The Finland national team starts each qualifying stage with a slight hope that it will be able to compete for a spot in the World or European Championship, but each qualification ends in disappointment for them. Indeed, this Scandinavian country is not a football nation in the broad sense of the word. In Suomi, ice hockey and winter sports are more favored. As a result, the Finns hardly ever manage to bolster their ambitions with star players like Jari Litmanen was in his day. The national team of this country has participated in the Euro only once in its history and has never qualified for the World Cup. They will not be able to do it this time either. Finland's last qualifying match will be against the modest Malta. To finish in second place, the Finns need to win by a margin of 7-8 goals. However, under such circumstances, everything will depend on Poland, which 'should' lose to the Netherlands and to Malta as well. While the first scenario seems plausible, the second can only be imagined in the most dreadful Polish nightmares. Malta is one of the worst teams on the continent, but it's unfair to say that the islanders do not try to squeeze out any points from their situation. Bookmakers have identified the hosts as clear favorites for the upcoming match, offering a coefficient of 1.21 on their victory. The first match of the current qualifying round between the rivals took place in March in Malta. In that match, the Finns managed to score a goal in the first half, which remained the only goal of the match. Toward the end of that match, a red card further complicated the situation for the Maltese. Overall, Finland has not only pleasant memories associated with the first halves. In all three of their lost qualifying matches, they consistently conceded two to three goals in the first 45 minutes. Moreover, in all of Finland's matches in the qualifiers, either they or their opponent scored at least one goal. Malta has nothing to lose in the upcoming match, but they must try to finish not in last place. Especially since they have every opportunity to do so. Lithuania, with one point more, has only one match left in the qualifiers, and that will be played in the Netherlands. Let's bet that the opponents will actively attack in the first half and find the net at least once between them.