Two sides that got their Euro 2024 qualifiers off to a poor start will be aiming to bounce back on Sunday evening as Liechtenstein are set to host Iceland.
The home nation are currently ranked 198th in the Fifa men's rankings, the lowest they have been ranked for over three decades. This is no surprise given the fact that Liechtenstein's population is less than 40,000; with only San Marino having a smaller population in Europe.
Rene Pauritsch's side have lost 15 games on the bounce, whilst only scoring one goal and conceding 43 in this period. The last time that they avoided defeat came against Armenia in September 2021 in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
Liechtenstein opened their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign on Thursday evening as they had the daunting task of facing Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo in Lisbon. Liechtenstein put on a valiant display as they limited Portugal to only four goals, two of which were scored by Ronaldo.
Rene Pauritsch, the current interim manager of Liechtenstein will undoubtedly take the positives away from this display and come into Sunday’s fixture with confidence that his side could get a result against an easier opponent in Iceland.
Iceland are currently ranked 63rd in the Fifa men's rankings however there has been a gradual decline in ranking since 2016 when they memorably reached the quarter-finals of the Euros and climbed up to 21st in the world rankings in the process.
Unlike most European nations, Iceland have been relatively active since the World cup as they have been involved in a couple of friendlies this year and featured in the Baltic Cup at the backend of last year.
Iceland have been plagued by draws recently and have drawn ten of their last fifteen games, of which many of the games were against opponents who are ranked below Iceland. In fact, Arnar Vidarsson’s side have only won one of their last twenty games within 90 minutes.
Arnar Vidarsson’s side got their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign underway on Thursday evening as they faced Bosnia & Herzegovina. Despite controlling 63% of possession, Iceland found themselves two down at the break as AC Milan striker Rade Krunic scored a brace for Bosnia.
Iceland were unable to find a response in the second half and it was Bosnia & Herzegovina who extended their advantage to three goals. Arnar Vidarsson will be hoping that his side can put this game behind them as they only have to wait three days before they feature here.
These sides have been drawn in group J of the Euro 2024 qualifiers alongside Portugal, Bosnia, Luxembourg and Slovakia. Portugal are the runaway favorites to top the group @ ⅙ whilst Liechtenstein are priced @ 500/1 and Iceland are priced @ 6/1 to qualify for Euro 2024.
Liechtenstein are massive underdogs ahead of this matchup and are currently priced @ 25/1 to record a victory, whereas an away win for Iceland is priced @ 1/12.
We are backing over 3.5 goals as this is often a fixture that results in high-scoring free-flowing games. Iceland have scored four goals in their past three consecutive matches against Liechtenstein and we believe that their superior quality may lend itself to a high-scoring game once more.