TFT Issue 94!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Siauliai vs FK Ventspils – away win at 5/4.
Today’s featured game is the Baltic League Semi-Final in Lithuania between Siauliai and Latvian giants FK Ventspils.
First of all, we seem to have a conflict of interests here. Siauliai have demonstrated little to no interest in their maiden voyage in the Baltic League, fielding weakened teams against an inferior Levadia Tallinn side last round and scraping a 1-0 aggregate win to progress to this round. Siauliai seem much more interested on a high A Lyga finish, which is understandable. The Lithuanian media have tipped Siauliai to be the black horse this season and their displays have backed up those theories, although one thing that everyone agrees on is that they don’t convert their chances anywhere near often enough, which is why they’ll most likely end up finishing behind the usual teams in the A Lyga – Ekranas Panevezys and Suduva Marijampole – although there’s definitely a vacancy now that Vetra Vilnius are no more. Either way, Siauliai not converting their chances and not displaying a great deal of interest in this competition is enough for me to go against them today.
Visitors FK Ventspils, on the other hand, have displayed their customary interest in this tournament by easing past Estonia’s finest Flora Tallinn 5-0 on aggregate. They were runners-up last year following defeat against Suduva Marijampole on penalties and were semi-finalists the year before when FBK Kaunas knocked them out. Ironically, both of those sides are Lithuanian so FK Ventspils may have additional motivation to beat today’s opponents. Unlike most of their Baltic counterparts, FK Ventspils have been immense in every tournament thus far this year. In fact, they’ve not only won nine out of ten games this season but they’ve conceded just once along the way, which is very dominating indeed. They’ve got a big and experienced squad at their disposal and plenty of promising players, especially in front of goal. Russian hot prospect Sukhanov has made a big impression this season since being drafted in from Rubin Kazan and Bolivian midfielder Mvondo has contributed to Ventspils’ success this season too, not to mention Uruguayan hitman Martinez. You wouldn’t think they’d be as prominent as they are this season considering that they sold two of their best players pre-season – midfielder Visnakovs to Cracovia and hot prospect Zjuzins to MSK Zilina – but they’ve coped immeasurably well and have even looked better for it.
I therefore have to consider odds of 5/4 on the away win favourable here. They’re the better side by a mile and with bags of experienced and squad depth at their disposal, I don’t see why FK Ventspils can’t break their Lithuania voodoo today.
Verdict: FK Ventspils to win at 5/4.