Northern Ireland vs New Zealand
International Friendly Match
Date: Friday, 2nd June 2017
Kick-off at 19:45 UK/ 20:45 CET
Venue: Windsor Park (Belfast).
The season may be over at club level but there is still plenty left to play for on the international stage. We are backing Northern Ireland to continue their accent in the Fifa rankings when they host New Zealand in a friendly this week and we think backing them to win to nil at 5/4 with bet365 represents some excellent value. For our correct score tip we think that it should be a pretty low scoring match and we feel backing the hosts to claim a 1-0 win at 4/1 represents the best chance of a return.
It’s almost a year since Northern Ireland thrilled their travelling hordes of fans at Euro 2016 and they are well on their way to play in the play-offs for a spot at the World Cup in 2018. Michael O’Neill’s men have been involved in 13 games in a row where at least one of the teams have failed to score. His side have also been in decent form and only high flying sides Germany, Croatia, Poland and Wales have managed to record victories over the Green and White Army. With a big game against Azerbaijan coming up and several players on the fringes determined to prove their worth, there is plenty to play for in this upcoming friendly.
New Zealand won’t be any pushover though, they are performing well in their own qualification group and have progressed to the play-off section for Oceania. Despite this, the gap between the sides in the Fifa world rankings looks hard to ignore and with the All Whites missing their leader in West Ham star Winston Reid, it makes an already hard task look almost insurmountable.
Northern Ireland vs New Zealand: Head-to-head
This will be the first head-to-head meeting between Northern Ireland and New Zealand team.
Northern Ireland vs New Zealand: Prediction
This match will play out as an opportunity for both head-coaches to perfect their tactics ahead of the important competitive matches in the middle of June. Therefore, heavy of rotation of squad in expected to give fringe players ample time to impress.
For bet tip, we see these two as insured parties in defensive units. Both managers are known for setting out with rigid defensive formations and this will result in a low turn around of goals over the 90 minutes. However, Northern Ireland will prove too strong for the visitors and a narrow win for the home side is very much expected.
