Friendly International: Finland vs Norway preview

Tuesday, 29 March @ 19:00 GMT

Venue: Ullevaal Stadion (Oslo)

Live Stream: fuboTV (US), bet365 (non-US)

Head to head record

Norway vs Finland 3-2 (2009 Friendly International)
Finland vs Norway 0-2 (2003 Friendly International)
Finland vs Norway 0-4 (1998 World Cup qualifiers)
Norway vs Finland 1-1 (1998 World Cup qualifiers)

Norway vs Finland prediction

Norway and Finland, the two Nordic sides, square off against each other at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo. The Finns aim to bounce back from the heavy 5-0 loss to Poland and it remains to be seen if they are capable of scoring their first goal on the international stage since 11 October, 2015.

Four-game winless run

Norway missed out on a place at the 2016 European Championship finals and the Norwegian young guns are now preparing for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. The Nordic side experienced all sorts of problems in the Euro 2016 qualifiers, but thanks to a goalless draw with Estonia the team put an end to their three-match losing run. Per-Mathias Hogmo’s troops recorded their last win in October, 2015 and they will not have a better chance than this to return to winning ways as they welcome Finland in Oslo on Tuesday evening. Hull City attacker Adama Diomande failed to score against Estonia, but he will have a chance to open his goal-scoring account when Norway take on Finland on Tuesday. The Norwegians managed to keep four clean sheets in previous five home games, but they failed to score in three of those five encounters.

The likes of Joshua King and Omar Elabdellaoui are both out of contention through injury, while Saint-Etienne attacker Alexander Soderlund is likely to be recalled to the starting line-up after he came as a substitute in the goalless draw with Estonia.  The likes of Selnaes and Midtsjo are both pushing for a start.

Five reasons to worry

Finland were having their ups and downs in the Euro 2016 qualifiers. The Finns were producing fine performances in the last four qualifying games, but they eventually failed to make it to the Euro 2016 finals. New coach Hans Backe is on a quest to help the team record a good result in the World Cup qualifiers, but, as things stand now, his men are likely to experience all sorts of problems in their qualifying campaign. Finland suffered a loss in each of their three friendly games under the new coach, with the team failing to score against Sweden (0-3), Iceland (0-1) and Poland (0-5) and it has to be noted that Adam Nawalka rested key player Robert Lewandowski in the Stadion Miejski clash. Anyhow, it is no surprise Norway are regarded as underdogs in Tuesday’s friendly against Norway.

Coach Hans Backe is likely to make a number of changes to the team that faced Poland, with the likes of Pukki, Schuller, Lod and Lam all likely to start the match this time out. CSKA Moscow ace Roman Eremenko could be rested against Norway.

Quick Facts

• Norway are eyeing their fourth consecutive win over Finland
• Under 2.5 goals were scored in each of their last five home games
• Finland are after their first ever win over Norway
• Finns failed to score in previous three friendly games
• 11 goals were scored in previous three games between the two teams

Norway vs Finland betting tip

Finland have been totally out of form ever since Hans Backe took over the reins. The team do not seem to be at the top of their game at the moment and seeing that Norway often produce fine performances at home, I believe that there is a certain value in betting on the hosts, who are eyeing their fourth straight win over the Finns.