Northern Ireland vs Greece Prediction: Green and White Army To Earn 3 Points

On June 2, 2022, at 21:45 (UTC+3) a first leg of the UEFA Nations League match will take place at Windsor Park Stadium in Belfast where the national team of Northern Ireland will take on Greece.

The Northern Ireland national team can boast only one great success in recent decades: in 2016, they managed to qualify for the European Championship, where they even managed to get out of the group only to lose to the French in round of 16. After that, they tried to make it to other tournaments, but each time these attempts ended unsuccessfully. Green and White Army failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2022, but they were left with a very tough group as it would be next to impossible to outplay the Swiss and Italians. So Ian Baraclough's players failed, finishing third in the standings.

Team Greece is very rarely selected for major international tournaments. Yes, at the beginning of the 21st century they had a great period when they won three consecutive continental championships, and at Euro 2004 they sensationally became the champions, but now the Sky Blues and whites have fallen on hard times again. The Greeks finished only third in their group at the 2022 World Cup qualifying round leaving Sweden and Spain ahead of them, after which John van 't Schip stepped down as their new coach and Gustavo Poyet of Uruguay was appointed as their new helmsman. The Greek national team has already played two friendly games under him, beating the Romanians 1-0 and losing 0-1 to the Montenegrins.

The teams had seven head-to-head encounters throughout their history. Green and White Army have three wins, while the Sky Blues and whites were stronger in four games. The goal difference in this case is on the side of the hosts in the upcoming confrontation, 10-9. The last time the rivals met was in the qualifying for the 2016 World Cup, when both times the victory was celebrated by the players of Northern Ireland, 2-0 and 3-1.

Teams Northern Ireland and Greece have not been at their best lately, flying past one major international tournament after another. The opponents are comparable in skill level, so the fate of the upcoming confrontation will be decided by little things. Most of them are in favor of the Whites, who will play with the support of the home stands. Besides, it is always tough for the road team to play in Belfast. In addition, the Greeks lost the last two face-offs. As a result, we have to consider betting on the Northern Ireland team's victory with the odds of about 3.10.

It is unlikely that we will see high-scoring activity in the upcoming match. If you look at the recent results between Northern Ireland and Greece, the scoring output is minimal: in the previous five official games, Green and White Army scored only six goals (1.20 goals per game average), while the Sky Blues and whites only managed nine goals in the last six games (1.50 goals per game average). With this in mind, it is worth looking at a bet on Total Under (1.5) goals scored in each half with odds close to 1.90.

The Northern Ireland team tends to score very little: in eight games of the 2022 World Cup qualifying, they managed only six goals. For this reason, it is difficult to find their leading scorer, but special attention should be paid to Gavin Whyte. He spent last season for Oxford United where he scored just one goal in 37 games but added ten assist points to that total. Moreover, he has scored three goals in the previous 16 games for the national team, which is one of the best indicators, so it is worth betting on his goal at odds of about 4.35.

Our Prediction: Northern Ireland will win for odds of 3.10 at Bet365.

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