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Second league team Foresta Suceava will look to produce a massive upset when they take on Liga 1 leaders Steaua in the Romanian Cup Round of last 32.
Since hiring Cristi Popovici as manager after a couple of rounds in the season, Foresta Suceava has been in brilliant form. The hosts have 11 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in the last 13 matches in all competitions, stands on the 2nd place in the standings and has a very good shot at promoting to Liga 1. As such, Foresta will be confident coming into this match with Steaua.
The visitors were dubbed to win the Liga 1 title by miles this year, but so far this season has been nothing else than a reality check for them. Steaua is playing very poor football, barely holding to a 3 point advantage at the top of the league. If not for favorable refereeing decision and the very low level of the competition, they would definitely not be first. Steaua won a single game from the last 5 in all competitions and that was via a late, invented penalty. They failed to win any of their last 3 and are on the back of a 1-1 draw against a virtually relegated Targu Mures team on the brink of extinction – with Steaua equalizing in the 90th minute.
Bet on Foresta vs. Steaua and claim your 100% (100 Euro) freebet at Ohmbet now!Team news & lineups:
Foresta might miss captain Balan, while Steaua has a lot of key players injured (Pintilii, Tanase, Filip, Achim, Jakolis). Also, coach Reghecampf will use some rotation for this match, it remains to be seen to what extent.
Foresta: Hantascu – Balan, Mutu, Lung, Semeghin – Cerlinca, Dumitriu, Danila, Cainari – Bujor, Rusu
Steaua: Stancioiu – Enache, Mitrea, Tosca, D. Popescu – O. Popescu, Moke – Man, Boldrin, De Amorim – Tudorie
Steaua has never put much focus on the Cup recently, especially when current manager Reghecampf was in charge. Steaua won the competition just once in the last 5 seasons, which were seasons in which the team was head and shoulders above everybody else in Romania. They never played well in the earlier rounds. Last year they barely beat two second league teams, winning 1-0 against Cluj and winning via penalties against Baia Mare.
Steaua is playing horribly right now and they have just struggled big time in the league against a Targu Mures team that might not be better than Foresta – barely getting a late draw, playing their best players and having full focus. In these circumstances, it`s hard to see Steaua winning big in a match that they don`t really care about, against a red hot, motivated team – and with the match being played in the other corner of the country.
For the hosts, this is the biggest match in their recent history. They basically rebuilt the stadium for this match alone, borrowing mobile floodlights and installing temporary stands to increase the capacity. All tickets were sold in 3 hours, so that tells you all about their motivation ahead of this clash.
Foresta will definitely be more fired up than Steaua for this match, they are in very good form and the weather is expected to be bad, so the pitch will probably be in very poor condition – that will be an advantage for Foresta.
Considering all the above, I think Steaua will claim a hard fought, one goal win here, but I wouldn`t be shocked if they need overtime to do it. My tip is Foresta to cover the 1,5 handicap. The under also makes sense, but Foresta scored a lot of goals this season (and Steaua looks vulnerable), so i`m sticking with the handicap. Prediction: Foresta Suceava – Steaua Bucharest 0-1.
Pick: Foresta +1,5
Odds: 1.84 @ 1xBet
Stake: 7
Possible profit: 5.88
Event date: 27 October
