Wales vs Poland: Euro 2024 play-off final today prediction, kick-off time, team news, TV, h2h, odds
Wales will battle Poland for a place at Euro 2024 as the two nations contest their play-off final tie in Cardiff tonight.
This is very familiar territory for the hosts, who beat both Austria and Ukraine on home soil to end their long 64-year exile from the World Cup two years ago and are now looking to repeat that feat to qualify for their fourth major tournament out of the last five.
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Euro 2016 semi-finalists Wales - who finished third behind Turkey and Croatia in qualifying for this summer’s finals in Germany - got the first half of the job done on Thursday night, when they brushed aside Finland 4-1 thanks to goals from David Brooks, Neco Williams, Brennan Johnson and Dan James.
But they are set to face a far tougher test now against a Poland team that dismantled 10-man Estonia 5-1 in Warsaw after efforts from Przemyslaw Frankowski, Piotr Zielinski, Jakub Piotrowski and Sebastian Szymanski, plus an own goal from Karol Mets.
Poland have not failed to reach the finals of a major tournament since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and last missed the Euros in 2004, but endured a disappointing qualifying campaign this time around as they trailed behind Albania and the Czech Republic.
The winners of this clash will be placed in Group D at Euro 2024 along with France, the Netherlands and Austria, facing the Dutch first up in Hamburg on June 16.
Date, kick-off time and venue
The Euro 2024 play-off final between Wales and Poland is scheduled for a 7:45pm GMT kick-off today, Tuesday March 26, 2024.
The match will take place at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Where to watch Wales vs Poland
TV channel: In the UK, the Euro 2024 play-offs will be televised live on Viaplay Sports with Wales vs Poland also on Welsh language channel S4C.
Live stream: Subscribers can also catch the contest live online via the Viaplay Sports streaming service and, in the Welsh language, on the BBC iPlayer and S4C Clic.
Live blog: You can follow all the action on matchday via Standard Sport’s live blog.
Wales vs Poland team news
Wales XI: Ward; Mepham, Rodon, Davies; Roberts, Ampadu, J. James, Williams; Wilson, Moore, Johnson
Subs: Hennessey, King, Fox, Dasilva, Ramsey, Sheehan, Savage, Matondo, D. James, Brooks, Cullen, Broadhead
Poland XI: Szczesny; Bednarek, Dawidowicz, Kiwor; Frankowski, Zielinski, Sliz, Piotrowski, Zalewski; Swiderski, Lewandowski
Subs: Skorupski, Bulka, Walukiewicz, Puchacz, Grosicki, Romanczuk, Buska, D. Szymanski, S. Szymanski, Salamon, Piatek, Bereszynski
Wales vs Poland prediction
This should be an intriguing tussle between two inconsistent sides that can mix it with the best in Europe on their day and scored nine goals between them in their semi-final ties.
Despite the loss of inspirational leader Gareth Bale to retirement last year, Wales rose to the big occasion once again in front of a passionate home crowd who will have an enormous role to play again on Tuesday.
Page’s men are far stronger at home generally than they are on the road, and the same can be said of Poland, who have a long unbeaten run in qualifiers in front of their own fans.
But as bizarre as it sounds given the emphatic final scoreline, there were elements of that first-half performance from Wales against Finland that will give their head coach cause for concern and will surely be seized upon by Poland if they are repeated in the final.
We expect a close and incredibly tense game that really could go either way, but with the slight edge given to Lewandowski and Co.
Poland to win, 2-1.
Head to head (h2h) history and results
Wales’ only previous win in 10 attempts against Poland came all the way back in qualifying for the 1974 World Cup.
They have lost all but two of the nine meetings since then after a pair of draws in 1991 and 2000, including six losses in a row in this century.
These two teams last met in the 2022 Nations League, when at home Poland only just saw off a Wales team who rang the changes ahead of their World Cup play-off final against Ukraine.
Swiderski then hit a second-half winner in Cardiff later that year to condemn Wales to relegation.
Wales wins: 1
Poland wins: 7
Draws: 2
Wales vs Poland match odds
Wales to qualify: 13/8
Poland to qualify: 15/8
Odds via Sky Bet, subject to change.
