Moldova vs Bulgaria Prediction: Tricolorii to return to winning ways

Moldova welcome Bulgaria to Chisinau on Friday evening in an international friendly match.

Neither team has qualified for the World Cup this summer, while these two sides have never previously met on the international stage.

Moldova finished with a single point from their eight qualifying matches, while Bulgaria haven't featured on the world stage since France 98 and will have to wait another four years to end that drought.

Below are my Moldova vs Bulgaria predictions and match odds for the clash at Stadionul Zimbru this Friday.

Team news

Ion Nicolaescu remains absent for Moldova due to an ACL injury, but he is the only major absence ahead of the clash on Friday evening.

Bulgaria will be missing striker Kiril Despodov for this match, while Premier League star Ilia Gruev of Leeds United also won’t play a part in this game as he continues to recover from a meniscus injury.

Football Odds

Moldova vs Bulgaria Odds

Moldova start the match as slight underdogs, coming in at 11/5 to win, while Bulgaria are priced as 5/4 with a draw sitting at 23/10.

Over 2.5 goals is currently 6/5, while both teams to score is sitting at 19/20.

BTTS @ 1/1

While both teams aren't in action this summer at the World Cup, Moldova and Bulgaria will be looking to move on from defeats in their previous games.

As such, expect both teams to come out firing in the first half. In their 3-2 loss against Cyprus last time out, three goals were scored in the first half, before the Moldovans nearly completed a remarkable comeback by scoring twice in the second period.

Bulgaria's last two games featured just one goal in each game, but 12 were scored in the win over Solomon Islands in March. In their win over Georgia last November, there were also goals netted in both halves.

Bulgaria to win and both teams to score @ 10/3

Moldova showed plenty of heart during the second half of their 3-2 defeat to Cyprus last time out, but that might not be enough to win against Bulgaria.

Two of Bulgaria's last three victories have featured both teams finding the back of the net and there is no doubt Moldova can cause some problems.

The Moldovans have scored against Cyprus, Romania, Israel and Norway dating back to September, meaning Bulgaria won't be taking them lightly at all.

In the end, though, expect the away side to bounce back to winning ways in Chisinau.