Iceland vs Romania 09/10/20

09 October 2020

Iceland (FIFA rank: #41) will be looking to move a step closer to qualifying for next summer’s European Championship finals, but they face a challenging test in the shape of Romania (#34) at the Laugardalsvöllur in Reykjavík.

The ‘Strákarnir okkar’ lost both of their competitive games during last month’s international break, conceding precisely once beyond the 75-minute mark in each. Interestingly, none of Iceland’s eight competitive home fixtures since the 2018 World Cup exit has ended in a draw (W4, L4), with six of those results (wins/losses) seeing the winner on the day keep a clean sheet. Scoring the opening goal could prove vital here too, especially considering both of their previous H2H meetings have seen Romania run out 4-0 victors. In turn, each of Iceland’s last 12 competitive home matches has seen the triumphant team on the day find the opening goal (W8, L4). 

Meanwhile, a 3-2 away triumph over Austria last time out has brought Romania’s four-game winless competitive run to a halt (D2, L2), although it now means they have conceded over 1.5 goals in three of their previous four outings. Against this backdrop, the visitors have picked up three victories from their last four competitive road trips (W3, L1), with three of those results yielding at least a three-goal margin and seeing the losing side on the day fail to get on the scoresheet. Far more lethal after the half-time break, the ‘Tricolours’ have registered a clear majority (66.67%) of their recent away goals scored in the second half of play (8/12).