Euro 2020 Qualification: Kazakhstan v Russia Preview and Prediction

Date/Time: Sunday 25th March 2019 (Kick-off 3:00 PM CET).

One of the more eye-catching upsets from Match Day 1 of the Euro 2020 Qualifiers was earned by Kazakhstan who blew past Scotland in a 3-0 home win a few days ago.

Backing that up looks a tough task against a Russia team who are capable of beating teams of this level as they look to build on what was a strong World Cup showing last summer. The Russians were beaten 3-1 by Belgium on Match Day 1, but they look the clear favourites to finish behind that nation and earn a spot in Euro 2020 and I do expect them to bounce back here.

Lucky for me I don't write previews before results of Match Day 1 are known else I might have completely disregarded Kazakhstan and taken an awful price on Russia to win. I still think the latter should happen, but the price is much more appealing after Kazakhstan beat Scotland.

The home team will be confident, but they have lost 6 of their last 10 Qualifiers here and Kazakhstan struggled for wins when playing in the fourth tier of the new UEFA Nations League. In that Group they were beaten 0-2 by Georgia here and I think Russia can bounce back and record an important three points in this one to get back on track before they host back to back very winnable Group games next time around. 

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