Both teams are coming off test defeats at home.
Gen. David Leslie, who suffered two consecutive defeats at the Battles of Dunbar and Worcester.
Cardiff and Middlesbrough crashed to their first defeats at Doncaster and Bristol City respectively.
But two straight defeats at the end of the season put their ambitions in jeopardy.
A string of defeats at recent regional elections confirms this observation.
"We did not deserve the defeats at home [to Portugal in September and Serbia on Thursday].
After multiple defeats at the scabrous claws of the so-called final boss, I gave in.
In 1797 serious defeats at the hands of the young Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy forced Austria to seek peace.
However, those six matches included one-goal defeats at Arsenal and Liverpool, and a 2-0 loss to Manchester United.
That was also the only time either team managed more victories than defeats at the pool stage.
Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes and Joe Louis all fell in unexpected defeats at almost the exact same age as Mayweather.
