Following a heavy defeat at the weekend, Montenegro seek to keep their quest for a first-ever finals place alive when they host World Cup Qualifying rivals Latvia on Tuesday.
Defeat to the Dutch leaves the home side three points behind both the Oranje and Norway in the Group G standings, with Turkey a point further ahead; while the Latvians' latest loss leaves them languishing in fifth place.
Match preview
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On Saturday, Montenegro faced the challenge of visiting the Netherlands for the first time since independence, as they travelled to Eindhoven for the fifth match in their Qatar 2022 qualifying campaign.
Despite the historical disparity between them, both nations started the day with similar records in Group G, having claimed seven points from their first four fixtures - with the hosts only sitting above Miodrag Radulovic's side on goal difference.
However, the latest Louis van Gaal era began in style for the Dutch, as they ran out 4-0 winners thanks to a double from Memphis Depay in a dominant showing. In fact, the Oranje had 72% of the possession and rattled off 28 efforts on goal, to Montenegro's solitary on-target attempt.
Ahead of Latvia's visit this week, the nature of that defeat may unsettle the Montenegrins, after they had previously claimed an excellent result last Wednesday, when they fought back to salvage a brave 2-2 draw in Turkey, as Adam Marusic and substitute Risto Radunovic dramatically hauled them back to parity.
Throughout their 14-year history in FIFA's 'football family', the Brave Falcons have often posed problems for the top sides, without enjoying much success in threatening the top two places of a qualifying group.
Now, though, they are still well-placed to contend amid a challenging section, but must certainly take care of business against their lower-ranked counterparts on Tuesday, having already beaten them 2-1 in Riga.
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Since that home defeat to Montenegro back in March, on the opening day of the campaign, Latvia have collected just four points from their following four games.
Last week, head coach Dainis Kazakevics saw his side record their first win of the qualifying process with a 3-1 defeat of group minnows Gibraltar, but it proved impossible to maintain that momentum, as they then lost at home to Norway.
While Erling Haaland naturally netted - opening the scoring from the spot - their visitors then added another from Mohammed Elyounoussi midway through the second half; just reward for a display which saw them boss the ball and have 23 shots on the Latvian goal.
Like the Montenegrins, earlier in the qualifiers, Latvia pulled off one of their most memorable results in recent years against Turkey - earning an improbable point with an eventful 3-3 draw in Istanbul.
Now the Wolves - who have never qualified for the World Cup, but memorably made it to the Euros in 2004 - seek to replicate that performance on the road against their Balkan opponents, with the hope of finishing this international spell on a high.
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Team News
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After former Monaco forward Stevan Jovetic pulled out of the squad due to injury, Montenegro have been unable to get their front line firing over the last week, as Uros Durdevic, Drasko Bozovic and Stefan Mugosa have all failed to register so far.
The latter pair are likeliest to start in attack on Tuesday, but Miodrag Radulovic could offer Israel-based striker Fatos Beciraj, who has 12 goals in 80 appearances for his nation, an opportunity instead.
Lazio wide man Adam Marusic and either Milutin Osmajic or Sead Haksabanovic will feature on the flanks for the home side, as they seek a first win in Podgorica since March.
Meanwhile, Latvia are set to be led by Vladislavs Gutkovskis in attack once more, though the Rakow Czestochowa striker was withdrawn after toiling through a fruitless hour against Norway - shortly after he was booked.
Janis Ikaunieks is the away side's joint-top active scorer in international football, with seven goals from 38 appearances, and is likely to be involved in a role just behind the lone frontman.
He was on target in the 2-1 home loss to the Montenegrins in the reverse fixture, so will hope to get the better of their defence once again, while older brother Davis Ikaunieks is expected to start on the bench.
Montenegro possible starting lineup:
Mijatovic; Vesovic, Savic, Vujacic, Tomasevic; Marucic, Scekic, Kosovic, Haksabanovic; Mugosa, Bosovic
Latvia possible starting lineup:
Steinbors; Savalnieks, Tarasovs, Cernomordijs, Jurkovskis; Kamess, Zjuzins, Karklins, Uldrikis; Ikaunieks; Gutkovskis
We say: Montenegro 1-0 Latvia
Even in spite of a chastening defeat to follow their spirited draw in Turkey, back at their Podgorica headquarters, Montenegro are sure to be favourites for the win.
They can complete the double over Latvia on Tuesday, with only the absence of main man Stevan Jovetic restricting their ability to secure a more comfortable margin of victory.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Montenegro win with a probability of 46.7%. A draw had a probability of 26.8% and a win for Latvia had a probability of 26.52%.
The most likely scoreline for a Montenegro win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.63%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.97%) and 2-1 (8.97%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.62%), while for a Latvia win it was 0-1 (8.89%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with an 8.9% likelihood.
