Preview: Cape Verde vs Finland - prediction, team news, lineups

Cape Verde face Finland at Eden Park on Monday for their second group game in the inaugural FIFA Series tournament.

Tubaroes Azuis fell to a 4-2 defeat against Chile in their first fixture, while Huuhkajat beat New Zealand 2-0 in Auckland.

Match preview

After picking up just one win from their first three matches, Cape Verde won six of their last seven games to swat off competition from Cameroon and finish atop their World Cup qualification group.

Pedro Leitao Brito's men claimed 23 points from their 10 matches and lost just once to book their place at the tournament finals for the first time in the nation's history.

Although they will no doubt be disappointed with their 4-2 loss against Chile, which they led at half time, Tubaroes Azuis have proved tough to beat as of late, with Friday's defeat their first within 90 minutes for 11 matches.

One of the biggest reasons for this has been their defensive stability, with last week's contest being only the second time in their previous 17 matches that Brito's side have conceded multiple goals in a single game, the other being in a 3-3 draw against Libya last October.

Heading into their first ever meeting with Finland, Cape Verde will be hoping to move on from the disappointment against Chile and continue their fine form in what is their final match before facing Spain in their opening World Cup match in Atlanta.

After losing all six of their matches and being relegated to League C of the UEFA Nations League, where they will face Albania, Belarus and San Marino, Finland were further disappointed in their World Cup qualification bid.

Finishing third in a difficult group consisting of Poland and the Netherlands, Finland missed out on the opportunity to play in their first ever World Cup finals this summer, winning just three of their 10 qualification games.

However in their two matches since, Huuhkajat have significantly improved, beating Andorra 4-0 in an international friendly before winning 2-0 against New Zealand in their opening FIFA Series bout.

Although they were victorious in Auckland, most of Finland’s struggles have come on the road, with Friday’s win only their second triumph away from home in their previous 14 games on their travels.

In order to claim top spot in group two, Jacob Friis's side will need to avoid defeat by more than a one goal margin, as well as bettering the result of Chile, who face New Zealand just three hours later.

Cape Verde form (all competitions):

Finland form (all competitions):

Team News

Cape Verde will be without the services of Al Bateah defender Diney Borges after the 31-year-old was shown a straight red card against Chile.

In his absence, Brito could hand Trabzonspor's Wagner Pina a start, partnering Roberto Lopes in the centre of Cape Verde's backline.

On Friday, forward Dailon Livramento scored his third goal of the season, all of which have been for his country and he is likely to lead the line for Tubaroes Azuis once against Finland.

With experienced goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky recently returning from a significant knee injury, Celtic's Viljami Sinisalo was handed a start between the sticks against New Zealand and should keep his place for Monday's game.

Kairat Almaty midfielder Jaako Oksanen came off the bench at half time to score against New Zealand and we think he will be rewarded with a place in the starting 11 this time around.

Cape Verde possible starting lineup:

Vozinha; Moreira, Lopes, Pina, Lopes Cabral; Duarte, Lenini; Mendes, Arcanjo, Soares; Livramento

Finland possible starting lineup:

Sinisalo; Alho, Koski, Miettinen; Skytta, Suhonen, Walta, Lahteenmaki; Pohjanpalo, Antman

We say: Cape Verde 1-1 Finland

With Cape Verde wanting to head into the World Cup in the best possible form and Finland keen to move on from their qualification woes, we see Monday's match being a tough one to call in what will be a fairly even affair.

We predict the contest to end in a draw, a result that would be far from ideal for both sides' hopes of topping the final group table.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.