A continuation of the streak of clean sheets would take Finland close to the EC final tournament.
In the last meeting, Denmark was better 3–1. Jussi Eskola
The most interesting game of the day
On Sunday, Huuhkaj will be offered a great opportunity to take a strong step towards the summer 2024 EC final tournament already at this stage of the qualifiers. Last time, a 1–0 win over Kazakhstan kept Finland at the top of the qualifying group. If Finland manages to beat Denmark at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday, the gap to Denmark would stretch to five points before the last four rounds of the group.
For the remaining matches, Finland should realistically budget full points for the home matches against Kazakhstan and Northern Ireland and the away game against San Marino. By stretching to a draw today, Huuhkajie’s key match would likely be the October 14th away game in Slovenia.
Despite the win, the Huhkaji’s performance in Kazakhstan was not particularly good. Especially Teemu Pukin the time difference of traveling from the USA was strongly visible when playing. The rhythm of Finland’s attacking play was really found only after Pukki was replaced by the one who scored the winning goal to Benjamin Källman. Pukki will still retain his opening position against Denmark. It is also reasonable to expect Puk to improve significantly from Thursday’s match.
The goalkeeper will play a big role in Sunday’s match Lukas Hradecky. Hradecký has now kept a clean sheet in four consecutive qualifying games. The 360-minute clean streak has also meant a four-game winning streak for the Huuhkajs.
Although Huuhkajie’s pipes are beautiful, the team goes into the game against Denmark as a pretty big underdog. In the opening meeting of the teams’ group in Copenhagen in March, the hosts won the game 3–1, even though Finland hung on well until the last ten minutes with goalie Lukas Hradecký’s dream saves.
The level difference at that time was told by the fact that the expected goal of the match (3.0–1.0) fully corresponded to the final result. However, the underdog always has a seam in these roughs, as was noticed in the previous EC final tournament, after Finland won a dramatic game in Denmark 0–1.
It is also worth noting that Denmark have had defensive problems in both of their previous away matches in these qualifiers. The team sensationally lost 2–3 to Kazakhstan, and Slovenia also takes two points from the Jews with a 1–1 draw. Of course, Denmark, who expected a goal in both matches, won (1.8–2.1 and 0.6–1.5).
Coach Markku in Kanerva there is no need to make lineup changes from Thursday’s match due to injuries. On Thursday, Denmark practiced rotation at home against San Marino, so the guests can count on a small rest advantage here. Finland–Denmark starts at 19:00.
The best betting tip of the day
Today, Danish Rasmus Hojlund, who plays for Manchester United, completed the hat-trick in Huuhkajie’s net. Mauri Forsblom
The level difference between Finland and Denmark in favor of guests is so great that, in principle, the attractions should first be viewed from the perspective of the Jutes. The Danish win coefficient has fluctuated between 1.60 and 1.70 throughout the weekend. With odds of 1.70, Denmark would already be worth a small bet.
The coefficient will hardly rise to exactly that, so there is something to play a bit more like Denmark in terms of goal coefficients. In the match, nothing indicates a goal celebration, but a low goal score is very likely. The 1.67 offered for less than 2.5 goals is a borderline case with an estimate of 59 percent.
On the ice hockey side, the Finnish teams’ Sunday CHL matches have been multiplied pretty much right. The closest of the playable ones is the Lukko–Mannheim match with more than 5.5 goals with a coefficient of 1.95. Lukko–Mannheim starts at 16:00.
Games of the day: –
Total balance of the day’s games for the year: 78/136/99%
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