The international break is here, with Forebet’s football predictions focusing on the six crucial Euro 2024 play-offs taking place this week.
On Thursday night, Kazakhstan will aim to defeat Greece for the very first time when they travel to the OPAP Arena in Athens.
This preview contains stats, trends and analysis for Thursday’s showdown. Read on to discover what our predictive analytics model expects.
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It was always going to be difficult for Greece to secure automatic qualification for Euro 2024, as they found themselves in a group alongside France and the Netherlands.
Still, Gus Poyet’s side managed to win four of their eight qualifiers to finish third in Group B – seven points clear of Ireland and five points shy of the Dutch.
Across all competitions, Greece have lost just one of their last five matches, claiming clean-sheet victories over Gibraltar, Ireland and New Zealand in that time.
Having held France to a 2-2 draw in their previous game, Poyet’s men will be confident of dispatching Kazakhstan on Thursday.
As for Kazakhstan, they won six of their 10 Euro 2024 qualifiers to finish fourth in Group H – four points outside the automatic qualification place.
However, the Hawks won their Nations League group after taking 13 points from a possible 18, booking their place in the play-offs as a result.
Kazakhstan have enjoyed plenty of success in recent times, winning seven of their last 10 matches across all competitions, with a 2-0 victory over Turkmenistan coming last week.
It is also worth noting that Kazakhstan have scored over 1.5 goals in five of their previous seven victories, keeping four clean sheets for good measure.
Head-to-head: Greece have won each of their three previous meetings with Kazakhstan, although those victories came between 2004 and 2006.
The aggregate score stands at 7-3 in favour of Greece, meaning they average 2.3 goals per game against the Hawks, who average a goal a game.
Team news: Greece’s squad contains several Premier League players, including Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas and Nottingham Forest’s Odysseas Vlachodimos.
On the other hand, Kazakhstan’s star man is Besiktas midfielder Bakhtiyar Zaynutdinov, who has scored 14 goals in 34 appearances for his country.
Although the Hawks have upped their game in recent times, Poyet’s side will back themselves to maintain their 100% record in this fixture.
Forebet predicts that both teams will score on Thursday. However, Greece are expected to outscore Kazakhstan and advance to the next round.