Finland vs Bulgaria Match Preview

As part of the 3rd round of the UEFA Nations League, Finland hosts Bulgaria at the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki in front of a limited number of spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finland was disappointing in last Wednesday's friendly where they faced a heavy 5-1 defeat against Poland in Gdansk. That game was not crucial for Finland, with their manager Markku Kanerva making a heavy rotation in his roster, leaving out of his squad 9-10 of his key players.

In the first two rounds, back in September, Finland was defeated by Wales with 1-0, but managed to take their first three points against Ireland three days later.

Midweek, Bulgaria's EURO 2020 run ended in the semi-final of the playoffs against Hungary where they suffered a 3-1 defeat and got eliminated once again from the final stage. They remain winless in 2020, having played four games so far, actually, Georgi Dermendzhiev' side haveregistered a single win in their last 17 official and friendly matches.

In the first two rounds of the UEFA Nations League, Bulgaria started with a home draw against Ireland (1-1) followed by a 1-0 defeat to Wales on the road.

Their previous h2h games of these two sides may be in favor of the Bulgarians who have 7 wins and a draw in 8 games (their last match was back in 2008), but the current momentum of the Finns makes them the big favorites. The Bulgarians are coming from a big failure after a disappointing match in the semi-finals of the EURO qualifiers 2020 and now they are called to recover in just four days for the Nations League competition.

The Finns, on the other hand, have already secured their participation for the final stage of the EURO qualifiers 2020 (which will be held in the summer of 2021) for the first time in their history and certainly want to make a success in their group of the UEFA Nations League to confirm this way their improvement in recent years. The good news for them is the return of their star Teemu Pukki who overcame his injury and will be available to compete tonight. 

I think Finland will be able to prevail over Bulgaria for the first time in their history this Sunday. A possible final score could be 2-0.