Finland vs France

Finland and France are set to square off in their final 2022 World Cup qualifying encounter at the Olympiastadion in Helsinki.

A hard-earned 3-1 away win over Bosnia & Herzegovina last time out put Finland in a prime position to reach back-to-back major tournaments for the first time in the country’s history. After making the nation proud at Euro 2020 in the summer, Markk Kanerva’s men have blown hot and cold in the World Cup qualifiers (W3, L2), with four of the five matches won/lost in the post-Euro 2020 period seeing the winner on the day keep a clean sheet. Sat two points clear of third-placed Ukraine, the ‘Huuhkajat’ have to avoid defeat here to secure a berth at next year’s World Cup finals in Qatar regardless of Ukraine’s result in Bosnia. That could be easier said than done, as they’ve lost all seven previous World Cup qualifying H2Hs, failing to score in the last four in a row.

In the meantime, France made short work of their home encounter against lowly Kazakhstan last time out, picking up a comprehensive 8-0 victory to seal a top-place finish in Group D. Interestingly, Didier Deschamps’ man scored as many goals against Kazakhstan as they had in their previous seven World Cup qualifying games combined. France’s outstanding away form could be crucial to their hopes of completing this World Cup qualifying campaign unbeaten, as they’ve only lost two of their last 18 World Cup qualifying travels (W10, D6). Staying robust at the back has been integral to this run of form, given that ‘Les Bleus’ have kept ten clean sheets during that 18-game stretch.