Finland are set to take on the Netherlands in a World Cup qualifier on Saturday, 7 June, with the countdown to the USA next summer now well and truly on.
Finland have made a solid start to their qualification campaign, picking up four points from their opening two matches, but a defeat on home soil to the Netherlands could be damaging.
The Netherlands haven't started their campaign yet, with their visit to Helsinki marking their first match in Group G.
How the bookies view it: The visitors go in as favourites
The Netherlands come into the match as the favourites with the bookies, which isn't a shock given that there are 63 places between the two nations in the world rankings. BoyleSports have priced an away win at 2/7 while a victory for Finland has been priced at 9/1. The draw, which would be a great result for the hosts, has been priced at 4/1.
Head to head: Their first clash since 2011
Saturday night marks the first time that the two nations have come up against each other in 14 years. On that occasion, the Netherlands ran out as 2-0 winners in Helsinki, and an identical result to that this time around wouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
Players to watch: Can the Netherlands find their way past the milestone man?
Saturday night is set to be a special occasion for goalkeeper, Lukas Hradecky, as he is set to make his 100th appearance for his country.
The Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper is one of the standout names for Finland, and his stock has only risen in recent years thanks to the success he has enjoyed at club level.
Given the quality of strikers he is used to facing in the Bundesliga, he won't be overawed by the occasion on Saturday, or the forwards he will be trying to keep out. Wout Weghorst is expected to lead the line for Ronald Koeman's side, and the former Burnley man only managed ten goals in the Eredivisie in 2024/25.
The Dutch forwards aren't exactly coming into the match full of confidence, either, as their manager elected to use his pre-match press conference to pine for strikers from yesteryear, such as Ruud van Nistelrooy and Patrick Kluivert.
Predicted line-ups
Experienced midfielder, Roman Eremenko, has had to pull out of the Finland squad due to injury, but there could be debuts for Matias Siltanen and Tommi Jyry. Several big names have been left out of the Netherlands squad, including Manchester United duo Matthijs de Ligt and Joshua Zirkzee. Nathan Ake is back from injury.
Finland: Hradecky – Alho, Tenho, Ivanov, Uronen – Kairinen, Kamara, Lod – Antman, Pohjanpalo, Kallman
Netherlands: Flekken – Dumfries, Van Hecke, Van Dijk, Ake – Reijnders, De Jong – Kluivert, Simons, Gakpo – Weghorst
Anything else catch the eye?
Finland's recent Nations League campaign was nothing short of a disaster as they lost all six of their matches in a group containing England, Ireland and Greece. Those clashes were the last time that they faced teams ranked higher than them in the world rankings, which doesn't bode well for them this weekend. Netherlands to win with a -2 handicap has been priced at 21/10 by BoyleSports.
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