SC Vaslui v LOSC Lille
Football: Uefa Europa League: Play-offs
Venue: "Municipal" stadium, Vaslui, Romania
Thursday 19th August – Kickoff time: 20:00 GMT+2

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SC Vaslui

Founded in 2002, Vaslui is starting their 3rd European adventure against French side Lille. They failed to qualify for the group stage in 2008-2009, being eliminated in the first round by Slavia Prague after 1-1 on agg. Last season they managed to reach the play-offs and started the tie against AEK Athens promising with a 2-1 home win but failed to maintain their advantage and lost the qualification to the group stage in Athens.

Ex-Real Madrid coach, Lopez Caro is still searching for the best formula, using 23 players in 4 championship games so far. The desired results are not showing up, so the owner’s patience starts to run out with the new coach. Vaslui are only 10th with 5 points in 4 games, not exactly the amount of points – especially for a team that declared their intentions to win the title - should have.

Having a team in a European competition is a big event in Vaslui, which is situated in a rather poor area of Romania, so the 11000 seat stadium should be full. Despite their name are not known in Europe and they are not at 100% of their potential, Vaslui when playing at home cannot be considered outsider against a French side that finished the championship 4th. There will not be an obvious difference in quality between the two teams.

Newcomers Rivas (Betis Sevilla), Adailton (Bologna) and striker Pouga (Leixoes) who scored a decisive goal at his debut in Liga 1 are all expected to play against Lille.

LOSC Lille

As I mentioned before, they finished the season 4th, just 2 points behind runner-up, Lyon. This is their 7th European campaign having three participations in both Uefa Cup and Uefa Champions League so far.

Coach Rudi Garcia sounds optimist before the game saying that they are travelling to Vaslui to win the match and make their job easier for the second leg. Lille are not playing great in the championship, having two points in as many games played against Rennes and PSG.

New France defender Adil Rami will miss Lille's trip to FC Vaslui because of injury and he could be joined on the sidelines by midfielder Yohan Cabaye. Despite these missed, captain Rio Mavuba says that last year’s experience will be a decisive factor in this tie.

In 2009-2010 season of Europa League, grouped with Valencia, Genoa and Slavia Prague, the French side managed to qualify for the round of 32, where they eliminated Fenerbahce. Round of 16 proved to be the last one for them, a 3-0 defeat at Anfield against Liverpool sealed their fate despite winning the first leg 1-0.

The Betting Verdict :

Lille can be characterized as an organized team that hardly concedes any goals, with players like Eden Hazard or Gervinho that can make the difference in front at any time.

I think Lopez Caro has the necessary skills and ways to neutralize these threats and take advantage of the home ground and the fact that their opponents don’t know much about them. Lille can be surprised but either team will be able to make a decisive difference.

The team that will accede to the group stage will be only determined in France, next week. I think that the most probable outcome of this match is the draw, both teams should be satisfied with it.

The Pick :

SC Vaslui 1-1 LOSC Lille

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Try Draw match at 3.48 at Pinnacle