The final countdown to UEFA Euro 2024 has officially begun as we approach a string of highly anticipated international friendlies. Some of the nations that are playing this week are heading for the big tournament and others aren’t, but either way, it’s important for all of them to try and build some momentum. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the impending clash between Czech Republic and Malta.

Czech Republic have failed to qualify for the World Cup since back in 2006. In the Euros, though, they’ve qualified at every available opportunity as an independent nation, dating all the way back to 1996. They’re a strange team to watch with that inconsistency being at the forefront of their identity, and based on recent evidence, we’d say they’ll make another strong push in Germany.

Czech Republic will be disappointed that they didn’t top their group in qualifying, losing out to Albania who actually finished on the same number of points as them. In terms of automatically getting through, however, they did comfortably finish four points above Poland who were in 3rd.

They are one of the smallest countries in the world by area, they’ve never qualified for a major competition, and they are widely recognised as the whipping boys whenever they are in a qualifying group. That tends to be the mission statement and status quo for Malta and while that may seem sad, the last twelve months have seen them make some genuinely encouraging progress.

Malta’s qualifying campaign didn’t quite go to plan as many had anticipated, as they lost all eight of their games - although, it must be said that it was a pretty tough group. They scored two goals and conceded 20, but somewhere in there, a few decent performances gave fans reason to be optimistic.

In a game like this, the whole point is to do everything in your power to make an impact - but at the same time, there are far more important matches that lie ahead. Therefore, while we do think there will be some big moments here and there, our official prediction is under 2.5 goals scored.