Romania vs. Ukraine and Pick to Win
Date: Sunday, May 29th
Where: International Friendly
by Keith, Professional Soccer/Football Handicapper, Predictem
Match Odds: Romania 5/2, Ukraine 137/100, Draw 12/5
Moneyline: Romania +250, Ukraine +137, Draw +240
Over/Under Best Market: Under 1.5 – 169/100 (+169)
As the Euro 2016 nears, many of the worlds international football teams will be involved in some International Friendlies to ready themselves for the biggest tournament in the global football world this year. Tournament qualifiers Romania and Ukraine will meet in an International Friendly as they ramp up their efforts for the Group Stage of the Euro 2016 tournament.
Both Ukraine and Romania have qualified for the Euro 2016 Tournament. Romania has landed themselves in the rugged Group A, consisting of host France, Albania and Switzerland. Romania found themselves in the tournament final round after they grabbed 20 points in the qualification stage finishing behind group leader Northern Ireland who won their Group F campaign with just 21 points. Romania went 5-5 in their Group Stage, finishing with a goal difference of +9 and also earning the second-ranked distinction in scoring. Ukraine finished 19 points in their qualification campaign, as they went 6-1-3 in Group C, finishing third and being forced to play-in for a berth in to the final round. Ukraines goal differential was +10. In Group C of the Euro 2016, Ukraine has their hands full against a cast of opponents that include Poland, Northern Ireland and defending 2014 World Champion Germany.
Both teams will approach this fixture as an opportunity to gain some momentum as they enter the preliminary contests in the group stage and we anticipate that both Romania and Ukraine will treat this as contest of consequence. The two sides contrast in style. Romania features a stingy defense that allowed just 2 goals in their qualification stage. Ukraine on the other hand, enjoyed scoring more with 14 goals forced but they also gave up twice as many goals as their counterparts from Romania. The public may be keen on Ukraine because they had to claw and scratch their way in to this tournament and such narratives often offer a lot of appeal to many punters.
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Nevertheless, Romania has been in excellent form as of late, be that they have yet to lose a game in Euro 2016 qualification or in friendlies. These results were fostered against some talented teams, including Spain, Italy and Greece. As a result we have a great predilection for the Romanians because there is no propensity for Romania. If anything, the propensity lies with Ukraine who comes in with lower odds but may be the sexier pick because they seemingly score more. However, Ukraine on paper is certainly not a better team than Romania and their losses to Spain twice and their eye sore defeat of falling to Slovakia, hinders expectation of victory when they are fixed against a quality opponent. Ukraines opponents in many qualification matches consisted of Macedonia, Georgia, Belarus and Moldova, teams that will not frighten many, if at all. In addition to fostering results against the aforementioned European powers and up and comers, the Romanians also squared off regularly with two more tournament qualifiers in Hungary and Northern Ireland and once again they left these fixtures unscathed. Given the fact we can take a back a team with an excellent performance portfolio and friendly odds, we will dive right in and take Romania outright.
Stalemates are Romanias cup of tea because this is a team that simply does not score many goals nor do they concede many also. Similar sentiments can be expressed for the Ukrainians. With this being said, scoring will likely be capped in this fixture as the Romanians are masters of compiling clean sheets. For Ukraine, we have seen them have great difficulty scoring as they could only find the back of the net once against Cyprus. With this being said, expect scoring to be capped in this one and we will go ahead and take the under in a minute market because the value of the odds against the play dictate as such.
Romania Recent Form
D Democratic Republic of Congo 1-1 (Friendly)
D – Spain 0-0 (Friendly)
W Lithuania 1-0 (Friendly)
D Italy 2-2 (Friendly)
W Faroe Islands 3-0 (Euro Qualification)
Ukraine Recent Form
W Wales 1-0 (Friendly)
W Cyprus 1-0 (Friendly)
D Slovenia 1-1 (Euro Qualification Aggregate Play-In)
W Slovenia 2-0 (Euro Qualification Aggregate Play-In)
L Spain 0-1 (Euro Qualification)
Keith’s Prediction for the Game: Romania +250 (5/2)