Kosovo will visit Andorra hoping to pick up three points in Euro 2024 qualifying. Both teams are currently in the bottom three of their respective groups. Andorra hasn’t won an international match since defeating Liechtenstein in the UEFA Nations League. Kosovo still has a slim chance of catching second-placed Romania.
Preview (Andorra vs. Kosovo)
The hosts’ goalless draw with Belarus in early September earned them their second point in the Euro 2024 qualifying process. As in most games, Andorra’s continued involvement in attacking is concerning in terms of their performance. It is nearly impossible for them to score because they failed to manage even one shot on goal against Switzerland and only three efforts against Belarus at home. Despite the Andorrans’ lack of penetration in attack, particularly in the last third.
Koldo Alvarez’s team had scored in three straight games prior to the previous two contests: on the road against Israel, at home against Switzerland, and once in a 1-1 tie with Thursday’s opponents Kosovo. It has been more than two years since Andorra last defeated an opponent in a UEFA qualifier; there was a 3-0 away success over San Marino in 2021, and the Tricolours would need to put in a great effort to have any hope of reversing their two-year winless drought in qualifiers on Thursday night. While Andorra has done well in Group I thus far given their skills, Kosovo is unbeaten after six games and is performing below their potential, including a 2-0 loss to Romania in their most recent game.
The first three games that Primoz Gliha’s team played in order to qualify for Euro 2024 ended in draws with Israel, Andorra, and Romania, with only two goals scored. The hope of finishing in second place was all but out of reach after a 2-1 away loss in Belarus. It made an already bad start to European Championship qualification even worse. Vedat Muriqi scored the equalizer in the fourth minute of stoppage time to help Kosovo pull off a 2-2 draw at home against group favorites Switzerland after a very bad start.
Team News
Ildefons Lima will be absent after suffering an injury in the first period of their match against Switzerland. She will be replaced by Ricard Fernandez, who will probably start on Thursday. Otherwise, head coach Alvarez is anticipated to choose a starting XI that is mostly unchanged. Wingbacks Marc Garcia and Moises Nicolas pose a threat out wide. However, Kosovo will be missing its leading scorer Muriqi.
A two-man forward partnership is anticipated to lead the line because the squad frequently uses their 4-4-2 formation. It means Albion Rrahmani will probably pair up with Milot Rashica. The difficulty Kosovo has had scoring goals during Euro qualification will not be made any easier by Muriqi’s ban. Andorra is notorious for having a strong defense, making it challenging to get past them in the final third. In order to overcome the home team’s resistance, Kosovo will undoubtedly need to step up in the offensive half of the field.
Andorra 0 – 1 Kosovo
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