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Norwegian champions Stromsgodset will take on the odds-o favorites Steaua Bucharest in the 1st leg of the Champions League second qualifying round.
Stromsgodset won a tight race with Rosenborg last season for their first Tippeligaen title in 43 years, and the hosts are doing pretty well this season also. The Norwegian league is in full swing and Stromsgodset is currently 2nd in the standings after 15 rounds, trailing leaders Molde by 6 points, but it has to be said that Molde has a fantastic team this season. Stromsgodset has been the best home team in the league in Tippeligaen for a long time now, they are an amazing team at their own stadium and have one of the best overall home records in Europe – a reason for this is that they play their home matches on an artificial pitch.
Two years ago Stromsgoset had 12 wins, 3 draws and no losses, last year the statline was 13-2-0 and this year it is 7-1-0. Even in 2011 when they finished 8th they had a 11-3-1 record at home, and that is when their last official loss on home court was in Norway. Stromsgodset has lost just one competitive match in the last 28 months: a surprise defeat to Jablonec in Europa League one year ago.
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Steaua Bucharest was by far the best team in Romania in the last two seasons, and it can be said that Romanian football is a little bit better than the current level in Norway. However, this season Steaua does not have the same strength. Manager Reghencampf and his staff, the main reasons for Steaua’s success, have left the club. The owner and the general manager are in jail. Additionally, Steaua lost most of its starters in the last year and this summer 3 other key players left the club: the first two captains, Pintilii and Tatarusanu, plus main striker Piovaccari and 2 other role players. Steaua will approach this season with just 1 new signing, medium level keeper Arlauskis and with an unproved coach in Costel Galca who never managed a professional football club so far, his experience consists in training Almeria B and The Romanian Under 17 national team. Steaua was disappointing in its first showing this season, losing the Supercup to Astra at penalties after a 1-1 draw in 120 minutes. Steaua will miss key center-back Florin Gardos for this match.
Lineups
Stromsgodset: Kwarasey – Hamoud, Hoibraten, Saetra, Storbaeck – Fossum, Abu, Francisco Junior – Storflor, Kovacs, Kastrati.
Steaua Bucharest: Arlauskis – Râpă, Varela, Szukala, Latovlevici – Filip, Prepeliță – A. Popa, N. Stanciu, Tănase – Chipciu
Despite their current struggles, Steaua is still a better team than Stromsgodset, but only by a small margin. I really doubt that the Romanian squad can come up with a win in Norway on such a tough ground and on an artificial pitch. Steaua has lost a couple of key players, has a manager which nobody really thinks can do a good job (me included) and did not play great in the first official match (admittedly it was a decent performance). The atmosphere in the squad is not good with some financial questionmarks at the moment, but on the other hand Champions League is Steaua’s main objective this season so they will be motivated and focused for this one. Nevertheless, there are just too many problems for Steaua to be considered a favorite in such a difficult away game, especially since the Bucharest side does not play well on the road in Europe. Stromsgodset is in good form with 2 wins in the last 2 games and is set to make use of their excellent undefeated record at home to get a promising result ahead of the second leg. My tip is Stromsgodset Draw No bet and I expect Stromsgodset to win, but the draw insurance makes this a safer bet at excellent odds by Bwin. Prediction: Stromsgodset – Steaua Bucharest 2-1.
Pick: Stromsgodset Draw No Bet
Odds: 2.10 @ Bwin
Stake: 9
Possible profit: 9.9
Event date: 16 July
Bwin has odds of 2.10.
Indeed. Thanks Viva.
The Quality of football between Romania and Norway is huge. I personally believe that Steaua will win both legs.
I think “huge” is a big overstatement. Maybe it`s a tad bigger than “a little better”, but by no means is it huge.
I don’t like this pick Rostick.
The fact that Steaua has played 20 double-legged matches in the qualifiers for CL or EL in the last 10 years, and only lost once, is reason #1.
Second reason is that the brilliant coach of Stormgodset left for Celtic.
Galca is no genius, but at least vs Astra they looked pretty decent.
And I think Astra is way better than Stormgodset.
The artificial pitch will not be too much of a problem.
Sanmartean is back.
He is the closest thing we have to Andrea Pirlo.
I know it’s exagerated but he is good. He keeps the ball, obtains fouls, gives good passes and overall when Sanmartean is on the field, Steaua plays better.
I think a good tip is Steaua DNB.
Good Luck!
– Your stat is welcome and accurate.
– I should have written about the fact that Stromsgodset lost its coach as well – you are right. Wrote about it in yesterday`s preview with Celtic, but totally forgot to write now. I did know about this and took it into consideration when I made my pick.
– I think Sanmartean is one of the most overrated players in Romanian football in the last 2 decades. He`s got like what, 25 goals in 300 matches as a playmaker in his career, probably half of them via penalties? I don`t remember him ever coming close to an assist title neither but I clearly remember full seasons recently in which he had like 1-2 goals and 4-5 assist in 30+ matches, playing for top teams. He is a talented player and Romanians like these kind of players, that`s it, he`s inefficient and not a very good football player per say. Steaua has much better players up front (Chipciu, Keseru). I hope he does not score today and make me look like a fool, because what I wrote about him is accurate :).
– I remember Steaua struggling big time on the road vs. Tbilisi last year, could have lost that, and they had a much better team. We`ll see how it goes. I can`t see Steaua winning.
superb goal scored by iancu , and the assist from sanmartean was absolutly amayzing.
I appreciate you did not rub it in my face and came here to praise your team in a civilized manner.