“Italy is the obvious favorite in our group, but compared to other top teams, Italy isn’t the hardest option we could get: there are France, Belgium, Spain, all very impressive. Bosnia and Herzegovina progressed substantially and has footballers playing for strong European clubs. They play very fast, aggressive football. It was no coincidence that they won their group in Nations League. We don’t have a good record with them, but we’ll try to fix it,” Gyulbudaghyants told the official website of Football Federation of Armenia.
According to him, Finland has great potential and a good squad play despite lacking outstanding individuals.
“It has always been difficult with Finland, but I think the style of their current team could be more convenient for us, if we don’t allow too many aerial challenges. Greece was in the same group as Finland in the Nations League and conceded the first place to them. There’s been a decline in their game in recent years, but I think the team will get into a better form gradually,” added Gyulbudaghyants.
The other team in Group J is a familiar rival from the Nations League, Lichtenstein. “We know them the best, because we played them very recently. Despite low ranking, they are a good team and they give good performance especially at home ground. We have to avoid repeating the mistakes we made in previous games against them,” said Gyulbudaghyants.
The coach also spoke about the Euro 2020 qualifying fixtures, saying Armenia had no reason to complain. He considers it important that Armenia won’t have an away game against Finland in the tough weather conditions in March or November, thanks to the new regulations introduced by UEFA.