Moldova – Albania

No more than two goals will be scored in an important match for each of the opponents

Football Albania is on the threshold of a momentous occasion before the seventh meeting within the European qualification. Prior to the current qualifying stage, the guests of the upcoming match have only once in history participated in the EURO, but in 2016 they failed to achieve success in the main round of the tournament. The Albanians can win their second ever trip to the continental championship on Friday. Silvinho's team are currently top of the Group E table, two and three points ahead of the Czech Republic and Poland respectively. Albania will qualify for the UEFA EURO finals if they don't lose to Moldova or if Poland defeats the Czech Republic. Strange as it may seem, despite the current fourth place and historically mediocre level of football in the country, Moldova has not lost its chances to be in the top 2 before the final matches. In order to do so, Kleschenko's team will have to beat Albania and Czech Republic in the remaining matches. Bookmakers have identified the guests as favourites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 1.85 on their victory. Moldova started the qualification in one of the most equal groups of the European qualification as one of the two outsiders along with the Faroe Islands. However, even after losing points in one of the meetings with the Faroese players, Kleschenko's team competed honourably with the other national teams of Group E. Surprisingly, after three quarters of scheduled matches, Moldova has only one defeat, which was the result of travelling to Tirana - to the upcoming opponent. The Moldovan team did not lose the meetings with Czech Republic and Poland, and even beat the latter at home. The Albanian team did well in the 2022 World Cup qualification, finishing two points behind second-placed Poland. In the subsequent 2023 Nations League Albanians played mediocre, but were saved from relegation from League B by the disqualification of the Russian national team. Having started the new qualifying tournament with a defeat in Poland, the Albanian team did not give the impression of being fully competitive until this autumn. In September and October, Albania met the Czech Republic and Poland three times, scoring seven of a possible nine points. In the upcoming encounter, there will probably be a lot of struggle and no more than two goals.