Ireland secured an important advantage in the first leg of the promotion/relegation playoff to League B against Bulgaria after coming from behind to win 1-2. The hard part seems to have been completed, but there must be no room for complacency as there are still 90 minutes to be played and surprises are not ruled out.
Ireland Team News
The 1-2 victory in the first leg of this playoff puts Ireland as the firm favourites ahead of the second game. Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men are in a good position to extend their League B stay for another cycle, but there might be some causes for concern ahead of the match. For starters, Ireland has never secured back-to-back wins in the UNL under Hallgrímsson.
Secondly, despite winning their most recent home tournament fixture The Boys in Green do not have the best record as hosts, as before their minimal 1-0 victory over Finland the team suffered 2 defeats against England and Greece with the same 0-2 result. In historical terms, Ireland has never lost to Bulgaria on their turf, which is something that will surely inspire The Boys in Green.
Bulgaria Team News
Riddled with internal issues and overall chaos, Bulgaria will make the trip to Ireland with the fate of manager Ilian Iliev hanging in the balance. There were some calls for his removal and while he did hand in his resignation, the BFU announced that they will decide after the playoff games with Ireland. While The Lions have fallen significantly from grace, some of their UNL performances were not bad. Looking at Bulgaria’s results in the competition, we can see that their games do not produce a lot of goals.
Only 2 of their 11 away UNL fixtures have seen over 3 goals. Additionally, in 2 of their 3 trips during this edition of the tournament, Bulgaria kept a clean sheet. However, the last time they visited the British Isles a 5-0 dismantling happened, courtesy of Northern Ireland. Now the game for The Lions will be even tougher as 4 key players will miss the game with Ireland.
Head-to-Head-Games
H2H games between Ireland and Bulgaria tend to produce a lot of stalemates as 5 of the last 7 games between the two ended in a draw. Bulgaria has never recorded an away victory over Ireland, while the latter has managed to snatch 2 wins across the aforementioned last 7 fixtures.
Ireland – Bulgaria Betting Prediction
My pick for this game is for Ireland to win. The Boys in Green completed the first part of their job, now they must ensure their stay in League B and what better way to do so against an opponent that is ravaged by inconsistency, injury woes and infighting? Despite H2H results showing a clear tendency for a draw, I think that Ireland will be victorious here mainly because of the sorry state of Bulgaria.
The Lions will be without 4 key figures and injuries necessitated an emergency call-up of another goalkeeper. The drama surrounding manager Ilian Iliev is also sure to leave a mark on the performance as is the constant waves of criticism and dwindling interest in the national team. Bulgaria’s bad track record against Ireland will surely be a psychological burden as well.
All in all, I expect a win for Ireland, but I do not expect plenty of goals. Neither side’s matches are goal-rich in particular and given how H2H encounters also pan out I wouldn’t be surprised for an under 2.5 sign to come true here as well.
Betting Tip: Ireland To Win
Bookmaker: Sportsbet.io
Odds: 1.69
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