mihaita666

San Antonio Spurs @ Orlando Magic
over 198

Comparring to the last season, this one looks totally different for the two teams involved in this match. San Antonio Spurs currently has the bet league record, winning 25 games and only loosing 3. Their current streak is the second best at this point, the Texans having 10 consecutive victories, 4 games behind the Boston Celtics. On the other hand, Orlando Magic struggles to keep close to Miami Heat and Boston Celtics, in East, but they are already 4 games behind Miami and 7.5 behind Botson, and are only 6th in East, way behind their expectations. Their current form is terrible, 2-8 in the last 10 games, and a 4 games loosing streak. The coach Vince van Gundy felt like something was just too wrong about his team, and decided to change some players from the squad. Vince Carter was sold to Phoenix Suns for Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis was exchanged for Gilbert Arenas. Van Gundy noticed that, when the 3-pointers don't hit at big percentages, his team barely has a chance to win, and only against mediocre teams, and that is because the pick'n'roll isn;t working, and only Dwight Howard scores from the paint, almost. In the last game, against Dallas Mavericks, Magic have lost, 105-99 and they donlt have themselves to blame, the reason why they lost is the amazing 12-26 record Dallas had from downtown. So, comparring to the game against Atlanta, Orlando played much better and against a much better team that Atlanta, Dallas being a top 3 team in this moments.

San Antonio Spurs have a memorable season so far, especially if we think about the last two regular seasons, in which they were struggling somewhere in the middle of their Conference. Now, they are the solitary leader of the league, with an amazing record of 25-3. A 10 winning streak is also sign of consistency for this team, whio has amazing records both at home and on road. Unlike other teams, they haven;t transfered much in the summer, but literally regrouped themselves and look as good as they were 5-6 years ago, with many of those players still in the starting 5. Tony Parker rebecame a stater, and plays very well, match by match, Tim Duncan scores and rebounds ver well, and Manu Ginobilli shoots for 3's and has great assists.
But what really is impressive about Spurs is their bench. Last night, against Denver, at home, Spurs had 60 points from the bench, and overall, a great contribution from those players, both in attack and defense. The best bench player was by far Gary Neal, one of the biggest surprises this year in NBA. Gary Neal scored 5 from 7  three pointers attemps, 3 of them in the 4th quarter, exactly when his team needed him most. Down by 9 after the 3rd quarter, Spurs were really Spurs in the last 12 minutes of the game and clearly won it by 15 points, the finakl score being 109-103.  Spurs look fresh, solid and with a great appetite for scoring Their fastbreaks are very efficient and, generally, all their stats are among the best.  San Antonio is second best in the league in three points made with 8.9 per game; Their 9 points difference of winning/match is also among the best.

On Christmas Day, the Spurs will rest, so their next game will be on Sunday, when they receive the visit of Washington Wizards. They didn;t look tired at all last night, and I see no reason why they should look like a team that's on a back to back. I easily can see them as fresh as last night, especially since there's a short break after this game. Orlando Magic will receive Boston Celtics, on Christmas Day, at lucnh time, in what is expected to be a very tight battle, considering Boston's long injuries list. Orlando rested last night, so they should be in a good form too.Overall, there shouldn't be reason why Magic or Spurs will be tired tonight, and that's a major cause of unders.

So far, San Antonio Spurs  average 106.9 point per game, and allow an average of 97.9, while their opponents tonight average 96.1 point per game and allow around 93 per game. The total has gone OVER in 6 of San Antonio's last 7 games when playing Orlando; The total has gone OVER in 4 of San Antonio's last 5 games on the road; The total has gone OVER in 6 of Orlando's last 7 games when playing San Antonio. Stats  are favourable for a high scoring game tonight but the public seems to be on the under here. However, I like the over 198 (which dropped from 199.5, actually) and I'm gonna play it. Good Luck !

Arsenal - Braga
over 2.75

We had a very interesting debut day in this season of Uefa Champions League, and the second day promisses to be at least of the same level. We had many matches with over 3 goals : Barcelona crushed Panathinaikos, 5-1, Inter and Twente drew 2-2, Tottenham and Werder drew 2-2, Valencia destroyed Bursaspor 4-0, in Turkey.

Part of group H, with Partizan Belgrade, Shaktar Donetk and Sporting Braga, Arsenal FC is considered th bif favourite of it, considering the great experience the english club has in this competition, not only compared to the other teams in the group, but generally. Arsenal is enjoying a very good start of season in Premiership, where they are second, 2 points behind their city rivals, Chelsea. Arsenal  started the season with a lucky 1-1 draw on Anfield Roa,d against Liverpool, and than won 3 matches in a row : 6-0 with Blackpool, 2-1 versus Blackburn Rovers, and, finally, 4-1 versus Bolton Wanderers. The two clear victories, 6-0 and 4-1, were obtained at home, on the Emirates Stadium, where Arsenal is a real force, and plays a similar type of football like Barcelona with a huge possesion, a lot of side passes and many actions finished by central passes towards the forwards.

Arsenal is a team who always plays to score, no matter who they play against, when they play at home. They had a marvelous second half last weekend, when scoring 3 goals against Bolton, after the half-time score was 1-1. Arsenal attack is among the strongest in the World, right behind Barcelona's and Chelsea's, the teams I consider to have the best attacks in the World. Arsenal, so far, in 4 matches of Premiership, has score 13 goals, and allowed 3, having a +10 goal difference, the second best from England, after Chelsea (+16).

Sporting Braga is a new team in this competition, tonight they will have their debut. Braga had to pass the knock-out preliminary rounds, and eliminated two famous European clubs, Cletics Glasgow, and Sevilla FC. Braga surprised anyone eliminating Sevilla, after a 1-0 victory at home, and an amazing 4-3 victory in Spain, who has sent the Spanish club in Uefa Europa League, and Sporting Braga in Uefa Champions League. Sporting Braga has shown a great offensive power in the first rounds of qulification from Uefa Champions League, scoring 9 goals in 4 matches, but also allowing 5 goals. Therefore, they are an open team, and the over 2.75 should match this club's tactics for tonight.
Sporting Braga can't come on Emirates and defend for 90 minutes, if they want to get a point tonight. Arsenal will for sure play in offense from the very first minute,Sporting Braga will have to answer the same way, and I am very sure that this is going to happen.

Sporting Braga, so far, didn;t have the great season they had last year, but it's still early , and they can regain their consistancy. So far, after 4 rounds, they have 7 points, and are 4th in the portuguesse league. They have scored 6 goals, and allowed 4, making it a +2 goal difference for Sporting Braga.

Last night, Werder Bremen and Tottenham Hotspurs offered a 2-2 match, and I am very confident Arsenal and Sporting Braga can produce a similar score tonight, altough I think Arsenal will have the 3 points after tonight. But, I think Sporting Braga will score one goal, at least, tonight. 3-1 for Arsenal would be a very normal result, in my opinion. Good luck !

Barcelona -2

Today starts the most important clubs competition, the Uefa Champions League, with the group stage matches from the first four groups. Barcelona and Chelsea are considered the teams with the greatest chances to win the trophy in the end, accoring to the bookmakers, and that's my opinion too, but until the final, there are many games to be played, and it all starts with the groups stage.

Barcelona won the Uefa Champions League 2 seasons ago, defeating Manchester united in the final, 2-0, and was stopped by Inter Milano last year, in one of the most epic battles in the history of Uefa Champions League. Inter eliminated Barcelona in the semifinals, and won the trophy winning 2-0 against Bayern Munchen.

Barcelona will have a very easy group, on paper, their opponents being Panathinaikos, FC Copenhagen and Rubin Kazan. None of these teams are anywhere near Barcelona's level, but football provides many strange results. Such a result was last Saturday, when Barcelona lost at home to hercules Alicante, a new promoted team from the Spanish La Liga. Barcelona was favoured by 2.75 goals in that match, and Hercules had an odd of 51.00/+5000 at Pinnacle, so the upset was an amazing one. Barcelona had an almost 80% possesion, but wasn;t enough for them to even score once against Hercules.

However, upsets like these happen rarely to Barcelona, and usually, when they lose such a game, Barcelona is probably the best team in the World, they have an amazing team, but since football is not a science, accidents like this one can happen. Last season, for example, Barcelona lost at home, in Uefa Champions League, to Rubin Kazan, and it was a similar type of upset like the one on Saturday. Guardiola and his team are surely feeling embarrassed by that score and will strive hardly to regain confidence from the fans with a great match tonight, against Panathinaikos.

Barcelona and Panathinaikos played 4 matches so far, all in Uefa Champions League, so far, Barcelona won 2 times, 3-1 and 5-0, Panathinaikos won once 1-0, and another match finished 0-0.  Both times Barcelona won, the matches were played in Spain, the 5-0 score being 5 years ago.

Tonight, Barcelona will use their best players, including Dani Alves, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, David Villa and Lionel Messi, Uefa Champions League being a main objective for them. Barcelona are looking to get back on track after their latest score, and they have the perfect opportunitty tonight, against a greek team. Panathinaikos played just 2 games so far, this season, and has 4 points in the first greek division.

A 3-0 or a even bigger victory for Barcelona would be a normal score, and I am sure they can obtain it.

FC Brasov - Dinamo Bucuresti
over 2.5

Dinamo has the chance to become leader tonight, as they play against FC Brasov, on road, in a match counting for the 7th round of the Romanian Liga I. Yesterday, in Europe, was a day of big upsets, the biggest one being FC Barcelona  0-2 Hercules Alicante, and Romania had his own shocking result as well, Steaua Bucuresti losing to Unirea Urziceni, 1-0, in a match in whic the spread was 1.25 for Steaua. The result is shocking because recently, Unirea urziceni had to sell 7 players to Steaua bucuresti, as they are having financial problems, and most of their squad was sold, and the coach resigned from his position, Also, Steaua Bucuresti's chairman has sent 10 players from Steaua II, on loan at Unirea Urziceni, and, a team mainly consisting of 18-20 years old players neutralized the #1 contendor to win the title in Romania.

On Friday, Rapid defeated the champion CFR Cluj, 2-0, and became the leader of Liga I, with one match more than Dinamo and Steaua, but Steaua wasnl;t able to restore the difference between them and Rapid. Today, Dinamo, with a victory, becomes a solitary leader in Romania. The won't be having an easy task, as FC Brasov, at home, is a strong team.

Generally, FC Brasov is considered a defensive team, if we consider their previous seasons, since they returned to the first league from Romania. Under Razvan Lucescu, they finished the championship with a very good defense, one of the top 3 in the championship. However, their attack is not a strong one, like their defense. Actually, few teams in this world manage to score many goals and to keep a clean sheet, constantly. Normal and smaller tems are happy to win 1-0,

Dinamo, on the other hand, has an outstanding attack, scoring 21 goals so far, but a horror defense, allowing 14 in just 6 matches. Dinamo has played 10 matches, in this season, and only the first one had less than 3 goals. In the championship, all Dinamo's matches had at least 3, and some of them exceeded the over a lot, for example 5-3 against Sportul Studentesc, 6-2 against FCM Targu Mures or the most recent result, the defeat from last round, 3-4 at home against universitatea Cluj. In the 2 weeks break caused bythe international games, Dinamo transfered 2 defenders, but I don;t think that their problems with this area will be solved over night. For 1 or 2 players to start match the team, it takes time, 1 or two games are not enough.

Dinamo and Brasov had a lot of unders in the last seasons, but the things look different now. FC Brasov will have 3 of their defenders unavailable tonight, so they will have to play on the offense. Defending against Dinamo is not a good solution, as they have deadly strikers and forwards. Even one of the defensive midfielders from Dinamo, N'Doye, is a threat for any defense, because of his terrible long distance shots who often become goals. Andrei Cristea, Marius niculae Adrian Cristea and Gabriel Torje will play for Dinamo tonight, and there are all the perspectives of a high scoring game in my opinion. Also, Dinamo has strong offensive bench players, like Marius Alexe, or Liviu Ganea, who score coming from the becnh very often.

Cesena - Milan
Milan -1

Three matches from the Italian Serie A, today, the last one is between Cesena and probably the best team in Italy in this moment, AC Milan, the team with the most impressive list on transfers in Italy this summer. Two of them will have their debut tonight, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho, two of the most techniqual and talented strikers in the last years.

AC Milan come after some very poor season, in which they were in the shadow of their archrivals, Inter Milan, who won a lot of trophies, while the 'rossonerri' had to suffer a lot of hard defeats : for example, last season, Milan lost both matches against Inter. 0-2 and 0-4. Also, while Inter Nimalo won the Uefa Champions League last season, AC Milan was eliminated from the last 16th finals, after losing twice to Mancchester united. Inter Milano won the title, after a battle with AS Roma, while AC Milan was out of that battle long time before the last round, and only finished third in the championship. Therefor, Silvio Berlusconni, ilan's chairman, decided that this season, the team need serious transfers, and so he did, speding a lot of money on two world class players : Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho.

Milan has played one match so far this season, without the two new stars who were transfered this summer, and they won, 4-0, in the first round of the Italia Seri A, 4-0, against Lecce. Milna made the game easy for themselves, and delighted their fans, from the first half, At halftime, Milan had a 3-0 lead, 2 brazilians scoring the 3 goals : Thagi Silva, once,and the brazilian young star, Pato, twice. In the second half, Italian veteran Filipo Inzaghi made it 4-0 in the injury times of the match.

Cesena played at AS Roma in the first round, and they were lucky to get away with a point frem there, as AS Roma managed to control the game for 90 minutes, and were extremly unlucky to not score at least once, after creating a lot of goal chances. But, it was one of those ,atches when the score keeps on staying 0-0 until the final whistle. Cesena is in the first italian leagues for the first time after 20 years, after they managed to promote last year from Serie B, and, altough Roma didn;t defeat them, the differences between a top Serie A club and a Serie B one were more than obvious for whoever watched the game. In this very moment, AC Milan is the strongest and the most confident italian club, and I expect them to have no problem defeat Cesena at 2 or more goals.

Milan, with the new stars, will be a very offensive team, and their line-up will probably be this one : Abbiati, Bonera, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Antonini, Pirlo, Ambrosinni, Ronaldinho, Pato, Robinho, Ibrahimovic. The trio behind Ibrahimovic, formed by Ronaldinho, Pato and Robinho, 3 brazilian superstar, looks awesome, and the three are very good friends, including outside the pitch; also, Ronaldinho, the former Barcelona superstar, looks to be having one of those season that made him a huge player. This can only be a good sign for the 'rossonerri'.

Milan -1 has a very good odd, some bookmakers offer it at 'plus money odds', and there is just no way Milan doesn;t win tonight. My guess is that they will put 2 or more between them and Cesena.

AC Milan To Win Serie A

Italian football has been dominated by Internatzionale Milano in the last 5 years, as they have won almost every trophy in this country. Inter had their best season in the last one, when they have won everything possible : the Serie A, the Italian Cup, and most important, the Uefa Champions League trophy, after over 40 years. But, Jose Mourinho, the coach who built the team and that gained so many performances on Giusepe Meazza. But now Jose Mourinsho is at Real Madrid, and Inter is prepaired by Rafael Benitez, the former manager from CF Valencia and Liverpool FC. He won the Uefa Champions League in 2005, with FC Liverpool, and the Uefa Cup in 2004 with CF Valencia.

Mourinho was at Inter for two seasons, and won the Serie A twice, the Italian Cup twice,the Italian Supercups and the Uefa Champions League, and cecided to leave for a new chalenge, probably the biggest of his career : he signed a contract with Real Madrid, a club hunger for big performance, after not being able to win anything important in the last years, and with terrible results in the Uefa Champions League. Mourinho managed to have build at Inter a strong and consistent team, able to defeat every other team, inclduing Chelsea and Barcelona, the teams considered the best in the last years. Inter won two times against Chelsea, and once against Barcelona, eliminating the strongest opponents possible on the way to win the Uefa Champions League in the 2009/2010 season.

Without their leader, Inter looks totally different, much weaker, and not as strong as they used to be; after winning the Italian Supercup, in the first match of the season, Inter was clearly defeated by Atletico madrid, 2-0, in the European Supercup.In the first round of the Italian Serie A, Inter was blocked by Bologna to a 0-0 draw, Inter having few clear goal chances.

On the other hand, Inter's archrivals, AC Milan look to be back in business after 2-3 miserable seasons. AC Milan made one of the biggest transfers of this summer, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, from FC Barcelona, for 40,000,000 EUR. Their offensive line is absolutely superb : Ronaldinho, Ibrahimovic, Pato. Also, it is clear that the new coach from AC Milan, Massemilioano Allegri, is much suitable for the team that the former one, Leonardo.  AC Milan is currently on a very positive trend, as the fans are coming back near the team, very confident that this will be their year, and that they can avenge the frustrations from the previous ones, when seing their rivals winning triophy after trophy.

Anotherteam that looks much stronger than last year is Juventus Torino, another famous and traditional italian force. After finishing 7th last year, Juventus regrouped and made an impressive summer of transfers, replacing many old players with fresh and talented ones. Juventus will surely be a hard nuck to crack this season, and will fight for the title.
AS Roma remains an interesting team, who is always ready to produce long winning streaks and to fight for the title. Other good italian teams are Sampdoria, Napoli, Palermo and Fiorentina.

But, from my point of view, AC Milan is the strongest one, and they will be kings at the end of this season in Italian Serie A.

Barcelona to win SPD

We have seen, 2 weeks ago, the first matches from the first round of the Spanish championship. Obviously, the main contenders will be FC Barcelona, the champion from the last 2 season, and their arch rivals, Real Madrid. Both teams are among the strongest in the World, especially Barcelona who has already shown that they are a sensational team, who won 8 trophies in the last 2 seasons : the Spanish championship (twice), Uefa Champions League (2009), European Supercup (2009), Spanish Supercup (twice), Spanish Cup, FIFA Clubs World Cup (2009). Also, as you all know, Spain has won the Fifa World Cup, this year, defeating the Netherlands in the Final; 7 players from the starters were from FC Barcelona : Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Pedro, Xavi Hernandez, David Villa, and the national hero from Spain, Andres iniesta (the player who scored the goal in the world Cup final, and brought the title in Spain for the first time in history). Barcelona's coach is Josep Guardiola, a very talented young manager.

Barcelona won the title last season, finishing the championship with 96 points ( 31 wins, 6 draws, 1 loss), 3 more than Real Madrid. Barcelona's goal difference was absolutely fabulous, as they have scored 98 goals, and allowed only 24. Also, in the last two seasons, Barcelona defeated Real Madrid in all 4 matches in which they have meet; last year, Barcelona won 1-0 at home, and 2-0 on road, against Real Madrid. The difference between the two clubs is bigger than the stats are showing, according to most Spanish football experts. The differences were best spotted in the matches the two teams played last season, when Barcelona have both won the games and had an amazing ball possesion.

Barcelona has a very well balanced team, which isn't based only around their superstar, Lionel Messi. Barcelona has a very good goalkeeper, who rarely makes big errors, Victor Valdes; the defense is strong as well, Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique being in the center, Mawell on the left and Dani Alves on the right side. The midfield from Barcelona is by far the best in the World, with Xavi Hernandez, Andres iniesta both being genius ball holders and who create a lot of assists. Seidou Keita and Sergio Busquets are making sure the ball stays in the opponent's half. Messi and David Villa are two top forwards, both having estimated transfer prices of over 70 milion euros. 

n the last years, Barcelona has averaged around 3 goals scored/match, which is an amazing performance, showing the team's offensive power and consistancy. With a very good team atmosphere, and very strong game realtionships, Barcelona will dominate, with their current squad, the world of spanish football for other 3-4 years, in my opinion, Their bench consists in a lot of talented youngsters, especially Bojan Krkic and Pedro, both being very good solutions for replacing forwards or midfielders,

I cannot see Real Madrid winning the title this year, because they have a new manager, Jose Mourinho, who has a totally different game philosophy than the former coach, Pelegrini, and which seems to not feet Real Madrid very well. Real Madrid will finish second, after Barcelona, this season.

Chelsea to win EPL

After 3 rounds in the English Premiership, things are looking very interesting, the battle for avoiding relegation will be very tight, as well as for the European competitions places. For the title, from my point of view, the race will be inexistent, as I think Chelsea has by far the biggest chance to win another championship. Chelsea is just too strong and I cannot see Manchester united, Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham or Liverpool being able to resist the endurance of a long battle against Chelsea. After 3 rounds, Chelsea is a solitary leader, being the only team with maximum points and having an amazing goal difference, already : 14 goals scored and none allowed.

Chelsea started the season exactly how they finished it, devastating all their opponents. In the end of the last season, Chelsea made some amazing matches, and obtained some incredibile scores : 7-1 versus Aston Villa, 7-0 versus Stoke City, 8-0 versus Wigan. These were Chelsea's last 3 matches at home from the last season, and the new season started in the same way : 6-0 against WBA, 6-0 against Wigan. Also, Chelsea won last round at home against Stoke City, 2-0, but the score could have been much bigger, as Chelsea has missed a penalty, and plenty of other obvious scoring chances.

Chelsea is a very complete team : they have one of the best goalkeepers in the world, Petr Cech. The defensive is also very strong at Chelsea, were John Terry, the team's captain,  is rulling most of the fights against strikers from Premiership. Asheley Cole, Alex and Paolo Fereira are completing the strong defense from Chelsea. The midfielders from Chelsea are among the best in the World : Frank Lampard is the clear mind from the middle of the field, Essien is considered by many the best defensive midfielder in the world, and, with John Obi Michel, they block a lot of balls and make a lot of assists, and good passes forward. In attack, the deadly trio : Anelka - Drogba - Malouda is by far among the best in the world, and a real threat for every defense.

But what makes Chelsea a real force, is their unity and the fabulous game relationship between the players.  Chelsea plays with these players for years now, and they know each other very well. Chelsea didnlt need to spend money on transfers last summer, as they have a good enough team to go back to back. The bench from Chelsea is also of very good value : Yossi Benayoun, Salomon Kalou, or Sturridge. All these players, and many others, are very good ones, and can  always replace the starters very well.

Manchester united is the main rival for Chelsea, this year, as well as in the last 4 years. But, this season, United looks much more fragile, especially in defense, where Ferdinand is not that confident as he used to be. Man utd is mainly based on Wayne rooney's form, and that's not a good sign for a team, to depend on a player. Manchetser United has already dropped 2 points, on road, versus Fulham, 2-2. In that match, the defensive problems I was talking about above were very clear.

Liverpool is very weak this year, Arsenal has too many young players, Tottenham is inconstant, while Manchester City has too many new players. There's no way Chelsea won;t win the title this year, from my point of view.

Steaua Bucuresti - FC Timisoara
over 2.25

The derby of the 6th round from the Romanian Liga 1 will be played today, between two of the best teams this season, Steaua Bucuresti and FC Timisoara, on Ghencea Stadium, in Bucuresti. A full stadium, the possibilitty to become the solitary leader of the championship after 6 rounds : that's how the game looks like for the home team. 'We would be fine with a draw', 'Steaua at home is very hard to beat' - that's what FC Timisoara's coach has said. and that's the way they look to prepair this game. But are they ?

Steaua shares the first place, currently, with Dinamo, both teams having 13 points after 5 macthes, but Dinamo has lost, on Friday, to Universitatea Cluj, 3-4 at home, and now Steaua has a straight road to put 1 or 3 points between them and Dinamo. After qualifying with plenty of chance in the Uefa Europa League groups, elimnating Grasshopper Zurich at penalties, Steaua is looking forward to continue their excellent start of the season, in which all their objectives were accomplised : fighting for the title, and entering the groups in Europa League. Timisoara, on the other hand isn;t doing bad neighter, but they failed to qualify in Europa League groups, being eliminated by Manchester City, 3-0 on aggregate. Timisoara is doing fine in the championship, being among the teams with real chances to win the title. Timisoara, after 5 matches in the championship, has 9 points, obtaining 2 victories, and 3 draws so far. They started the championship with 2 draws, 2-2 against Gloria Bistrita, and 2-2 against Gaz Metan Medias; after that, they have defeated CFR Cluj, 3-2, at home, made a draw at universitatea Craiova, 1-1 and finally, defeated Victoria Branesti, 2-1 at home. Timisoara has the great quality of striking deadly in the last minuts of the games. Therefore, they have scored twice in the last 15 minutes of hhe game with Gaz Metan Medias. Also, Timisoara scored their goal at Universitatea Criaova in the injury times. Finally, The victory with Victoria Branesti came also late, in the 81st minute. The best example could be their Uefa Europa League match against MyPa, when Timisoara came back from 0-3 at halftime, and made it 3-3, the 3rd goal coming in the 92nd minute.

After qualifying in Europa League, Steaua has made 7 transfers, who will be presented on Monday. All 7 players are coming from Unirea Urziceni, and most of them are very valuable ones : George Galamaz, Ricardo Gomes, Lucian Marinesc, Marius Onofras, Raul Rusescu, Marius Bilasco and iulian Apostol. Steaua becomes, this way the best squad from Liga I, and the player will who be involved onight are surely gonna give 100% to impress the coach and to try to remain in the first eleven.

In the last matches played in Bucuresti, Steaua and Timisoara have offered high scoring goals, always : 3-3 was the score from last season, 2-2 two season ago, , while the previous 3 scores were 1-1, 2-1 and 3-1 for Steaua. the situation si totally different in matches played at Tmisoara, where many games finisged will less than 2 goals.

In my opinion, Steaua is gonna score at least 2 goals tonight, since they play at home, and has their forwards in great form, Romoe Surdu and Bogdan Stancu. But, Altough Steaua has only allowed 1 goal in the last 3 macthes, the defensive problems are real, Cipiran Tatarusanu, the goalkeeper, saving a lot of balls and keeping a clean sheet. Timisoara has scored in the last 5 games played in Bucuresti, so  if they score tonight, it wouldn;t surprise anyone.

Over 2.25 looks very good in my opinion, and Im am going to play it. Good Luck !

Werder Bremen - FC Koln
over 3

Bundesliga started last weekend, with a lot of nice matches, Werder Bremen and FC Koln offering two of the most interesting ones; Werder lost at Hffenheim, altough they have leaded from the 2nd minute; the final score was 4-1 for the home team. FC Koln also had 1-0, but finished by losing with 3-1, at home, against Kaiseslautern. Bundesliga is probably the most spectacular championship from the top European ones, lots of goals being scored here, in most of the matches.

Werder Bremen finished 3rd last season, in Bundesliga, behind FC Bayern Munchen and Schalke 04, and had to play the Uefa Champions League play-off against Sampdoria, from Italy, the 4th team from there, last season. In the first match, in Germany, Werder played a fabulous match, and won with 3-1, all goals being scored in the second half. Werder had 3-0, until the injury times of the second half, when Sampdoria scored a goal that was very important. One week later, last Tuesday, in Italy, Sampdoria started very offensively, and after 10 minutes, the score was 2-0 for them, a score that eliminated Werder Bremen at that moment. Later in the second half, Antonio Cassano made it 3-0 for the italians, but, one minute before the final whistle, Werder Bremen has scored a goal that has sent the match in extra-time. Werder proved to be the better team in the last 30 minutes, and scored a vital goal, Claudio Pizzaro bringing the qualification for the Germans, with a great striker goal.
So, even if they have 0 points in Bundesliga, and barely qualified in the Groups of Uefa Champions League, where they will meet strong teams : Inter Milano, Tottenham Hotspurs and Twente, Werder Bremen has a great morale, due to their amazing performance from the extra-times of the match against Sampdoria. But, as we have seen in their last two games, Werder Bremen has very big defensive problems, as they are missing their central defender, Naldo. Happily for them , the attack works very well, and that brings them chances to triumph in Bundesliga and have a good performance in the Uefa Champions League.
Werder Bremen has quality midfielders, with a lot of imagination, that create briliant passes and actions for their forwards. Altough they have sold Mesut Ozil to Real Madrid, Werder Bremen still has players like Marco Marin, Tim Borowski or Torsten Frings, who can decide the match by themselves. If we add the forwards, Claudio Pizzaro, Hugo Almeida or Aron Hunt, Werder suddenly becomes a strong team, in attack.

FC Koln survived last season in Bundesliga and their objective is probably the same this season. Koln has transfered Alexandru Ionita, a promissing romanian striker, and managed to keep Lucas podolski in their squad. Koln is generally a young and fast team, but they have huge defensive problems, and that's why they are going to have a difficult season. In the first match, Koln had 1-0 from the 8th minute, altough they had to play with a man down for almost the whole match, one of their players being eliminated in the 2nd minute of the game. Once their defense allowed a goal, Koln didn;lt exist on the field and quickly allowed two other goals, losing 3-1 against the experienced team of Kaiserslautern.

Altough the last games between thetow clubs didn;t create many goals, overall, matches between FC Koln abnd Werder Bremen have been very nice ones, and with many goals. In the 78 matches played in between, there have been over 330 goals, the average being around 3.3 goals/match. In the recent history, especially at Werder Bremen, Koln had some horrible games, allowing many goals : 3-1 or 6-0 are two of the recent scores, when playing in Bremen.

I am pretty confident that Werder's good morale will help them score at least 2 or 3 times, while I also think that FC Koln may take advantage of thei great speed and score one of the counterstrike.