Slovakia and Azerbaijan face off on Thursday in a League C Group 3 showdown in the UEFA Nations League at Anton Malatinsky Stadium.
Slovakia currently sits in second place in the standings, having picked up six points so far in the Nations League. Slovakia’s last game came on June 13th against Kazakhstan, and they were defeated 2-1 in that game. They fell behind 2-0 in that game, but Matus Bero scored a goal in the 51st minute to get it within a run. They had 70 percent of the possession and five shots on goal, but it wasn’t enough. Ondrej Duda did pick up a red card in the 87th minute, and he won’t be able to go in this game. Milan Skriniar missed the last international game with a hamstring injury, but he will be able to go here. He is also expected to be named a captain for this team going forward.
Azerbaijan currently sits in third place in the group, having picked up four points. Azerbaijan’s last game came against Belarus on June 13th, and they were able to secure the 2-0 victory. They didn’t get a ton of offense going early in the game, but they scored in the 76th minute and again in stoppage time. They had 14 shots on 3 shots on target. Furthermore, they also had 53 percent of the possession. Before that win against Belarus, they had lost 12 games in a row. Qismat Aliyev will be serving the last game of his suspension. It looks like they are going to be sending out the same starters from that last win.
Azerbaijan is coming off a big win in their last game, but this is still a team that has a lot of issues. I don’t trust their defense, and they are going to struggle to defend against Slovakia. Look for Slovakia to score at least three goals here, and they will cruise to the easy victory. Back Slovakia -1.5