With automatic promotion no longer in their hands, Greece will conclude Group B2 League B of the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League with a trip to Finland on Sunday evening.
The 'Pirate Ship' lost its top spot on Thursday after a 3-0 defeat to England, while the Scandinavian hosts remain without a point and have been officially relegated.
Latest Finland vs Greece team information
Greece will have to make a change in midfield for their last game, with Slavia Prague's Christos Zafeiris suspended due to accumulating yellow cards, but Dimitrios Kourbelis will return from suspension and could replace Zafeiris immediately in the pivotal role in midfield.
Despite their defeat to England on Thursday, Greece at least have no fitness issues, and Jovanovic may consider one or two optional changes after making three changes before the break this week. Fotis Ioannidis, who has scored three goals this campaign, is pushing to take Vangelis Pavlidis' place in attack, while Liverpool's Kostas Tsimikas will have to compete with Dimitris Giannoulis for the left-back spot.
Finland have no disciplinary issues in this weekend's formalities, but Kanerva coach had to replace centre-back Matti Peltola in the 58th minute of their match against Ireland with an undisclosed injury. With relegation already assured, the hosts don't need to take any risks, so Daniel O'Shaughnessy could replace Peltola in Helsinki, where Pohjanpalo and all-time leading scorer Teemu Pukki will be competing for a starting spot.
Pukki is now just 13 games away from overtaking Jari Litmanen as Finland's most capped player, but he has played just 77 minutes of this Nations League campaign.
Latest predicted lineup Finland vs Greece
Finland:
Hradecky; O'Shaughnessy, Ivanov, Hoskonen; Niskanen, Kairinen, Kamara, Uronen; Lod, Pukki, Hakans
Greece:
Vlachodimos; Rota, Mavropanos, Hatzidiakos, Giannoulis; Kourbelis, Siopis; Masouras, Bakasetas, Tzolis; Ioannidis
Latest football commentary Finland vs Greece
Greece have a 100% Nations League record after four rounds, while England are also perfect with four wins from four visits to the 2004 European champions ahead of Thursday's game in Athens. It's a revenge game for Lee Carsley's side.
Unable to replicate their surprise win over England in October, Greece fell behind early on as Ollie Watkins opened the scoring, followed by an unfortunate own goal from Odysseas Vlachodimos and a superb overhead kick from Curtis Jones, while also missing out on chances that could have been had it not been for some fine saves from Jordan Pickford.
With a 0-3 loss in midweek that swung the tables in England's favour, Greece's hopes of automatic promotion to League A are now over. They are currently second in the table, which would result in a promotion play-off.
Put simply, Ivan Jovanovic's side must get the better of England in their final game if they are to reclaim top spot, but all their hard work in Helsinki will be for naught if Carsley's side beat the Republic of Ireland in their final game.
However, Greece can take some solace in the fact that they have won their last three away games in all competitions - and each of those victories has seen at least two goals scored. Finland, meanwhile, have no points and only pride to defend.
For Finland, their League B career will end after four years when they are humiliated by the Republic of Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Thursday. Evan Ferguson's goal just before half-time decided the game in favour of the hosts, but in a moment that perfectly reflected Finland's disastrous run in the Nations League, goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher saved a Joel Pohjanpalo penalty and then denied Robin Lod with the rebound.
The defeat marked Finland's fifth straight defeat and their seventh winless game since a 1-0 win over Estonia in a friendly in March. When they play Greece on Sunday, Finland will celebrate a year since their last clean sheet - a 4-0 win over Northern Ireland in a Euro 2024 qualifier.
A 0-3 defeat to Greece in September made it three defeats in Finland's last four meetings with the one-time European champions.
Finland vs Greece score prediction
Based on the above football comments, we and the world's leading football sites have given the following results for the Finland vs Greece match:
- Sportsmole: Finland 1-3 Greece
- WhoScore: Finland 0-2 Greece
- Our prediction: Finland 0-2 Greece
When and where to watch Finland vs Greece live?
To watch live the match Finland vs Greece in the Nations League taking place at 0:00 on November 18, viewers can watch on TV360 here, Mytv system here or on online sports channels. Wish you all have fun watching football.
Source: https://baodaknong.vn/nhan-dinh-du-doan-phan-lan-vs-hy-lap-khong-co-bat-ngo-234430.html
Comment (0)