This coming Friday night, Luxembourg in Group J of the Europe 2024 qualifiers will play a crucial match against at the Stade de Luxembourg. This match is very important for Luxembourg as they have a chance to move up to the top two in this group. They are currently in third place with seven points, while Iceland are in the bottom two and have four points less than Luxembourg after a disappointing start to the season.
Luxembourg played out a 0-0 draw against Slovakia in their opening Euro 2024 qualifier before conceding six goals in a match against Portugal. Despite starting Luxembourg's summer campaign with a poor 1-0 friendly loss to Malta, Luke Holtz's side picked themselves up for their third and fourth European qualifiers against Liechtenstein and Bosnia-Herzegovina, as they began their sprint with a pair of 2-0 victories.
For Iceland, they are still reeling from their magical performance after reaching the quarter-finals in 2016. They thrashed Liechtenstein 7-0 to finish 200th six months ago and although they had already lost 0-3 to Bosnia in their opening match, the Icelanders' luck got worse in the June replay when they lost 1-2 at home to Slovakia before Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 123rd national team goal in the 89th minute of the game against Portugal to goal to beat Agger Khaled's side.
Iceland's backline showed resilience against Portugal despite not getting much time of possession in the game. However, their task was made more difficult after William Thor Williamson was sent off in the 80th minute and they sit just a little above Liechtenstein in Group J, who went into the game scoreless and without a goal.
Iceland face a potentially daunting trip to Luxembourg, and one consolation for them is that their last five wins have all come away from home, although that does not bode well for next week's Nordic tour in Bosnia. However, Iceland are unbeaten in seven consecutive matches since the teams first met in 1976, with four wins and three draws, although the Red Dragons came from behind to salvage a 1-1 draw in their most recent friendly 14 years ago.
Facing this match, Luxembourg have already suffered a blow on the attacking side of the game in September, with 18-year-old Hannover striker Jason Vydra forced to pull out of the national team due to injury and Jason Rodriguez, who has scored 16 goals for Dynamo Kiev, failing to play. While Rodriguez needs just one more goal to become Luxembourg's all-time leading scorer, for now, Sinani and Sanchez will carry the load in attack.
Meanwhile, Iceland will also be forced to make changes at the attacking level due to the suspension of Willemsen, although the Dutch striker has been called up to the squad for next Monday's game against Bosnia. Likely to replace him will be 20-year-old Håkon Arne Haraldsson, who earned an introduction to giants Lille this summer. Also notable absentees are Blackburn Rovers midfielder Arnold Sigurdsson as well as captain Aaron Gunnarsson and vice-captain Birkir Bjarnason.
With all these factors combined, we expect the result of the match to be a possible 1-0 Luxembourg-Iceland. Despite their thrashing against Portugal, Luxembourg have kept three clean sheets in their remaining three UEFA EURO 2024 qualifiers and are optimistic about their chances of expecting another clean sheet against a weakened Icelandic side. Despite Iceland's relatively good recent form in away games, Hareide's side could lose on Friday, while Luxembourg end the halfway point in double figures.
