WORLD CUP BETTING PREVIEW - LATVIA VS ALBANIA

World Cup

2025-06-10 - Latvia vs Albania

A Sports Betting Preview by Auls

Latvia v Albania
Football: UEFA World Cup Qualifier
Tuesday 10th June 2025 - Kick Off 7:45pm
This game is live on TV

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Latvia

It is asking a lot of a nation that has not won more than two games in any Qualifying campaign since Euro 2012 to suddenly push for a top two spot in a World Cup Qualifying Group that contains three nations that are used to playing at major international tournaments. That challenge becomes all the greater for a nation like Latvia who finished bottom of their Nations League Group in League C earlier this season, behind the likes of Faroe Islands and Armenia.

An expected win over Andorra has been followed by an expected defeat when visiting England and so Latvia are at par through two games in this Qualifying Group. The expectations could shift dramatically if they are able to upset Albania on Match Day 4 and sit in 2nd spot in the Group through to September, but simply doing that on Tuesday is a big ask.

Latvia were only able to win 1 of their 6 Nations League games earlier this season and that despite being in a manageable Group. That win was earned at home against Faroe Islands, but both North Macedonia and Armenia were able to win in visits to Riga. In the last set of Qualifiers, Latvia were able to beat Armenia at home, but they were defeated by Turkiye, Croatia and Wales and conceded at least twice in each loss.

Albania

There has been a huge improvement in Albania's national football team over the last thirty years and that has seen them Qualify for Euro 2016 and Euro 2024 Finals. Getting to a World Cup has been tougher, but Albania did win 6 of 10 Qualifiers in the 2022 Qualifying campaign and the side have made a decent enough start in this Group to believe they can push for a Play Off spot.

After the goalless draw with Serbia, Albania are 2nd in the Group with four points on the board, although the main rivals for that position have two games in hand. It looks like England are away already and so it may come down to a straight fight between Albania and rivals Serbia and the focus for the Albanian team has to be ensuring they have two wins over Latvia under their belt before facing the tougher teams in this section.

Albania may be dropping out of League B of the Nations League, but they were very competitive in a very competitive Group and so the confidence should not be overly dented. The away performances had been stronger in that Group having won on a neutral field against Ukraine and beaten Georgia in Tbilisi, although Albania have lost in England during this Qualifying Group.

Head to Head

These nations have not faced one another since being placed in the same Euro 2000 Qualifying Group and both fixtures ended in draws.

In fact all 5 previous matches between Latvia and Albania have ended in stalemate.

Prediction

There is no doubt that Albania are a much improved team and they are still battling within this Group, but dropping points against one of the weaker teams would be a blow.

Winning in Riga is not going to be easy for a team that has perhaps still struggled to score enough goals and that is the challenge for Albania.

Latvia have been competitive at home, but have found the better teams harder to contain and ultimately Albania should still be a level above them. Both could be playing in the same League C of the Nations League next time around, but Albania were very unfortunate to be Relegated from League B and Latvia finished bottom of what should have been a manageable Group in League C.

Games between the nations have all ended in draws, but Albania are stronger than they were back in 1999 when the last was played.

The first goal is important, but Albania should be able to manage their way through a tough Qualifier and just make sure they remain ahead of Serbia in the Group through four Match Days played.

The Pick :

Latvia 1-2 Albania

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Albania to Win at 1.72 with BetFred