Spain and Italy Kickstart their European Championship Campaign on Saturday
Published March 23, 2019 by Florin P
Group F and J favorites play on Saturday night in the first round of the European Championship qualifications in front of their fans.
The fewest European Championship matches for this week are scheduled for Saturday, but there’s no shortage of exciting games. That’s because two of the main favorites will play today, with Italy and Spain having home pitch advantage against Norway and Finland. The Scandinavian countries will try to defend and salvage a point, as they prepare for a 90-minute siege from the former World Cup winners.
Spain Starts with the First Chance over Norway
Spain is clearly the best team in Group F and it will settle for nothing less than the first place. In order to avoid any unpleasant surprises in the final matches, they will try to kickstart their qualification campaign with a victory. Home pitch advantage and the fact that they face Norway should be enough for them to capitalize on the odds of 1/5 offered by bet365 Sports.
Norway hasn’t achieved anything notable in the last decade in European or international football, but has high expectations from this qualification campaign. That’s because Group F is not as difficult as it looks and except for Spain, the other teams are manageable. The strategy for this match is simple, as Norway will defend and hope that the Spanish footballers won’t be playing at 100%. 888 Sport is particularly generous with odds of 7/1 on the draw and 15/1 on the Scandinavian team winning on the road.
Defensive-Minded Finland Travels to Italy
Group J is a crowded place, with six teams trying to secure qualification and Italy is without a doubt the main favorite. They will need to confirm this status by defeating Finland in the opening match, as this game is played in front of their fans. Home pitch advantage and a starting formation at full strength should be enough for Italy to win and punters will cash in on odds of 7/20.
Finland has played defensive football in his previous qualification campaign and will stick to the strategy in the match against Italy. They have the uncanny ability to wear down better teams, so the odds of 4/1 offered by Winner Sports on them to split points are tempting. There is even better value in betting on Finland to win, but it’s hard for the odds of 10/1 to actually come to fruition.
