Our Tips for Wednesday's Internationals - 24/03/21

On Wednesday Turkey take on the Netherlands at Atatürk Olimpiyat in Group G in a clash which could be pivotal for the shape of the group.

The Netherlands look as though they are making improvements under former Crystal Palace manager Frank de Boer, having won their last two matches in the Nations League against the likes of Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-1 and Poland 2-1 where Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum scored in both matches.

Turkey will provide tough opposition to the Netherlands having narrowly finished two points behind France in Group H in the European Championship qualifiers with 23 points from 10 games.

However, due to the quality that the Netherlands possess with the likes of Depay in their side, you’d expect to see them come out on top, as the Lyon man has 24 goal contributions in 31 appearances.

Belgium face Wales at the King Power at De Dreef in Leuven, with the home side coming into this match as favourites.

The hosts finished top of their group in the Nations League ahead of the likes of England, Denmark and Iceland, scoring 16 goals in six matches, whilst Wales managed 16 points from six matches in Group B4.

Only Erling Haaland scored more goals than Romelu Lukaku in the Nations League with five goals in five games, the former Manchester United striker will be looking to add to the 25 goals he has scored in 34 games for Inter Milan this season when he faces Wales.

These two sides haven’t met since the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 when Wales came out as 3-1 winners.

The Czech Republic travel to Estonia in midweek with the visitors looking to make a strong start to qualifying, having not made it to the World Cup finals since 2006.

Jaroslav Šilhavý’s side will be looking to maintain the high standards they set for themselves in the Nations League, having finished top of their Nations League group with 12 points from six games against the likes of Scotland, Israel and Slovakia.

The Czech’s are known for being an efficient side, having only scored nine times in their six Nations League matches.

Estonia finished bottom of their group in the Nations League, conceding nine goals in six games in Group C2. With the Czech Republic not being a free-scoring team, as well as the fact that Estonia don’t tend to concede in bulk, the odds of 6/5 are fair for the away side to win 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1.

Bosnia come into this game having been relegated from the Nations League back in November, having been drawn in a tough group consisting of Italy, Holland and Poland, before falling to a shock defeat to Northern Ireland in a Euro 2021 play-off fixture, despite dominating the game and taking the lead through Rade Krunic of AC Milan.

Since then, Bosnia have appointed a new national team coach in Ivaylo Petev and the Bulgarian will know that his side must start well against the likes of Finland if they are to qualify for the World Cup, as they did in 2014 and will be relying on the likes of Edin Dzeko to lead them to qualification, as the AS Roma man has scored 10 goals in 27 appearances for Roma this season.

Meanwhile, Finland who will be going to Euro 2021, after finishing ahead of the likes of Greece and Bosnia in their qualifying group, will be looking to overachieve once again. Norwich’s Teemu Pukki will be their main goal threat, having scored 22 goals in 34 Championship appearances for Norwich this season.

The last time these two faced off in a game was in October 2019, where Bosnia ran out as 4-1 winners, thanks to goals from Izet Hajrovic, Miralem Pjanic (2) and Armin Hodzic.

The final game on this list is Malta against Russia where we are predicting that there will be over 4.5 goals, with more than likely all of these coming from the away side.

Russia managed to score 33 goals in 10 qualifying games for the Euros, which was the third-most by any team, with only England and Belgium managing more. They also scored 12 goals in six Nations League matches as they finished second in Group B3 consisting of Hungary, Serbia and Turkey. Only Spain and Belgium managed more goals than Russia in the Nations League.

Meanwhile, Malta finished bottom of Group F in their Euro 2021 qualifiers, conceding 27 goals, in a group containing Spain, Sweden, Norway, Romania and Faroe Islands. They also let in six goals in six matches in the Nations League against the likes of the Faroe Islands, Latvia and Andorra.