Kevin Doyle talks England, Rep. Of Ireland and N. Ireland Euro 2020 qualifiers

Azerbaijan v Wales, Saturday @ 17:00

There is not much of a difference between these two teams in terms of skill. 

This is a must win game for Wales in order to stay in the group. With key players like Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Daniel James, they may be able to scrape the win. Azerbaijan on the other hand, have been playing terrible.  

I predict Wales to grab the result they need in this game and the final score to be 1-0 Wales. 

Northern Ireland v Netherlands, Saturday @ 19:45

Northern Ireland have been a credit tothemselves in their group competing so well against two football nationpowerhouses in Germany and Netherlands. For such a small country with a limitedpool of players they have been fantastic and not the first time Michael O’Neillhas managed to get them in with a great shot of automatic qualification.

It’s been tough for them and they have done exceptionally well but I don’t think they will have enough firepower heading into this game against the Netherlands. I see the game ending 2-0 to Netherlands at Windsor Park.

Michael O’Neill comes across as a greatmanager. He never seems to get carried away with himself. Having now moved toStoke, he is staying with the Northern Ireland team until the end of thiscampaign which you must admire him for.

He’s improved the team massively since he took over and it would be great to see them getting the just rewards and achieving qualification.

Kosovo v England, Sunday @ 17:00

Kosovo are in a similar position toNorthern Ireland, punching above their weight and have been doing very well inthe qualifying group.

If the home side come into this gamestill in with a chance of qualifying, it could make it a difficult match for England– especially if the Three Lions don’t get the result, they need in theMontenegro game.

Looking at the stats as they are now and predicting Southgate’s men win their game against Montenegro, I can see this one ending 2-0 England.

Rep. Of Ireland v Denmark, Monday @ 19:45

My head says Denmark and my heart saysIreland. I think Denmark will have too much for us at home. However, anythingcan happen in a one-off game if Ireland put in that performance. We have doneit before in one-off matches, but not for some time!

There is so much riding on this result.Wouldn’t it be great to have another host nation qualifying alongside Englandand really bringing the carnival atmosphere to the tournament next year?

Denmark have left some scar tissue on the team from when they last destroyed us (5-1 defeat in the World Cup Qualifiers in 2017). I think the Ireland team will perform fine without the injured Aaron Connolly as he’s only started one game so far.

With David McGoldrick back in the squad this will be a big boost for them, he should improve things for Ireland and will be a key player for them on the night

It will be tough for the team at the back, especially with Richard Keogh out and injured. If Christian Eriksen is in the mood on the night, then this will be a difficult game for Ireland. As much as it pains me to say, I can see the result being a 2-1 Denmark win on Irish soil.

My 1-2-Free Predictions

Azerbaijan v Wales: 1-0 Wales
Northern Ireland v Netherlands: 2-0 Netherlands
Kosovo v England: 2-0 England

Kevin.