TFT Issue 267!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Al Sadd vs Barcelona – Barcelona to beat the -3 Asian Handicap at 4/5.
Today’s featured game is the FIFA World Club Cup game in Japan between Al Sadd and Barcelona.
We had some joy with this tournament yesterday and I’m hoping for more of the same today. I’m not sure I can write much more than you can assume for this game; Barcelona are simply streets ahead of Al Sadd. Al Sadd are in this round purely because ES Tunis were marginally worse than they were – there is no other reason. Their defending was shoddy and goalkeeper Saqr looks a crazy fucker with no concept of where he should be positioned. Al Sadd have three good players; two if we discount the ever-injured Leandro. Mame Niang up front is a terrific striker who should still be playing in Europe, in my view. I’m a big fan of this guy – I firmly believe he could have been as big as Drogba with the right exposure. However, he opted for money in the Far East and here we are. Keita in midfield has experience and skill too and those two are the foundation of any success that Al Sadd has. However, that’s literally all they have – they’re weak elsewhere.
Barcelona – well, we all know how good they are. If they’re motivated, there isn’t a side on the planet that they won’t beat and boy will they be motivated following a morale-boosting 1-3 win against Real Madrid in their own backyard! Barcelona should be in the mood today and they’ll have plenty of support here – big sides always do in Japan. Barcelona are streets ahead of Al Sadd in every area and I fully expect it to show by full-time.
I almost never go for such handicaps but Barcelona -3 is well worth it for me at 4/5 with possible scorelines of 5-0 or 4-1 in my head.
Verdict: Barcelona to beat the -3 Asian Handicap at 4/5.
Team news
UEFA Europa League:
Legia Warsaw – Vrdoljak, Komorowski, and Kuciak are absent. Rotation is expected.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv – Manager Kashtan is absent.
Atletico Madrid – Silvio and Costa are absent.
Udinese – Barreto, Torje, Domizzi, and Coda are absent. Abdi is a doubt. Di Natale and Basta won’t start but may feature.
Rubin’ Kazan – R.Eremenko, A.Eremenko, and Kislyak are absent.
Standard de Liege – Bolad, Tchite, Opare, Buzzaglo, Bia, Mpoku, Leye, and Nong are absent.
Club Brugge – Jorgacevic and Alemback are absent. Van Ghijseghem is a doubt.
PSV Eindhoven – Tamata, Hutchinson, Pieters, and Wuytens are absent. Bouma, Manolev, Strootman, and Mertens likely to be rested.
AZ Alkmaar – Marcellis, Martens, and Boymans are absent. Holman won’t start but may feature.
Sporting Braga – Imourou, Nuno Coelho, Ukra, Paulo Vinicius, Baiano, Palmeira, Ze Luis, Vinicius, and Meyong are absent. Carlao returns.
Celtic – Loovens, Commons, Ledley, Matthews, and El-Kaddouri are absent. Izaguirre is a doubt.