Group B2 consists of Israel, whose goal-machine Eran Zahavi was only bettered by Harry Kane in the European Qualifiers. Scotland, who accompanied Israel in their 2018/19 Nations League group, are also in it. Alongside those two are the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the presumptive first-place contenders who also shared a Nations League group in the previous season. This article will be predicting Group 2 of UEFA Nations League B.
Predicting Group 2 of UEFA Nations League B
The Czech Republic are the Front-Runners
The Czech Republic should be moderately favoured over Slovakia, particularly due to their superior performance in Euro 2020 qualifying. More specifically, they obtained two more points than their eastern neighbours and even managed to defeat England in Prague. The previous Nations League season serves as additional proof – the Czechs defeated Slovakia both home and away.
Slovakia the Presumptive Runner-Up
Although Slovakia are able to fight for first place, the Czech Republic remain slight favourites at this time. However, the Slovaks could cause an upset, even though a second-place finish is more probable. Having said that, Repre are better than Israel and Scotland. They obtained eight and four more points than Nivheret Hatchelet and the Tartan Army respectively in European Qualifiers.
Israel and Scotland are Evenly Matched
Despite Scotland obtaining four more points than Israel in Euro qualifying, they are quite evenly matched team’s, which their two 2018/19 Nations League clashes are indicative of. Israel won 2-1 in Harfa and Scotland won 3-2 in Glasgow. However, it’s worth noting that the Tartan Army did obtain three more points throughout the group phase.
One might argue that Scotland should be favoured due to their higher point tally in the Nations League and Euro qualification, but their head-to-head clashes against Israel makes that conclusion problematic. Additionally, Scotland are plagued by inconsistency. They have lost 3-0 away to Kazakhstan and scraping past the likes of Cyprus. On top of this, Israel possesses the goal-machine, Eran Zahavi.
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