Romanian League
2010-03-07 - Otelul Galati vs CFR Cluj
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football : Romania: Liga 1
“Otelul” stadium, Galati
Sunday 7th March 2010 – Kickoff: 15:00 GMT+2
Otelul Galati (9th) 8W 4D 7L 23-24
Founded in 1964 in an industrial city, Otelul never had great performances in Romanian first leagues, the best place they finished on was 4th. Is a team that it’s surviving by forming then selling players, like Janos Szekely, who was sold in 2008 to Steaua Bucharest for 1.5m euro.
An interesting thing about this team is that their sponsor is ArcellorMittal, the company of indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, who is investing in Galati, but never offered a substantial support to the football team.
Otelul is 11 points ahead of the relegation zone, so they should not be worried from this point of view, but they don’t have the strength to fight for a position that would ensure them a Europa League qualification. They did well in the first two stages since the championship restarted, winning both games with 1-0.
They are quite a solid team on home games, having a streak of 6 matches without losing so they should have a good morale before facing the leader. Their coach is Dorinel Munteanu, former Romanian international, and ex-coach of both CFR Cluj and Steaua Bucharest.
Otelul, over the last few years produced suprises against many important teams from the Romanian league, but lately, facing some financial difficulties they had to sell their key-players, so in these conditions they would be quite happy just to remain in the first league.
Last 5 Otelul Galati home games :
19.02.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 18 Otelul Galati 1-0 International de Arges
12.12.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 17 Otelul Galati 1-0 U Craiova
01.12.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 15 Otelul Galati 3-2 Astra Ploiesti
08.11.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 13 Otelul Galati 3-3 Poli Stiinta Timisoara
23.10.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 11 Otelul Galati 4-0 Poli Iasi
CFR Cluj (1st) 11W 5D 3L 25-11
Coming after a demanding derby match against Steaua Bucharest, that finished in a draw, despite the fact that everyone considered them favorites. They are ahead by three points, having 38 points, but four teams follow them, each with 35.
FC Timisoara just lost yesterday against Rapid, so they missed the chance to take the lead. Steaua Bucuresti and Urziceni, both with 35 points play a direct match on this stage, so this would be a great opportunity for CFR Cluj to put some distance between them and the followers.
The match against Steaua started extremely bad for them, the visitors took the advantage in the beginning of the game, and then had the two great opportunities to score the second goal which would have made the job of CFR Cluj almost impossible. However CFR managed to score before the end of the first half and they seemed to be back on track for an important win.
In the second half, Steaua thought that it would be best to try to defend the draw, and they did that successfully. CFR had the initiative but they failed in concretizing any of their opportunities to score, so it ended 1-1.
In their last travel to Urziceni, CFR secured an extremely important win (1-0), their fourth victory from the last 6 away games. Having the best defence from the league, they only conceded 0.75 goals/away games and were involved in only two games that ended over 2.5, from 9 encounters.
Suspended last stage, Gabi Muresan and Ciprian Deac (both Romanian internationals) will probably start the game in the first 11.
Last 5 CFR Cluj away games :
22.02.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 18 Unirea Urziceni 0-1 CFR Cluj
07.12.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 16 International de Arges 0-1 CFR Cluj
23.11.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 14 FC Vaslui 2-0 CFR Cluj
01.11.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 12 Apulum Alba Iulia 1-1 CFR Cluj
17.10.2009 Liga 1 Etapa 10 Rapid 1-4 CFR Cluj
Head to head : Otelul Galati v CFR Cluj
05.10.2008 Liga 1 Etapa 10 Otelul Galati 1-1 CFR Cluj
01.08.2007 Liga I Etapa 1 Otelul Galati 0-1 CFR Cluj
30.07.2006 Liga I Etapa 1 Otelul Galati 1-3 CFR Cluj
24.09.2005 Liga 1 Etapa 7 Otelul Galati 0-1 CFR Cluj
18.05.2005 Liga 1 Etapa 27 Otelul Galati 1-2 CFR Cluj
The Betting Verdict :
At this point CFR looks the team that is more motivated to get the 3 points, and they have a psychological advantage over Otelul, winning four of their last five games in Galati.
The explanation for the high price of 2 for a CFR win would be Otelul’s last two games, being one of the few teams, beside Dinamo and Astra Ploiest that has won 6 points from these two stages.
The Pick :
Otelul Galati 0-1 CFR Cluj
BEST BETTING TIP :
Picks :Take Under 2.5 goals bet
Or CFR Cluj to win
