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The national teams will play the decisive matches of Euro 2021 qualifying today, which were supposed to take place in the spring, but have been postponed due to the quarantine.
So, let's note the important points in the upcoming matches:
1. Teams will have to play a knockout match with extra time and penalty kicks if required. 8 winners will play in the 2nd round on November 12, where 4 teams will be determined that will go to the Euro. Based on this, a tough fight can be expected, especially in the second half, if one of the teams will be winning. Red cards are likely.
2. VAR will be present at the matches. This means increased probabilities of penalties and sent-offs in matches, because now the referees cannot miss them. Also, in our opinion, VAR reduces the number of offsides, because the referee does not whistle offside until the end of the attack and it can be missed.
3. Based on the importance of the first goal scored or conceded, it can be assumed that the teams will start the game with caution. In addition, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that a lot of teams with low total goals of the 1st half (in group matches) got into the playoffs: Ireland (0.38), Northern Ireland (0.75), Georgia (0.88), Norway (0.9) , Macedonia (0.9), Iceland (1.0), Slovenia (1.0), Belarus (1.0).
4. In Sofia (Bulgaria) and Oslo (Norway) rain is expected according to the weather forecast. Based on this, teams can use more long shots and crosses.
We hope this information was useful to you and you can benefit from it. Have a nice football!