Poland vs. Slovakia 6/14/21 Euro Cup 2021 Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Poland and Slovakia are meeting at Gazprom Arena to play in round 1 of Group E in the Euro Cup 2021. Poland is a good team with the best striker in the world on their roster. Slovakia is in solid form, and they have qualified for this competition from second place in the group.

As I’ve mentioned, Poland is led by Lewandowski, the best goalkeeper in the world, but they have been in really bad form, and Poland has won only 1 of their last 7 games, while not winning any of their last 3. I suppose the good news for Poland is they haven’t lost in their friendly games before this tournament. In their last game against Iceland, Poland was the dominant team with 64% of ball possession, 6 shots on goal, and 7 corner kicks. Offensively, Poland was solid with 2 scored goals, but they were losing twice in this game, and the best they could have gotten was a 2-2 draw. Alongside Lewandowski, Poland has Zielinski, Bednarek, and Glik, and Szczesny on goal, but we will see if that will be enough for Poland to advance to the next stage of this competition.

Slovakia has gotten to this tournament through the additional qualifications, and they do have some good players, but Slovakia is an older team, and I don’t think they have what it takes to advance to the next stage. Slovakia will be fighting with Sweden and Poland for that second place, but it will be tough because these are all teams of similar quality. Slovakia is undefeated in their last 5 games, but they have only 1 win during this stretch. In their latest match against Austria, Slovakia has had 51% of ball possession, 4 shots on goal, and 0 corner kicks. This wasn’t a beautiful game, and both teams were focused on defense. The final score of this match was 0-0. When thinking about Slovakia, the first name that comes to mind is Milan Skrinar, Inter’s defender that will need to be on top of his game if Slovakia wants to have a shot at advancing. The second player you think of is Hamsik, a Slovakian legend, but a player that is far, far from his best days and best form. Overall, I don’t think Slovakia will advance to the next stage, and I think it’s time for them to start rebuilding their team.

Slovakia is in slightly better form, but when the competition starts, that doesn’t matter much because players know what is at stake. I think Poland is the better team, and I will side with them.