Finland vs Czech Republic: Suomi to beat Czechs for the fifth straight time

The Czech Republic are without a win in four head-to-head encounters in a row. Will Kari Jalonen manage to beat Jukka Jalonen in the upcoming match? We predict that Finland will once again be closer to victory!

The Finland national team continues to compete as the reigning Olympic champions. In the last two World Championships, they won gold and silver medals, which indicates the highest level of the national team there. Jukka Jalonen has put together a formidable squad preparing for the World Cup at home, where it will be the main favorite. However, Suomi got off to a surprisingly poor start in the final round of the Eurocup, falling to Switzerland 2-3, and they only started to play hockey in the third period. Still, they failed to come back from injury.

In the last decade, the once-formidable Czech Republic national team has been dubbed the typical mediocre side, consistently making it through the group stages of major international tournaments but failing to win any medals. Following their disappointment at the Beijing Olympics, where the Lions were eliminated in the last 16, Filip Pesan was sacked. The new head coach is Kari Jalonen, the first foreign coach in Czech ice hockey history. So far, his men have looked very decent at the Eurotour stages: The Czechs have taken seven points out of nine possible in their home tournament, and in their opening game in Sweden, they beat the home team 2-1.

The teams have played 66 head-to-head games in all competitions in recent years. On account of the Finns, there have been 35 wins, while the Czechs have been stronger in 31 games. The goal difference is also on the side of the Suomi representatives - 171:147. In the current season of the European Tour, the rivals met three times, and all three times, the Finnish national team celebrated the victory - 4:2, 3:2, and 2:1.

The Czech Republic have been playing very poorly against the Suomi lately, as the Finns were stronger in all three head-to-head encounters in the current Eurotour, and the last encounter of the rivals in the 2021 World Cup was for the Blue and White. Under Kari Jalonen, the Czechs have suffered only one defeat in the European Tour finals, against the Finns, of course. Jukka Jalonen's side has lost their last two games, so it will be very important for them not to suffer another defeat, and you can bet on Finland's victory in this match for 1.90.

The Czech Republic and Finland have been slow in scoring recently. In the previous six head-to-head encounters, the opponents combined for only 20 goals (3.33 goals per game on average), which is paltry by hockey standards. Now, one shouldn't expect a goal extravaganza either, because the Suomi are not on their best form, having lost twice in a row, and the Czechs play hard against the Finns. With this in mind, Total Under 4.5 pucks for 2.12 should be a good bet.

The traditional choice for a prediction on the Finnish national team matches is the shooting statistics. Jukka Jalonen's charges refuse to outshoot their opponents, and the only exception in the recent time is the Austrian national team, which on its level is a team of the second division, but it was invited to the European Championships in the Czech Republic, where the Suomi overcame it - 39:17. The Blues and White are otherwise trailing, and the day before, Switzerland outscored the reigning Olympic champion, 32-16. In such a situation, it's worth looking at a bet on the Czech Republic's victory in shots on target with a handicap (-3.5) for 2.07.

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