Romania vs Northern Ireland: Betting Odds & Prediction
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Northern Ireland travel to Romania for their first friendly of the March international break on Friday.
The hosts have secured a spot at the European Championships this summer while Northern Ireland will not travel to Germany after finishing fifth in Group H during qualifying. Kick-off is set for 7:45pm UK time at Bucharest's National Arena.
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Romania
Edward Iordanescu's side finished five points clear at the top of Group I to secure their place at EURO 2024 this summer. Romania were unbeaten across the ten qualifying matches, winning six and drawing the other four.
They slightly exceeded their expected goal (xG) tally of 1.55, scoring an average of 1.6 during qualifying. Romania also proved a tough nut to crack defensively, with their five goals conceded in Group I giving them an average of just 0.5 goals shipped overall. In their ten qualifying matches, Romania managed six clean sheets.
Northern Ireland
Michael O'Neill's side's experience during EURO 2024 qualifying makes for stark contrast. They won just three of their ten games, with two of those victories coming against San Marino who are ranked as the 210th-best team in the world.
The run of form led to a fifth-placed finish in Group H, nine points from fourth and third-ranked Kazakhstan and Finland. Across the ten games, Northern Ireland scored a total of just nine goals (0.9 per game) while conceding 13 (1.3 per game).
All three of their wins came with a clean sheet, but they also failed to score in six of their ten outings. Northern Ireland conceded over 2.5 goals in 20% of their matches during qualifying.
Prediction
Romania's averaging of more than one goal a game coupled with their resoluteness defensively makes it hard to pick against the home side.
Northern Ireland made a habit of conceding goals in an admittedly more competitive qualifying group than their Romanian counterparts, and have also struggled to put the ball in the back of the net.