France vs Finland

Underperforming France will be desperate to rediscover their mojo when they meet Finland at the Groupama Academy Stadium in what appears to be a routine World Cup qualifier.

An underwhelming 1-1 away stalemate with Ukraine last time out gave France a fifth consecutive draw within 90 minutes across all competitions, albeit taking their unbeaten competitive run to 22 straight matches (W14, D8 – 90 mins only). However, a return of nine points from their opening five World Cup qualifiers (W2, D3) represents Les Bleus’ worst start to a World Cup qualifying campaign since ‘Germany 2006.’ France’s hopes of returning to winning ways look bright, though, as they go up against a nation they’ve defeated in all four World Cup qualifying H2Hs by an aggregate score of 8-1. That said, the world champions’ only reverse across their last 29 internationals on home soil (W23, D5) came at the hands of Finland in a friendly meeting in November 2020.

On the other hand, Finland eked out a 1-0 home triumph over group outsiders Kazakhstan last time out, halting a run of four consecutive draws in the World Cup qualifiers and maintaining their unbeaten run in the ongoing qualifying cycle. Though they trail group leaders France by four points, the ‘Huuhkajat’ have two games in hand and will face an uphill battle to secure a runner-up finish in Group D. Indeed, Finland’s hopes of staging another miracle on French soil look already doomed, given their paltry goalscoring record of netting under 1.5 goals in 11 of their last 12 away World Cup qualifying fixtures. On the bright side, the visitors defied the odds to beat Denmark 1-0 in their most recent road trip to halt a run of four straight international travels without winning (D1, L3).