Romanian League
2012-10-07 - Steaua Bucuresti vs CFR Cluj
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football : Romania: Liga 1
Venue: National Arena - Bucharest
Sunday 7th October – Kickoff time: 20:30 GMT+1
Steaua Bucuresti (1st W8 D1 L1)
Stefan Nikolic earned Steaua Bucharest their first win in Group E as they beat FC Copenhagen 1-0 in the Europa League tie in Bucharest on Thursday.
It wasn’t a great match to watch, both teams struggled to create clear goalscoring opportunities, but Steaua’s persistence was rewarded with 7 minutes from time when a lucky deflection put them ahead.
Steaua is now leading both the Liga 1 and their Europa League group and they seem to be the best side Romania can give at the moment, but the upcoming game against CFR Cluj will be their toughest test in Liga 1 so far.
Steaua will be looking to maintain their perfect home record in the league, they’ve recorded five wins in as many games so far scoring 12 goals and only conceding 2 in the process.
CFR Cluj (6th W4 D4 L2)
After an impressive win in Portugal over Braga, CFR had a lot of hopes before their home game against Manchester, but they just couldn’t rise to United’s level and suffered their first defeat in six CL games this season (including qualifiers).
According to coach Ioan Andone this match against Steaua will make or break their title hopes, in the event of a defeat the difference would be too large, 12 points.
CFR cannot be too confident before this match, they will travel to Bucharest with a crippled squad after Moudou Sogou, Pantelis Kapetanos and Rafael Bastos all suffered various knocks against United and are in doubt for this clash.
They join a list of another four important players that are out on long term and with midfielder Matias Aguerregaray suspended, coach Ioan Andone will have to improvise a lot for this match.
The Betting Verdict
CFR holds an awful record against Steaua in Liga 1, since they’ve promoted in 2004 they’ve only won once against them (in 16 games). It was a 1-0 victory in Cluj back in 2005, which means that CFR never won in Bucharest against Steaua.
There were plenty of draws though, seven of the last eight games between these two ended in draws, never a goalless draw. In fact, in the last nine matches between Steaua and CFR Cluj both teams managed to score at least once.
Both teams to score seems like a safe option, CFR could strike on counter attack as they most often do, but with a crippled squad I don’t think they can hope for more than a draw, a result which wouldn’t be good for them considering the nine points distance in Steaua’s favor at this moment.
I expect Steaua to dominate the game, they make an excellent pressing in the opponents half and that should allow them to recover lots of balls and create damage in a CFR defense that looked shaky a lot of times this season.
Let’s not forget the home advantage, Steaua has the largest fan base in Romania and the stadium will most likely be full. Under these circumstances if I’d have to pick a winner that would be Steaua, but a draw is always a possibility with these two.
The Pick :
Steaua Bucuresti 2-1 CFR Cluj
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Steaua to win at 2.30 at PinnacleSportsConfidence: 6/10
Or
Take Both teams to score at 1.83 at Bet365
Confidence: 7/10 (Main bet)
