Finland will play host to Kazakhstan in this Group D clash at the Helsingin olympiastadion in Helsinki on Saturday afternoon with the hosts looking to make the most of home advantage in order to open their account on home soil.
It’s been a steady but also perhaps stubborn start from Finland from who have drawn both of their opening two games in the group as they’ve picked up points in draws with Bosnia-Herzegovina in a 2-2 draw at home which was followed by a 1-1 draw away at Ukraine.
GAMETIME😎#Huuhkajat #MeOlemmeSuomi pic.twitter.com/aDkRrUvcf6— Huuhkajat (@Huuhkajat) September 3, 2021
GAMETIME😎#Huuhkajat #MeOlemmeSuomi pic.twitter.com/aDkRrUvcf6
Finland are now unbeaten in their last six World Cup qualifiers which includes wins against Iceland and Kosovo in the previous campaign, while results overall in recent times have shown that Finland have tended to struggle against the better quality nations.
The hosts have managed to win just one of their last 10 matches in all competitions which came in the form of the 1-0 win over Denmark in the European Championship.
Six defeats within this period suggest that Finland may miss out on qualification for the next World Cup, but they should be able to beat Kazakhstan on home soil here.
Kazakhstan are without a win from their last 10 matches in all competitions, a sequence of results which not only include six defeats but also just two points from their opening three games of their World Cup qualifying campaign.
A rather predictable 2-0 defeat to France was followed by home and away draws with Ukraine in 1-1 and 2-2 stalemates respectively, so this will give the visitors hope and belief that they can get a result in Helsinki on Saturday afternoon.
However, the bigger picture in World Cup qualifiers doesn’t paint a positive picture for Kazakhstan as they’ve failed to win any of their last 16 qualifiers overall which includes 10 defeats while on the road, Kazakhstan have registered just the one success on their travels from their previous 22 matches away from home.
That solitary win was in the form of a 3-1 win away at Andorra back in 2009 but since that rare victory, Kazakhstan have failed to win any of their last 12 away qualifiers, losing 10 of these games.
It’s been a while since Finland last met Kazakhstan but the hosts won the previous two encounters and should also walk away with the three points on Saturday too.