Romanian League
2010-05-10 - FC Vaslui vs Steaua Bucuresti
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football : Romania : Liga 1
“Municipal” stadium, Vaslui
Monday 10 May, 2010 Kickoff time: 20:00 GMT+2
FC Vaslui (4th) W-16 D-8 L-7 40:26
Vaslui played in Cluj last week against CFR which was considered to be their last chance for winning the championship. They couldn’t end CFR’s undefeatable record from the last two seasons and with the goalless draw thay have not only lost their chances to the title but also lost 3 very important players for the Steaua fixture.
Carlos Costly (forward) and Lucian Sanmartean (midfielder) were forced to leave the pitch due to injuries while their top-scorer Wesley Lopes received a yellow card which makes him unavailable for this match. We can add to this the long time absences of two other forwards, Gerlem and Temwanjera which puts coach Marius Lacatus in a difficult position, not having any valid forwards for this important game.
In these conditions the main objective for Vaslui remains the Romanian Cup final against CFR Cluj. It would be their first trophy from their short history and it would also mean a qualification to the Europa League.
Vaslui last 5 home results :
01.05.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 30 FC Vaslui 1-0 Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt
19.04.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 28 FC Vaslui 0-1 U Craiova
10.04.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 27 FC Vaslui 1-1 Unirea Urziceni
03.04.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 25 FC Vaslui 3-0 Apulum Alba Iulia
22.03.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 23 FC Vaslui 1-0 Rapid Bucuresti
Steaua Bucuresti (5th) W-16 D-8 L-7 44:34
Steaua is right behind Vaslui on the table with the same amount of points and their chances for winning the title are about the same, close to 0. Even the second place looks untouchable at the moment considering that top 3 paced teams have an easy schedule in the remaining 3 stages.
It is not a susprise however that Steaua won’t finish on the podium, teams from the capital are really losing ground in the last couple of years, once dominating the league, now they can’t keep up with the clubs that made consistent investments over the last few years.
Steaua has a decent away record of 7-4-4 with a positive goal difference of 2. They lost their last two games on the road, after a humiliating 5-1 defeat against Rapid and maybe an even more humiliating 2-1 loss against bottom placed Unirea Alba-Iulia.
Beside long time injured player Janos Szekely, Steaua doesn’t have any important absences for this game but I repeat that with a squad like this they cannot hope to finish on podium at the end of the season. Even if they finished lower than they will this season, the current squad is considered to be one of the weakest in Steaua’s history.
Steaua Bucuresti last 5 away results :
01.05.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 30 Apulum Alba Iulia 2-1 Steaua Bucuresti
18.04.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 28 Rapid Bucuresti 5-1 Steaua Bucuresti
07.04.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 26 Gloria Bistrita 1-2 Steaua Bucuresti
26.03.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 24 Pandurii Tg. Jiu 0-0 Steaua Bucuresti
17.03.2010 Liga 1 Etapa 22 Dinamo Bucuresti 2-0 Steaua Bucuresti
The Betting Verdict :
In normal conditions (with Vaslui having a fit squad) I would’ve take them without thinking twice, but the misses of their best 4 forwards is just too much.
This season breaking Steaua’s defence proved to be an easy job most of the time but I really can’t see Vaslui score more than once.
The Pick :
Vaslui 1-1 Steaua Bucuresti
