Euro 2016

Euro 2016 Playoff Preview: Norway – Hungary

Image Courtesy of cbssports.com
Euro 2016 Playoff Preview: Norway – Hungary

Norway and Hungary kick off the playoff round tonight, as four teams will look to stamp their way to France over the next five days. Twenty teams have made it already and both Norway and Hungary hope to include their name in the draw.

Here is the preview of the first game tonight and of course this prediction is sure to go wrong:

Norway – Hungary (1st leg tonight in Oslo, 2nd leg Sunday night in Budapest)

Regardless of who wins this two-legged tie it will be a major achievement for either nation. Norway has not qualified for a major tournament since the Euro 2000, while Hungary has had to wait even longer – their last appearance was 1986 World Cup.

Norway will go into tonight’s matchup as the slight favorites. Image courtesy of goal.com

Norway has had a more impressive qualification and narrowly missed out on qualifying as one of the top 2 seeds in the group stage by losing to Italy on final match day. Croatia’s win in Malta took them a point above Norway and sent the Scandinavians to the playoff round. Norway’s highlight of the qualifying round was the 2:0 home win against aforementioned Croatia while the lowlight was that same matchup, where they got demolished 5:1 in Zagreb. They also lost to Italy both games but managed to win when they were expected to win, against the likes of Malta, Bulgaria and Azerbaijan.

Hungary had a decent qualification but was never really in the mix of qualifying automatically, as both Northern Ireland and Romania were the better sides over the course of qualifying. They will go into the matchup against Norway as the slight underdog but a good result in Oslo will be crucial for their chance of advancing. Just like Norway they have had problems scoring goals and that will most likely be the case again. If they are able to score one in Oslo that would set them up for the return leg in Budapest with a realistic chance of advancing.

Hungary will have to rely on their defensive record and a home crowd to overcome Norway. Image courtesy of uefa.com

Norway will be the favorite in this game and rightfully so, they beat Croatia at home rather easily and even gave Italy a stern test in Oslo before losing 2:0. They will be disappointed about not qualifying directly to France but still confident since they gave Italy all they could handle in the last match (2:1 loss in Rome). It will be not easy cracking the Hungary defense (they’ve only lost one game in qualifying while conceding 9 goals) but Norway has enough quality in the team to do just that tonight. It will be a tight game in Oslo with Norway prevailing by a single goal, possibly even from a set piece.

Prediction: Norway 1 – 0 Hungary


Click to add a comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

twenty − 10 =

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Euro 2016
@@ChiSojo

Srdan “Sojo” Latinovic is a sports editor/writer with previous writing experience for Chicago.com, Bleacher Report and Suite 101. He has covered soccer, basketball and hockey among other sports and also has keen knowledge in tennis and football. Sojo has played competitive sports since he was 5 years old and still does to this day, although the level of competition has dropped since his semi-professional days of soccer in Germany in the late ‘90s. Sojo is a 2009 graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a degree in Sports Journalism and is a recipient of the 2009 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Award.

More in Euro 2016

Big Sam Gets the Big Job

Emmanuel WonderJuly 25, 2016

The Highs and Lows of Euro 2016

Sean TaylorJuly 11, 2016

Euro 2016: Top 10 Goals

Sean TaylorJuly 11, 2016

Euro 2016 Round of 16 Preview – Saturday’s Games

Sojo LatinovicJune 24, 2016

Adidas Unveils EURO Knock-Out Phase Match Ball

Daniel BerditJune 24, 2016

French Sauve: Dimitri Payet not allowing France pressure to affect him

Sean TaylorJune 21, 2016

EURO 2016 – Matchday 1 Recap

Sojo LatinovicJune 15, 2016

Euro 2016: Predictions

Sean TaylorJune 15, 2016

Brett’s Bets: Euro 2016 Edition

Brett DownesJune 10, 2016