Men's Volleyball European C'ship Qualifiers, May 16-18

[boreas04]

Montenegro vs Romania @ 18:00 CET, May the 16th Friday Men's EC Qualifiers 2nd round Pool E game. I simply cannot agree with the odds given here, as Romania seems to be severely underestimated by the books, especially when Montenegro have some important missings in this tournament. Montenegro are without the services of Bojic, Cacic and Babic, while B.Cuk just shook off and injury and isn't at his full strength yet. The team from the Balkans lost both preparation games vs Austria (0-3 and 2-3) and didn't give out good signals prior to this tournament. Meanwhile, Romania didn't show up with their best selection either, however their missings aren't as important and it's a fact that majority of players that will suit up today had solid season in both their domestic league and Euro Cups. Romania beat Sweden, Hungary and Israel in the preparation tournament held in Hungary and looked in good shape, on the eve of Pool E clashes this week. I believe Romania will cause many problems to weakened Montenegro today and a win by the visitors is definitely not out of the equation here. I see fair odds more like 1.60 - 2.40 for this match, so there is pretty good value on Romanians.

[boreas04]

Re: Men's Volleyball European C'ship Qualifiers, May 16-18 Portugal vs Moldova @ 17:00 CET, May the 17th Saturday Men's EC Qualifiers 2nd day. Portugal disposed of Austria yesterday 3-0, while Moldova put up a spirited fight vs a Finnish team of pretty high standards, however coming up short in the end to lose 2-3. It is pretty visible that Moldova is on a good form, having beaten Israel last weekend 3-0 and keeping a close match vs Finland, thanks to extraordinary performance of Bahov. They have a nice clicking team, oriented on several Tomis players, who enjoyed a good season in their club. Portugal are the hosts in this group, however they have never given the image of a consistent team over the past few years and shouldn't really be overestimated. Moldova is the team to watch these days and they should be able to steal a set in Vila do Conde today. Odds represent pretty good value for +2.5 sets, on this occassion.

[boreas04]

Re: Men's Volleyball European C'ship Qualifiers, May 16-18 Estonia vs Slovakia (Men's EC Qualifiers) @ 16:00 CET, May the 29th Thursday Men's EC Qualifiers 2nd round to be played in Greece. Best receiver of Slovakia, Ogurcak, picked up an injury last week and will miss this mini tournament, which is a huge blow for Slovakians as they had reception problems vs Greece without him, losing 0-3 in the end. His replacement, Vlk, isn't a player of equal calibre and will face problems if thrown on court today. Although Estonia lost the first matchup between these teams, being on Slovakian territory, they are an experienced and skilled side that should have learnt from their mistakes. Estonia have full selection available for today and I don't see any reason why they shouldn't win this match on neutral ground, especially banking on Ogurcak's absence for Slovakia. Medium-high stakes on Estonia +1.5 sets and smaller stakes on Estonia to win at these juicy odds, as I believe fair odds should be 1.95 on both sides. Estonia to win and +1.5 sets are my choices here.