EURO 2012 Qualifier: Slovenia V Northern Ireland – Friday, September 3rd (LIVE GAME)

Slovenia V Northern Ireland

Friday, 3rd September – 19:45 GMT
LIVE on Sky Sports 1
EURO 2012, Group C Qualifier

Slovenia

Fresh of the back of a mildly impressive World Cup campaign – impressive simply because they managed to make the finals despite a population of just over two-million – and will now have high hopes and aspirations for an equally successive route to their next major tournament: EURO 2010. Slovenia coach Matjaz Kek was said to be very proud of his players after their efforts in South Africa, as Slovenia recorded their first ever win in the finals when beating Algeria 1-0 in Polokwane, and the aim over the next two years will be to complete an historic journey of making back-to-back major finals.

Slovenia warmed up for their EURO 2012 qualifying campaign with a comfortable 2-0 friendly win over Australia on August 11th against a team boasting more star names than their Group C opener’s Northern Ireland, so on that form the Slovenians should open their European account with another straightforward win. If only it was that simple, although there is furthermore strong form to suggest the central Europeans will register three points at the first attempt as Slovenia clashed twice with the Irish on route to qualifying for South Africa, with Matjaz Kek’s men recording a 2-0 win in Maribor, the same venue for Friday’s encounter.

The main concern with the Slovenians is how fired up and excited the entire country is at the prospect of a derby with nearby Serbia, who they face just days after hosting Northern Ireland. Forward Milivoje Novakovic has promised followers that there will be no complacency whatsoever from his team-mates, and the FC Koln striker, as well as the rest of the Slovenian nation, expect nothing less than victory on Friday against an opponent they should be beating if they fancy their chances of making the finals in two years time on Poland & Ukraine soil.

Northern Ireland

The smaller of the two Irish national teams, Northern Ireland have never competed in the finals of a European Championship and will be bidding to halt their drought in another competitive but realistic Group C containing former European winners Italy, Serbia and Slovenia as qualifying challengers, while Estonia and Faroe Islands make up the group as the two sides unlikely to register too many points during the course of qualifying – With Nigel Worthington pinpointing maximum points from all four encounters against the group’s minnow contingents.

Despite being the lesser of five British footballing nations, Northern Ireland haven’t actually faired badly in recent qualifying campaigns and will consider themselves a tad unfortunate not to have qualified for the previous two major tournaments, having missed out on the World Cup finals in the summer by five points and failing to reach the previous version of this competition by six points despite the sensational 3-2 win over Spain in Belfast.

There have been some special results down the years for NI, with wins over the English and the Spanish highlights, and it’s those extraordinary results which give fans back home, in a country which houses less population than their match day rivals, genuine belief that the team can reach the heights of 1958, 1982 & 1986 when qualifying for the World Cup finals, but qualification for the European Championships has always eluded the Irish and with Nigel Worthington’s squad not boasting the strongest of internationals, it will take one magnanimous effort for Northern Ireland to make the cut.

We feel we need say no more other than Nigel Worthington’s team contains a mixture of Premiership bit-part players and low league professionals, ranging from Jonny Evans of Manchester United & kyle Lafferty of Rangers in the SPL right down to Gary McCann of Peterborough United in League One. On paper Northern Ireland won’t strike fear into any opponent, probably shouldn’t even have a pray, but there’s a determination about Northern Ireland, that spirit and camaraderie which has served the Irish so well in the past which has so often enabled them to bridge the seemingly sizeable gulf in class and make the impossible games close run things. This game isn’t impossible though, as no-one in this Slovenia team is a world-beater, but Northern Ireland will need to find something extra, locate that fifth and sixth gear if they are to challenge a Slovenia team which was so dominant on home soil during World Cup qualifying.

Match Verdict: Slovenia to WIN – 1.70 bWin

The Slovenians will be buoyed by their World Cup experience, having savoured South Africa’s valuable experience when playing against quality opposition in the form of the United States and England, and shouldn’t really have too many problems despatching of Northern Ireland.

Nigel Worthington’s men have plenty of character and resilience but they tend to put in their better displays on home soil, in front of an atmospheric Irish faithful. The conditions are going to be wet and miserable, not a lot of difference from life in Northern Ireland in all fairness, but on home soil, Slovenia should find that they have too much going for them not to begin qualifying with the win they crave heading into a huge encounter with neighbours Serbia straight after, a fixture they would ideally momentum behind them in the build up.

Soccer-Betting Value Tip: Slovenia/Slovenia (HT/FT) – 2.80 bWin

Match Odds:

Slovenia – 1.70 bWin
Draw – 3.75 StanJames
Northern Ireland – 5.50 WilliamHill