Norway – Hungary

Oslo will be the host of the first Euro 2016 playoff match, featuring home side Norway and Hungary. The bookmakers are rating Norway as pretty strong favorites, with odds for a home win currently being slightly under evens.

Norway`s third place in a group with Italy, Croatia or Bulgaria was somewhat expected, but the level of football from the Nordic side was excellent, clearly surpassing the expectations. With a very young and talented team, Norway finished just 1 point behind Croatia, putting in some solid performances. The rebuilding process is clearly having a massive impact and while Norway are still not world beaters and have not reached their potential, they are already dangerous for any team in Europe.

Hungary did not show anything special in the Group stages and reached the playoff mostly (if not only) because of playing in the easiest group. They finished third behind Northern Ireland and Romania, never really challenging for any of the top 2 places. All of Hungary’s 4 wins in the group came against Finland and Faroe Islands and each of them was by a single goal (three times 1-0 and one time 2-1). Not really much to say except that the visitors are a rather poor team and their dreams of reaching a final tournament after 30 years are still alive due to the new qualification system and circumstance.

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Team news & lineups:

As far as injuries and suspensions to usual national team players go, Norway has a full squad and can field the best lineup, while Hungary will miss veteran center back Juhasz.

Norway: Nyland – Elabdellaoui, Hovland, Forren, Aleesami – Johansen, Tettey – Skjelbred, Henriksen, Berget – Soderlund

Hungary: Kiraly – Fiola, Guzmics, Kadar, Leandro – Lovrencsics, Tozser, Gera, Dzsudzsak – Szalai, Nemeth

Without trying to be disrespectful towards Hungary, they are just to poor to win this tie and I`m sure even their most dedicated fans will agree with this statement. For all of their downsides, Hungary does deserve some credit for not being so easy to defeat (only 2 losses in the group stage) – but if Norway is to go trough, they should win their home match and I reckon they will do exactly that.

The hosts are a better, younger and faster side, they have home court advantage and Hungary is not exactly the kind of team from which you expect upsets. The visitors are not that great on the counterattack, so Norway can theoretically choose any game plan they want here, without fearing too much that they can be caught napping. The under could also be a good choice, but my tip is Norway to win. Prediction: Norway – Hungary 2-0.

Pick: Norway
Odds: 1.91 @ William Hill
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 7.28
Event date: 12 November