Northern Ireland are currently ranked #72 in the FIFA rankings, which is a long way from their high of #20 in 2017, but also a long way from their nadir in the hundreds as well.
Michael O’Neill’s men come into this World Cup campaign off the back of a very successful Nations League promotion back into Tier B, having bettered Bulgaria, Belarus, and Luxembourg in their group. They also began this qualification campaign with an important win in Luxembourg, before being outclassed in Germany.
Northern Ireland have scored in nine consecutive internationals now, which is impressive for a nation that, for a long time, struggled in front of goal. However, they have also conceded twelve in their last six matches as well.
Slovakia are currently ranked #42 by FIFA, which is fairly consistent for them over the last few years.
Like Northern Ireland, Slovakia were in the C tier of the Nations League. They actually won more points than Northern Ireland (13 v 11) but failed to win promotion after missing out to Slovenia in the promotion play-offs. Two friendly defeats to Greece and Israel followed that campaign, so it was a huge surprise to everyone that they then went on to defeat Germany in the opening match of this campaign. They then backed this up with a narrow win away in Luxembourg to sit top of the group heading into this match.
When removing friendlies from their recent history, Slovakia have a slight xG advantage over their opponents, 1.45 xG v 1.3 xG; eight of these matches were from the Nations League, with six from the Euro 2024 tournament and two from the current campaign.