Romanian League
2011-04-14 - CFR Cluj vs Universitatea Cluj
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football: Romania: Liga 1
Venue: Stadion "Dr Constantin Radulescu", Cluj-Napoca
Thursday 14th April – Kickoff time: 20:30 GMT+2
CFR Cluj (9th W-8 D-9 L-8)
CFR is already thinking about the summer transfer campaign, realizing that the current squad is probably the weakest since they promoted to Liga 1 in 2004. Also, coach Alin Minteuan will probably be sacked, the only question is when will that happen.
This team only won once in the previous 7 games, a win against the bottom placed Sportul Studentesc. I really doubt whether they’ll win more than 2 or 3 games from the remaining 9.
Apart from the obvious problems regarding the way they play, which is awful, they’ll miss their right and left backs, so the coach will need to make some improvisations. Winger Nicoara will take left-back Edimar’s place, while suspended right-back Panin will be replaced by central-back Nuno Diogo.
CFR's home form:
07.04.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 24 CFR Cluj 0 - 1 Rapid
20.03.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 22 CFR Cluj 2 - 0 Sportul Studentesc
05.03.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 20 CFR Cluj 1 - 2 Poli Stiinta Timisoara
03.12.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 18 CFR Cluj 2 - 1 U Craiova
19.11.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 16 CFR Cluj 1 - 1 Gaz Metan Medias
Universitatea Cluj (12th W-8 D-7 L-10)
Referees denied Universitatea’s third win in a row, when at the score of 2-2, Voican scored a 94th minute goal but he was flagged offside without any reason. Anyway, the two wins and a draw put some distance between them and the danger zone so there is no pressure regarding that.
“U” Cluj is the team that conceded the most goals from the entire league, 46 in 25 games which is almost two goals per game. However, they have a decent number of goals scored which is 34, only 3 teams from the league scoring more goals this season.
Universitatea’s stadium is currently being rebuilt, so they played all home games in other cities. It’s interesting that this is the first game this season when they play in Cluj and yet is considered an away game. The previous stage they played a “home” game in Medias against the local team Gaz Metan, which is quite hilarious I would say.
Two players have been ruled out for this match, central midfielder Pacurar and Nigerian striker Tony.
Universitatea's away form:
05.04.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 24 Gloria Bistrita 2 - 4 U Cluj
19.03.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 22 Otelul Galati 3 - 0 U Cluj
07.03.2011 Liga 1 Etapa 20 FC Vaslui 2 - 0 U Cluj
06.12.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 18 Steaua 3 - 0 U Cluj
19.11.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 16 Rapid 3 - 0 U Cluj
The betting verdict
Even though the name CFR Cluj is more familiar to most of international punters due to their qualifications in the Champions League group stage, Universitatea is the club from Cluj that has the majority of supporters in Cluj-Napoca and also Transylvania.
The stadium capacity is 23 000 and there’ve only been awarded 1000 tickets to Universitatea’s fans, but they will be in a number from 5 to 10 000 thousand on the stadium, so the home advantage isn’t that relevant in this match.
I am going with the outsider again, because they are the team in a better form, while CFR is playing some very poor football lately. They haven’t scored in their previous two games and there’s no quality or ambition describing their game.
The Pick :
CFR Cluj 0-1 Universitatea Cluj
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Universitatea Cluj DNB at 2.75 Victor ChandlerConfidence: 5/10
