Northern Ireland are in a bit of a rough patch, having gone winless in their last three fixtures. They lost two and drew one of those three games.
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Kosovo and Northern Ireland will both be hoping to turn their fortunes around in the UEFA Nations League when they face each other on Thursday. In the clash at the Fadil Vokrri Stadium in Prishtina, the visitors will be looking to register their first win of the tournament. Kosovo won the opener against Cyprus 2-0 but were narrowly edged out by Greece 1-0 in the last match. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland lost to Greece in the opener and had to settle for a goalless draw against Cyprus in the last clash.
As far as the FIFA rankings are concerned, Kosovo are placed at 107th, while Northern Ireland are 54th, making the visitors favourites for the upcoming match. However, home advantage is a big thing in football, which Kosovo would like to make the most of on Thursday. Their form is also not particularly bad this year. Out of the four matches they played this season, Kosovo won two, drew one and lost the only one to Greece in their last encounter. It is a definite improvement from the results they obtained in 2021.
On the other hand, Northern Ireland are in a bit of a rough patch, having gone winless in their last three fixtures. They lost two and drew one of those three games. They are also winless in the two games they played in the Nations League till now. After losing to Greece in the opener, they could only manage a goalless draw against Cyprus. Hence, they will have to be at the top of their game in the League C Group 2 clash on Thursday night to get all three points.
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Kosovo will have to make a couple of changes for Thursday’s clash after two of their players received marching orders in the previous match. Left-back Aliti and goalkeeper Muric were both dismissed late in the second half against Greece. Now their head coach Alain Giresse has a major task at hand to find suitable replacements. It will be between Mirlind Kryeziu and Amir Rrahmani to fill the vacant left-back slot. For the goalkeeping position, Samir Ujkani will likely replace Muric.
Up front, Vedat Muriqi is expected to lead their attack. On the other hand, Northern Ireland do not have many concerns and they are expected to name more or less an unchanged starting line-up. They could yet again start the game with a back three of Paddy McNair, Ciaron Brown and Jonny Evans and their attack will be led by Kyle Lafferty and Gavin Whyte.
Kosovo possible line-up: Ujkani, Kastrati, Dresevic, Rrahmani, Kryeziu, Berisha, Zeneli, Loshaj, Zhegrova, Rashica, Muriqi
Northern Ireland possible line-up: Peacock-Farrell, Evans, McNair, Brown, McGinn, Saville, Davis, Charles, Lane, Lafferty, Whyte
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The UEFA Nations League match between Kosovo and Northern Ireland will take place at the Fadil Vokrri Stadium on Thursday, 12:15 am IST.
Select UEFA Nations League 2022-23 matches will be telecast live on the Sony TEN network in India. Besides, live streaming of these matches will be available on SonyLIV and JioTV apps and OTT platforms in India.
