improving then they could be the spanner in their group next summer.

[StevieDay1983]

19 minutes ago, BrandNew said:

As a Scotland fan myself, I feel like the only person in the country who still doesn’t believe the hype! 

I was really impressed by the performance last night against Serbia, but I think we benefitted hugely from the game being behind closed doors, rather than the away fixture it was supposed to be.

We have carried so much luck to qualify - from a nonsense decision by UEFA to give a couple of undeserved qualification places to Nations Leagues C and D, to being drawn in the only group in League C with three teams, to being drawn with two really lowly-ranked teams, to the Serbia game being in an empty stadium, to winning two penalty shootouts. 

I would rather the wake-up call had come last night, because next summer’s three-match awakening will be far more harsh. 

We have about half a team of decent English Premier League players, but we also have half a team who are nowhere near the quality needed to be playing in a major tournament finals. I was hoping that we sorted that out before we returned to a major finals, because as it stands, I think we are in for some heavy defeats next summer.

 

 You sound like so many of my Welsh friends who are still in disbelief that we made the 2016 European Championship Semi-Finals. I look back at our time under Chris Coleman and he was never the best tactician but he was a brilliant man manager, motivator, and had his fair share of luck or individual moments of brilliance that bailed (or should that be Bale'd?!) him out. Thinking back to us labouring to that 2-1 win over Andorra away in our first game of that qualification campaign. Then a number of moments of luck along the way such as the fortunate goal that beat Belgium 1-0 at home and Gareth McAuley's own goal against Northern Ireland in the last 16. It gets to the point where it begins happening so much you have confidence that fortune has your back. It feels like that's the case for Scotland right now. Not saying you'll reach the semi-finals at next summer's tournament but you have every reason to believe whatever is happening your players have now got self belief and luck on their side. It's a dangerous combination! Steve Clarke is also a far more competent manager than Coleman was! You do just lack the 2-3 world stars like we had in Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey but I think your overall squad quality is more widespread than ours in 2016. I can see you beating Czech Republic and possibly sneaking into last 16. After that, anything can happen!

[allyhibs]

8 hours ago, StevieDay1983 said:

This is the feeling I've had over this run but it feels like Steve Clarke is now starting to find a system that works well. I thought Scotland have played really efficiently in their past 4 matches. @allyhibs is no doubt on the biggest covid-19 secure piss-up since he was born but I'll be interested to hear how he feels after that win. Their next couple of UEFA Nations League games could really see them enter the 2020 European Championship in a very good place. It's going to be a very interesting 6 months or so for the Tartan Army. If they keep on improving then they could be the spanner in their group next summer.

Unfortunately I had to go to work this morning Steve so celebrations were muted but that was a very well deserved and hard earned result. It's true it took a while for me to be convinced by Steve Clarke, his squad selections and results were poor to start with but it's clear that he's found a system that works and solved a couple of problems on the way, the belief the players have in themselves is clear as day and that goes a long way in football.

Finding a way to fit Tierney and Robertson into the side, dropping McTominay deeper, bringing in Declan Gallacher and Lyndon Dykes are all pieces of good management, he's even managed to get Callum MacGregor to finally show his Celtic form for his country. ( Dykes especially has been very good since coming in, does the job he's being asked to do superbly well). There's some decent young talent emerging also and for the first time in a long, long time, I'm looking forward to what this group could be capable of, we're certainly moving in the right direction.

Edited November 13, 2020 by allyhibs

[johhny2]

ffs mate, I don't think anyone believes Scotland are going to win the world cup, merely enjoying a brief, long awaited moment of positivity, talk about pissing on the parade, maybe you should stop worrying about what  motherwell players are doing next summer, and go for a nice relaxing bath.

[allyhibs]

15 hours ago, johhny2 said:

ffs mate, I don't think anyone believes Scotland are going to win the world cup, merely enjoying a brief, long awaited moment of positivity, talk about pissing on the parade, maybe you should stop worrying about what  motherwell players are doing next summer, and go for a nice relaxing bath.

Well said mate.

I'll just ignore the troll, he's got history of arguing for the sake of it, clueless.

[StevieDay1983]

OK lads, let's not get over-heated. @BrandNew is a football pessimistic and both @allyhibs and @johhny2 are football optimists! Let's leave it at that. Enjoy Scotland being at next summer's Euros and likely topping their Nations League group. In the meantime, head on over to the Nations League forum! I want to see more people posting their valued tips in there...