TFT Issue 405!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Poland vs Latvia – under 2.5 goals at 9/10.
Today’s featured game is the International Friendly in Klagenfurt, Austria. Poland should be taking this game more seriously than opponents Latvia as Poland are warming up for the European Championships and as with all friendly games, please approach this one with caution.
Poland have advanced quite well under Smuda, in my view. They’ve looked reasonably solid and dependable and the squad that they’ve taken to Austria is good enough to win this game today, to be blunt. I can’t say that I’m blown away by odds of around 8/11 on Poland to win this game but they should really edge it.
Poland are likely to be missing some big players here, though, with a number of them having only jetted in yesterday. The likes of Lewandowski, Blaszczykowski, Piszczek, Obraniak, Perquis, Dudka, Rybus, Glik, and Szczesny are all likely to miss this one, most of which are regulars. This leaves Poland with a presentable squad but not a great squad. Brozek’s pace up front has the potential to unnerve a rather slow Latvian defence but you can’t say that you’d choose him ahead of in-form Lewandowski, can you? Poland lose a lot of pace without those potential absentees to utilise and that makes it harder for them to upset Latvia as they don’t have an awful lot of creativity to deal with solid sides. Poland should have enough to edge the game overall but I’d rather wait to see the line-up before deciding whether to back them in-play or not. Some of their heavy hitters may make a late appearance from the bench in the second-half but let’s wait and see.
Latvia have taken a pretty strong squad to Austria for this game but it has to be said that their best days are behind them. The likes of Kolinko, Verpakovskis, and Pahars are not in the frame right now and Latvia are looking to usher in a new era. Up front, Rudnevs and Gauracs threaten often but rarely deliver despite the talent that both players actually have. Rudnevs in particular is an admirable striker and maybe he’ll be motivated to do the business against Poland, especially with him having made his name in Poland with Lech Poznan. That said, he’ll be a Hamburger SV player in Summer so we’ll see whether he fances it or not. The absence of Laizans in midfield concerns me as he keeps the composure amongst some fairly inexperienced players but as I don’t expect Poland to field their full-strength side, I’m not too concerned here. Their defence is solid enough with Gorkss, Ivanovs, and Klava, which is very pleasing as Latvia have taken vastly inexperienced goalkeepers to Austria for this game and they’ll need all the help that they can get from their defenders. This Latvia side is decent, though, without them being special. I think they’re good enough to make it hard for Poland today, in a nutshell.
Therefore, I’m opting for under 2.5 goals today. Again, approach it with caution as it’s a friendly but given that Poland shouldn’t be fielding their main players and that Latvia are capable of frustrating sides, I think playing under 2.5 goals is appealing at 9/10.
Verdict: Under 2.5 goals at 9/10.
Team news
Estonian Meistriliiga:
Tallinna Kalev – No absentees.
Sillamae Kalev – Tamberg is absent.
Flora Paide – Koll is absent.
Trans Narva – No absentees.
Levadia Tallinn – No absentees.
Tammeka – Saks is absent.
Kuressaare – No news.
Flora Tallinn – No news.
Viljandi – Mutt is absent.
Nomme Kalju – No absentees.