Albania open their UEFA Nations League campaign with a trip to Reykjavik to face Iceland in Group B2 on Monday.
The visitors were not in action due to their scheduled match with Russia not taking place as a result of their opponent's current restrictions, whilst the hosts began their 2022 campaign with a hard-fought draw in Israel on Thursday.
Match preview
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In a tough opening fixture of this year's Nations League tournament, Iceland put in an impressive display to come away with a point from their encounter in Haifa in midweek.
In what turned out to be a thoroughly entertaining game, with plenty of opportunities at both ends of the pitch, Arnar Vidarsson's side came within a whisker of getting off to a flyer on matchday one.
After falling behind midway through the first half, Iceland managed to haul themselves level with a deserved equaliser on the stroke of half time.
Arnor Sigurdsson then provided the visitors with the lead shortly after the break, but Iceland found themselves on the back foot during a dominant second half from Israel.
The hosts managed to snatch a point six minutes from time through Shon Weissman, which was thoroughly deserved on the balance of play, but despite possibly seeing the result as two dropped points, Vidarsson's men will be pleased with a point from their opening game on their travels.
Despite dropping down from League A in a difficult 2020 campaign against Denmark, Belgium and England, Iceland will face a tough ask in earning an immediate promotion back to the top tier in a challenging B2 group, particularly when recent form is taken into account.
Thursday's draw means that Iceland have won just once in the last 12 months - a 4-0 victory over minnows Liechtenstein back in October - with the other 12 international ties ending level or in defeat, but victory over Albania would put the hosts in a commanding position in the early stages of Group B2.
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Meanwhile, as mentioned above, Albania were not in action against Russia in midweek, and with no international friendly being arranged in its place, Monday's trip to Iceland will be their first action since March.
Edoardo Reja's side suffered a defeat to Spain and were held to a goalless draw at home to Georgia in two friendlies back then, which followed an impressive effort at qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar later this year.
However, despite their best efforts, Albania failed to qualify for their first-ever World Cup once again, narrowly being pipped to second spot by Poland.
Kuq e Zinjte overcame the minnows of Andorra and San Marino without failure, and also recorded an impressive double over Hungary in Group I of the UEFA qualifying campaign, but ultimately, losing all four fixtures against the top two teams Poland and England cost them a place in Qatar.
Reja will be hoping his side can continue their successful transition of recent years when they get their Nations League campaign up and running on Monday though, having earned promotion from Group C4 back in 2020 at the expense of Belarus, Lithuania and Kazakhstan.
Group B2 looks to be evenly matched between Israel, Iceland and Albania, so it will certainly be intriguing to see how it plays out in Reykjavik, and it could well be an indication of how far Albania have come in recent years should they manage to pick up all three points in their opener.
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Team News
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After picking up an impressive point in midweek, Iceland boss Vidarsson would ideally like to name an unchanged starting 11 on Monday.
However, central defender Brynjar Ingi Bjarnason was brought off at half time, with it unclear whether injury played a part in the substitution, whilst Hakon Arnar Haraldsson was forced off with an injury 12 minutes from time.
As he did on Thursday, David Kristjan Olafsson is in line to deputise for Bjarnason in the back four if required, whilst Aron Elis Thrandarson could deputise for the latter in central midfield.
As for the visitors, a Serie A based trio are likely to make up Reja's preferred back three, with Atalanta's Berat Djimsiti, Roma's Marash Kumbulla and Empoli's Ardian Ismajli in line to start on Monday.
Several other members of the squad are based in Italy's top flight, including captain and vice-captain, Etrit Berisha and Elseid Hysaj respectively, who are also likely to make the starting 11 in Iceland.
In-demand Chelsea striker Armando Broja misses out with COVID-19, whilst Rey Manaj is unavailable due to injury, so much of the goalscoring burden will fall on the shoulders of Sokol Cikalleshi and Bekim Balaj.
Iceland possible starting lineup:
Runarsson; Sampsted, Gretarsson, Magnusson, Olafsson; Helgason, Birkir Bjarnason, Thrandarson; Sigurdsson, Gudjohnsen, Thorsteinsson
Albania possible starting lineup:
Berisha; Ismajli, Kumbulla, Djimsiti; Roshi, Cekici, Abrashi, Bajrami, Hysaj; Cikalleshi, Balaj
We say: Iceland 1-1 Albania
These two nations look to be very evenly matched heading into this encounter, as it looks to be an intriguing tie, and group as a whole.
Were Albania on home soil, we would perhaps be expecting them to earn all three points, but with Broja and Manaj unavailable to lead the line on the road, we can see them grinding out a hard-fought point to get their Nations League campaign off to a solid start.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Matthew Tranter
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