This Tuesday sees the final two final Euro 2016 Play Off second leg matches where the winners of the ties between Slovenia and Ukraine as well as Denmark versus Sweden will Hungary and Ireland at the European Championships in France next summer. The first of these two ties looks to be all but over as Ukraine claimed a 2-0 home win on Saturday, while Sweden hold a slight advantage ahead of their Scandinavian opposition following a 2-1 win in Solna.
Will that away goal see the Danes come from behind at this halfway stage and join the other three Play Off winners? We preview both of these competitive international matches playing around Europe this evening and, with online sportsbook Unibet.com, provide our favourite Euro 2016 Picks.
Slovenia v Ukraine:
To Qualify for the European Championships:
Slovenia – 9.00
Ukraine – 1.06
Second Leg Match Odds:
Slovenia to win – 2.85
Draw – 3.30
Ukraine to win – 2.55
The home side at the Ljudski vrt in Maribor will need a massive turnaround in form if they are to upset both the ‘To Qualify’ and outright odds to progress to Euro 2016 in the summer. They were by far the inferior side in L’viv on Saturday evening as Ukraine out-shot their guests 15-3 and recorded ten corners to just a single one for Slovenia. On top of this the home side had the majority of the ball and goals in the 22nd and 54th minutes from Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevhen Seleznyov saw them win 2-0.
Ukraine had chances to score more, while Slovenia failed to muster a single shot on target over the 90 minutes. They know that they will be up against things this Tuesday evening and with them failing to score in the first leg and facing a side that conceded just a single goal in their five away games – in Spain – during the qualifying campaign whilst conceding three to England one to Lithuania we can see this being an uphill struggle for the home side. As such, our money is for Ukraine do complete the double over Slovenia to qualify for their first European Championships.
Back Ukraine to win in Slovenia at odds of 2.55 in the Unibet Sportsbook!
Denmark v Sweden:
To Qualify for Euro 2016:
Denmark – 2.35
Sweden – 1.58
Second Leg Odds:
Denmark to win – 2.15
Draw – 3.35
Sweden to win – 3.55
The first leg of this tie was, unlike the Ukraine v Slovenia match, an open, entertaining and end to end clash. There were 28 shots in the match and despite losing 2-1 it was the Danes who edged ahead 15-13 with their efforts on goal and they had 67% of the possession of the football. However, as is said, it’s what you do with the ball that counts and four shots on target to two for the Swedes and two goals sees them just ahead of the team that will host them tonight at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen this evening.
With Denmark having scored the last goal in the first leg, as Nicolai Jorgensen stabbed the ball home at the far post with ten minutes remaining, and then dominated the closing stages of the clash they will be confident coming into this second leg on home soil. They conceded just two goals in four Group I matches on home soil and kept clean sheets in both of their final two home clashes their confidence and belief will grow further.
However, with Sweden scoring in four of their five away games in the group Denmark will need to be at their best as conceding in the Danish capital will leave them needing at least two goals to progress. We do see Sweden getting at them in this match, but we see a closely contested battle between the two Scandinavian teams. We feel that it could go either way, but with the home side tonight having dominated possession in Sweden we cannot see them losing this game on home soil and we feel that they offer the most value to progress to the Euros.
Our top Denmark v Sweden tip is back Denmark to qualify for the European Championships @ 2.35 with Unibet.