UEFA EURO 2024 Play-Off Semi-Final: The Ultra previews WALES v FINLAND on Thursday with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
WALES V FINLAND
7.45pm It’s a massive week of International football for some countries this week as we have the Euro 2024 Playoffs. It will be an unusually quiet week on BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE after all the recent Champions League, Europa League and Cheltenham Festival buzz as bar the Euro 2024 Playoffs most sides are in friendly action. While International breaks are generally viewed as an annoyance the Nations League has at least given us competitive football for most International breaks these days. We have the Semi-Finals starting on Thursday, with the Finals next Tuesday.
There’s plenty of interesting markets, but the standout fixture is Wales taking on Finland through Path A. The winners of this will face either Poland or Estonia – Poland haven’t been at their best for a few years now so Wales will fancy their chances of getting through. You couldn’t definitely say that Wales haven’t been at their best either though! They finished third in their Group behind Turkey and Croatia – it was also a surprise to see Turkey top the Group! After a red-hot start, Wales lost to Armenia at home and that was a huge blow. They actually beat Croatia, but dropped points to Armenia away from home as well! If they beat Armenia twice they wouldn’t be here.
Obviously Wales had a very tough time in the Nations League – they were in an A Group this time around and they were just out of their depth at that level. They are one of the strongest sides in the B Groups, and I would suggest they’ll keep bouncing up and down for a while. At least being in an A Group means they have a good ranking if/when they miss out on the top two spots for qualifying like they did this time. Finland played average football in the Nations League to finish second in a B Group involving Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Romania. While they finished third in an exceptionally competitive qualifying Group with Denmark, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Northern Ireland and San Marino.
Denmark topped the Group, but Finland were only four points behind. Away from home they lost to Denmark and Slovenia, but grinded out a 1-0 win over Kazakhstan who are much improved. I can fully understand why Wales are the favourites here with home advantage, however I wasn’t expecting to see them trading at odds on when I clicked into the market. Wales are trading 1.9 with Finland 5.1 and the draw is 3.5 at the time of writing. I have to say the Wales lay jumps off the page in my opinion. Since Bale has retired they have struggled to create chances and score goals, plus they are conceding more too. I know home advantage is massive for Wales, the atmosphere will be incredible as always, but I just feel the game will be a lot closer than odds of 1.9 suggest. I’m very happy with the home lay from a value point of view.
The Ultra Says:
Three points lay (liability) Wales to beat Finland at 1.9 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/WalFin
