Wales vs Finland Preview

Wales and Finland will battle to become one of the three teams joining the European Championship party in Germany later this year when both sides meet in the qualifiers on Thursday.

The two nations are playing at this stage after failing to book an automatic spot from their respective groups. Both sides played in the previous edition, but one of them will certainly miss this year’s tournament if they fail to win this match.

Wales will be desperate to qualify and winning will also help Wales boss Rob Page, as his job may be at stake if his side fails to reach a major international tournament for just the second time since 2016. The Welshman should be confident going into this tie as his side are unbeaten in their last six internationals (W3, D3).

His side’s history in the playoffs should also boost his confidence with Wales seeing off Austria and Ukraine in 2022 to reach just their second-ever World Cup. Both of those fixtures were at the Cardiff City Stadium, just as this one is and a win would setup a potential final against Poland or Estonia which could prove to be a massive advantage for the Welsh players as they’ve been beaten just once in Euro qualifying at this venue since March 2011 (W10, D4).

Meanwhile, Finland will look to make it three wins in a row when they face Wales in Cardiff. Markku Kanerva’s side are looking to qualify for just their second major tournament and enter this tie as underdogs.

But after beating San Marino and Northern Ireland in their last two qualifying games, their confidence should be high heading into this clash. However, Finland’s recent meetings with Wales have not gone well, with the Eagle-owls failing to win any of the three meetings in the last decade (D1, L2). Both competitive H2Hs ended in defeat for Finland, including a 3-1 reverse at this ground in November 2020 leaving them without a victory over the Dragons since October 2009.