Europa League
2011-10-20 - Maccabi Haifa vs Steaua Bucuresti
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football: Europa League Group J
Venue: "Itztadion Kiryat Eliezer", Haifa
Thursday 20th October – Kickoff time: 20:00 GMT+2
Maccabi Haifa
Despite losing to group favorites Shalke 04, Maccabi are still second and has the opportunity to consolidate that position with a win against struggling Steaua Bucuresti. Losing to Shalke was not much of a surprise, Maccabi had not won in seven away games in Europe prior to that game and couldn’t improve on that against the powerful German side.
The stats are way better on their home games, Maccabi winning their last five European home games since losing 1-0 to Girondins de Bordeaux in their final 2009/10 UCL group stage game.
Maccabi have faced Romanian opposition before, when they played against Gloria Bistrita in the 2007 Intertoto Cup, losing the home leg 2-0 and winning the away one with the same margin, but eventually losing the tie at penalties. That victory remains the only one an Israeli side have achieved in eight games against Romanian clubs.
Another Israeli club had hosted a Romanian opposition in this season’s Europa League, Steaua’s rivals Rapid Bucuresti collecting all three points from their travel to Tel-Aviv in a match against Hapoel (0-1).
Maccabi’s first home game ended in a narrow win thanks to Mohammad Ghadir’s header nine minutes into the second half, but the score could have been higher with the Israelis dominating the entire match.
Probable Maccabi line-up :
Meshumar, Buliat, Dagani, Twath
Siedu, Tamir Cohen, Katan, Golasa
Amasha, Dvalishvili
Steaua Bucuresti
I don’t think it would be a surprise if I say that Steaua’s coach is not the same with the one they’ve started the season, Israeli Ronny Levy being replaced with Ilie Stan. He is the 12th coach that will lead Steaua in a European fixture in the last 10 years.
Steaua is yet to lose a game in this group, but they’ve been playing rather disappointing, despite managing to hold off Shalke 04 in a match in which Steaua could not manage a shot on target. The Romanians then travelled to Larnaca and despite creating some good chance early on, Milijan Mrdakovic had struck to give the home side a lead in the 59th minute, but Steaua earned an equalizer just sic minutes later.
Steaua (as most Romanian teams) has a poor away record when playing in Europe, they were unable to win any of their last nine games since a 2-1 Uefa Europa League play-off win at Saint Patrcik’s Atheltic in 2009.
Gabriel Matei, Florin Gardos, Cristian Tanase and Emeghara (injured) and Brandan (suspended) have all been ruled out for this match.
Cristian Tanase seems to be the most important absence, he scored 3 goals for Steaua in European games, more than any player that will show up today in Steaua’s shirt.
Probable Steaua line-up :
Martinovici, Iliev, Geraldo, Latovlevici
Bourceanu, Bicfalvi
Tatu, Rusescu, Fl. Costea
M. Costea
The Betting Verdict
This group has not produced too many goals, in fact the only match so far that ended with more than two goals was the one between Shalke and Maccabi, but we all know Shalke’s home strength. Maccabi and Steaua will fight for the second position in the group, so I don’t think they will take many risks in this game, as a defeat would diminish their chances to progress.
Despite struggling in both domestic league and Europa League, Steaua still has a good organization, they can and need to defend well because in front there is an obvious lack of creativity. However, with such poor away record in Europe, there is no reason to back them at this moment.
Maccabi will have the initiative, but Steaua is likely to absorb the pressure without major difficulties and unless they concede an early goal, they can hope for a positive result. I am not expecting a spectacular game, both teams are trying to get back on track after some disappointing domestic results and another defeat may be hard to digest, so we should see some cautiousness from both teams.
The Pick :
Maccabi Haifa 1-0 Steaua Bucuresti
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Under 2.5 goals to be scored at 1.80 Victor ChandlerConfidence: 8/10
