Will Burns thinks this game may not produce many goals as Slovakia will need three points but the Russians may settle for one.
Wednesday 15th June 2016 – 14:00 BST
EURO 2016 – GROUP B
RUSSIA vs. SLOVAKIA
With a clash with England to come, this is a must-win game for Slovakia if they have ambitions of the knockout stages.After a late 2-1 defeat against Wales in their opening match, the Slovakians will need to stop licking their wounds as they take on Russia on Wednesday afternoon.
Russia drew their first match 1-1 with England. The Russians were staring down the barrel of defeat but a rescued a point in the last minute thanks to a Vasili Berezutski header and some inexperienced/unimpressive England defending. Apart from that goal, they were far from exciting. The defence played high, possibly due to the self-awareness of how paceless they are. The midfield stopped going forward and even with all the men behind the ball at times, England were still creating chances.
Slovakia’s headline act Marek Hamsik was impressive against Wales, and become more and more influential as the game went on. Coach Jan Kosak will be hoping that the Napoli star can hit the ground running on Wednesday. After coming on as a substitute, Ondrej Duda equalised with his first touch on Saturday and could be in line to start in the Russia clash.
This fixture does not bring much excitement if we look at the history books. When the two teams have met in the last six matches we have seen some disappointing scorelines of 1-0’s, 1-1’s and a 0-0 with every game hitting the Under 2.5 Goals bet.
With this game being almost a case of do-or-die for Slovakia, I think their price of 12/5 at Paddy Power is too big to ignore.
If you’re betting… good luck!
TIP: Under 2.5 Goals (1.60 at BetVictor)
TIP: Slovakia to win (3.40 at Paddy Power)
