Scotland vs Finland

Scotland’s final warm-up contest for Euro 2024 brings Finland to Hampden Park.

Scotland might be set to appear at back-to-back European Championships for only the second time in the country’s history, but they won’t be traveling to Germany with much optimism. An unconvincing performance from Steve Clarke’s side saw them take almost an hour to break down Gibraltar’s defense in a disappointing 2-0 victory last time out. An ugly triumph against the world’s 203rd-ranked nation at least helped the Tartan Army snap a seven-game winless run prior (D2, L5) and set themselves up nicely for this encounter. Finland’s visit to Glasgow should extend Scotland a helping head as they look to build a head of steam, considering they’ve not lost any of their eight previous H2Hs (W6, D2). Moreover, their last three H2Hs wins have come ‘to nil.’

Conceding first could, therefore, prove detrimental to Finland’s bid to bounce back from a 4-2 loss at Portugal last week. The visitors’ hectic form has seen them alternate between winning (2) and losing (2) across their most recent internationals. Since neither result (win/loss) saw the winner keep a clean sheet, any favorable outcome for Markku Kanerva’s side would probably hinge on packing a punch. But that’s not something they’ve often achieved on foreign soil. In fact, the Eagle-owls have netted under 1.5 goals in eight of their last ten away matches, a run stretching back to November 2022. As if that’s not troubling enough, they’ve leaked the goals at an alarming rate on their recent travels, conceding three or more on three of their last four trips.