UEFA - InterToto Cup - Sunday

[Bagzi]

Sivaspor vs Grbalj Sivasspor impressed everyone during the last season. They spent bigger part of it at the leading position in Turkish championship, but at the end they had to be happy with 4th place and the best record in the club history. First leg ended with 2:2 draw, which makes Sivasspor as big favorite in front of the second encounter between the teams. It is hard to imagine that Grbalj can win at Eylul. Turkish side brought mixed squad to the Montenegro, but now coach Bulent Uygun already announced that he will play with his strongest lineup in the second leg. The biggest threat for Grbalj’s defense will come from Yildiz, excellent forward who scored a brace in first leg, while after long injury break, Sivasspor will be able to count on Isreal international Ballili. Grbalj fought brave against stronger opponent, but missed couple of chances even to win the match. With a first leg win, their chances in the reverse game would be much bigger, but nevertheless before the second leg they are complete underdogs. They won in the first round against Bosnian Celik, but this task is much bigger. Small encouragement for them is recovery of their best player, Franciskovic, who will have to play with his nose broken. Even it is summer holidays season, there is no doubt that they will have great support from the stands. Home win.:hope :cheers

[Bagzi]

Re: UEFA - InterToto Cup - Sunday Panionios vs OFK Beograd Serbian team lost 6 key players in the midseason and it is obvious why they did not have high expectations from the European campaign. Panionios is 5th club in Greece by every criterion. They are regular participants in Europe and even fought for the Champions League in play-off this year, but ended with short hands. Now, they want to reach UEFA Cup stage and we should expect them to give their best to achieve that. Team will have some changes, they will certainly opt for more aggressive and attacking approach, using set-pieces to generate some chances from headers. The first leg showed that OFK Beograd has potential, but at Athens they will be under much more pressure. Coach Ivanovic does not want to make that pressure even bigger with high expectations. He is aware of the strengths of Panionios and especially afraid of hard tackling game that his players are not very used to. Set-pieces could also make problems to his side. Panionios will probably be aggressive from the start, but they will also have to be cautious not to concede some early goal as in that case they will have big problems to make a comeback. On the other hand, OFK will have to keep the starting result for as long as they can. Under 2.5 goals.:hope Tavria vs FC Tiraspol The first leg showed that Tavryja is much better team, and only goalkeeper Juric saved the home team from the disaster. Even before then first leg it was well known that there is big gap in quality between two sides. Team from Simferopol was a big favorite, especially because they want to make big result in Europe in their 50th anniversary. They played in Europe for the last time in 2001. Club from the Krim was the first champion of independent Ukraine and still is the only team beside Dinamo and Shaktar that ever won the title. In the preseason, Tavryja played some great football and even won in matches against teams like Krila Sovietov or Salzburg. Tiraspol are regular in Intertoto Cup, but since their Municipal is not good enough for UEFA matches, they are playing home games at Sheriff Stadium. They reached the third round couple of times, but then easily lost against bigger sides. Lokomotiva stadium will probably have good attendance as Tavryia usually have solid support at home and everything except an easy home win would be a major surprise. Home win.:hope :cheers

[HomerJ.Simpson]

Re: UEFA - InterToto Cup - Sunday FC Etzella Ettelbruck-Saturn 7-0 win for Saturn in first game already decided who will go to next round and play against VBF Stuttgart. What can small team from Luxemburg who never won their own championship do in Europe?In period 2000-2007 this team played 4 times in 1st qualif. round of UEFA Cup.They played 8 games,lost all 8 with 3 scored and 20 conceded goals.It was big surprise to see FC Etzella go into 2nd round of Intertoto Cup after two draws (0-0 H and 2-2 A) against Lokomotiv Tbilisi. After 12 rounds in Russian Premier League Saturn Moscow is on 11th place.Solid squad with a lot expirienced players who are motivated to go as far as the can in European competitions. I don't expect 7-0 win again but Saturn @ 1.4 at betfair (-5% commision it's 1.38) is huge banker.Will go with Saturn -1.5 @ 1.75 with 5Dimes.

[Bagzi]

Re: UEFA - InterToto Cup - Sunday

Sivaspor vs Grbalj Sivasspor impressed everyone during the last season. They spent bigger part of it at the leading position in Turkish championship, but at the end they had to be happy with 4th place and the best record in the club history. First leg ended with 2:2 draw, which makes Sivasspor as big favorite in front of the second encounter between the teams. It is hard to imagine that Grbalj can win at Eylul. Turkish side brought mixed squad to the Montenegro, but now coach Bulent Uygun already announced that he will play with his strongest lineup in the second leg. The biggest threat for Grbalj’s defense will come from Yildiz, excellent forward who scored a brace in first leg, while after long injury break, Sivasspor will be able to count on Isreal international Ballili. Grbalj fought brave against stronger opponent, but missed couple of chances even to win the match. With a first leg win, their chances in the reverse game would be much bigger, but nevertheless before the second leg they are complete underdogs. They won in the first round against Bosnian Celik, but this task is much bigger. Small encouragement for them is recovery of their best player, Franciskovic, who will have to play with his nose broken. Even it is summer holidays season, there is no doubt that they will have great support from the stands. Home win.:hope :cheers

1-0:clap

[Bagzi]

Re: UEFA - InterToto Cup - Sunday

Panionios vs OFK Beograd Serbian team lost 6 key players in the midseason and it is obvious why they did not have high expectations from the European campaign. Panionios is 5th club in Greece by every criterion. They are regular participants in Europe and even fought for the Champions League in play-off this year, but ended with short hands. Now, they want to reach UEFA Cup stage and we should expect them to give their best to achieve that. Team will have some changes, they will certainly opt for more aggressive and attacking approach, using set-pieces to generate some chances from headers. The first leg showed that OFK Beograd has potential, but at Athens they will be under much more pressure. Coach Ivanovic does not want to make that pressure even bigger with high expectations. He is aware of the strengths of Panionios and especially afraid of hard tackling game that his players are not very used to. Set-pieces could also make problems to his side. Panionios will probably be aggressive from the start, but they will also have to be cautious not to concede some early goal as in that case they will have big problems to make a comeback. On the other hand, OFK will have to keep the starting result for as long as they can. Under 2.5 goals.:hope Panionios 3 - 1 OFK Beograd Tavria vs FC Tiraspol The first leg showed that Tavryja is much better team, and only goalkeeper Juric saved the home team from the disaster. Even before then first leg it was well known that there is big gap in quality between two sides. Team from Simferopol was a big favorite, especially because they want to make big result in Europe in their 50th anniversary. They played in Europe for the last time in 2001. Club from the Krim was the first champion of independent Ukraine and still is the only team beside Dinamo and Shaktar that ever won the title. In the preseason, Tavryja played some great football and even won in matches against teams like Krila Sovietov or Salzburg. Tiraspol are regular in Intertoto Cup, but since their Municipal is not good enough for UEFA matches, they are playing home games at Sheriff Stadium. They reached the third round couple of times, but then easily lost against bigger sides. Lokomotiva stadium will probably have good attendance as Tavryia usually have solid support at home and everything except an easy home win would be a major surprise. Home win.:hope :cheers

Panionios 3 - 1 OFK Beograd :\ Tavria 3 - 1 FC Tiraspol :clap