Finland vs Ireland Prediction: Can Ireland’s stagnant attack find some goals?

Heimir Hallgrimsson has had a difficult start to life as Republic of Ireland manager. He has lost his opening two home matches by a scoreline of two goals to nil, and now faces away trips to Finland and Greece during this international break. Results are needed soon otherwise relegation to League C in the Nations League will be an inevitability, and that’s not the start that the former Iceland boss would have hoped for. 

Meanwhile, Finland have also lost two from two so far, so this fixture is certainly a winnable one for both sides. Below you will find my Finland vs Ireland predictions, featuring team news and betting tips. 

Team News

Finland are aiming to play a more expansive style of football now under Markku Kanerva, after a disappointing couple of years in their traditional 4-4-2 shape. Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper and national team captain Lukas Hradecky is one of their only players who play in a major European league, with Glen Kamara, formerly of Leeds and now at Rennes, one of the others. 

Finland’s record goalscorer Teemu Pukki is still going strong at 34, but left Norwich City to ply his trade with Minnesota United in 2023. His club teammate Robin Lod will likely help him provide the attacking threat in this one, as Finland look to secure an important victory.

Football Odds

For the visitors, the main issue that Hallgrimsson has right now is that he doesn’t know his best XI. He switched from a back three in the opener against England to a back four against Greece, neither of which worked. Now he has dropped Sunderland’s Alan Browne from the squad entirely, with Jack Taylor and Finn Azaz called up to bring new energy to the midfield. 

Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher will start in goal, with Nathan Collins and Dara O’Shea likely to partner each other at centre-back. Robbie Brady offers experience at left-back, with Andrew Omobamidele tussling it out with Festy Ebosele for the right-back spot. 

Up front it is anybody’s guess. Sammie Szmodics, Adam Idah, Evan Ferguson and Troy Parrott all offer something different, but a combination of two of them is surely the way forward for the new boss. With such a lack of goal threat shown in 2024, something needs to click and soon.  

Finland vs Ireland Odds

Finland as the home side are priced at 15/8 to win this game, which makes Ireland the marginal favourites at 13/8. A draw can be backed at 21/10, over 2.5 goals is 13/8 and BTTS is 11/10.

Idah is the favourite to open the scoring at 11/2, with Ferguson available at 6/1, along with Finland’s hitman Pukki. Finland are 10/1 to win both halves, while Ireland are 9/1 to do the same, if you fancy one of these sides to get on top and dominate. 

Draw @ 21/10

There’s really not a lot to choose between these two teams, as they are both struggling to find their way at the moment. Ireland appear to be in a goalscoring drought despite their array of talented forward options, and the lack of cohesiveness is a concern. 

Meanwhile, Finland have the weaker squad on paper and are attempting to change their playing style which could lead to a period of bad results. However, they’ve got an elite level goalkeeper and both defences are likely to be up for the battle. Ultimately, in Helsinki, I can’t separate these two nations who have failed to pick up a point in this year’s Nations League campaign. 

Correct score 0-0 @ 6/1

Neither side managed to score a goal in two games against England and Greece respectively last month and goalscoring has been a real issue for Ireland in 2024. Do you know how many goals they’ve scored this year? Two. 

Both came against Hungary in a 2-1 win, but they’ve failed to find the net in the other five games against Switzerland, Belgium, Portugal, England and Greece. Now, Finland are obviously an easier opponent than those countries listed, but Hallgrimsson is yet to get a grip with this outfit, and so it could be another dull watch for the Irish faithful. 

Meanwhile, Finland are looking to be more progressive, but I think that will take longer to implement than they think, and so this could be another disjointed performance from both sides. I’ll plump for a 0-0 here. 

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