Köln will try to start their campaing for securing promotion with a home win against St.Pauli.
It seems that the team, has worked well sofar, and Daum has seen his team getting in better shape and playing better, the closer they get to the game against St.Pauli.
In theri last "friendly" they won against Leverkusen at home 3-1. So they should have enough confidence to beat St.Pauli. Furthermore it seems that the club in general looks very focused on securing the promotion.
The key for Köln in this match, are their two attackers Novakovic and Helmes. I am sure that at least one of them could score more than 10 goals in the last 17 games. Besdies that, Köln dont have any important missings sofar. Even though Mckenna did not play aginst Leverkusen I would expect him to play against St.Pauli. Should this not be the case, Köln would get in trouble. Nickenig IMO dont have the quality to play 2BL, yet at least.

Mondragon – Ehret, Mohamad, Mckenna, ümit – Vucicevic, Antar, Mitreski, Scherz – Novakovic, Helmes

St.Pauli have not been able to buy any new player yet, the reason is that they had some economic trouble and therefor they are not allowed to pay any transfer for a new player. But they are trying to find a solution, so that they can improve their offence, that need some mor quality. Otherweise Stanislawski has been working on improving the offence. He might consider using two attackers, but he has yet to find the right players.
In genereal St.Pauli are a though team to play against, they have a nice organization, and are working hard. But it seems that they loose against the top teams in the league. Sofar loosing away to fürt(1-2), 1860(0-2) and Freiburg(0-2). At home they lost against Köln(0-2) and Gladbach(0-3), only Mainz(1-0) did not manage to get any points against St.Pauli. Boll, Eger, Meggle and Trojan did not play against Hannover. All are importnat players, but I expect only Trojan to be out of the game against Köln.

I think that the offence of Köln should be to much for St.Pauli at some point in the match. Though it would suprise me to see Köln winng 4-0. 2-0 or 3-0 could be the outcome of this match. Should Mckenna be out of the game, I think that St.Pauli could score once.
I might add a under 3 suggestion later on, but I have to see how things develop with Mckenna, and the players from St.Pauli, otherweise over could be an interesting bet aswell.

Centrebet's FREE official team shirt promo is back!

Denmark will try to bounce back after their loss against Norway yesterday. On the otherhand Montenegro got a somewhat suprising point against Russia.

Denmark played awfull yesterday, especially in offence they made a lot of mistakes, only a furious finish from Boessen gave Denmark the hopes of getting a point at the end. According to Wilbek the performance was one of the poorest performances from a danish team, at a championship for many years. And indeed it seemed so. The positiv things from the match, was that they showed a decent defensiv performance, and that they only lost with one goal margin, after beeing down with 6 with only 6 mins left.

Montenegro go IMO a somewhat "easy" point against Russia, the game was at a low level, were especially Russia played very uninspired and did not shown much variation in their offence.


My knowledge about Handball is at a limited level. Still I think Denmark are out for "revenge" today, they want to show everybody that they are a serious contender for winning the championship. Furthermore I thnik they key for this match, wether Denmark will cover the spread or not, is how well they can converd their fasr brakes, as I expect them to get a few today. Montenegro did not seem that fast in getting back in defence. and with players like Lars Rasmussen , and Mikkel Aagaard Denmark should have a nice chance of getting some "easy" goals.

Lars Christiansen and Lars Krogh Jeppesen will not play today, instead Lars Rasmussen and Lars Møller Madesen will play. I thnik that Lars Moeller Madsen should be a nice alternatve on when Denmark is attackting.

I expect Denmark to show a much better performance today, especially in offence I expect a much better play, than yesterday. As mentioned fastbraks, and maybe Lars Moeller Madesen could be the key for Denmark covering the spread, furthermore Montenegro might get tired at the end of the game, it seems that they only use 8 players during 60 mins, this should give them some trouble at the end of the game.

Even though there for sure is a diffenrence in class in this match. This bet might be a bit risky. The reason is that Getafe seems to waste a lot of nice scorings chances!

Getafe and their coach Laudrup seems to have managed thier bad run, into to positvi run. In fact Getafe has shown some nice football for most part of the season. But they were punished by their ineffctivness in front of goal, and their offensiv play aswell.
After a team meesting without Laudrup, the players wantd Laudrup to play more defensiv, because the players had a feeling that they always were able to get a point if they keep the score low. The resulst is a run of 5-1-1. Very impressiv.
Against tottenham they played with some reserves, but still got a somewhat lucky win away. Because of their nice run in the Spanish Liga, they now will play with their strongest possbile line-up.

Hapoel are in trouble in the league, were they are placed on a relegation spot. They have lost against Anderlecht(a0-2) and Tottenham(h0-2), so this game is their last chance to advance from this group. But somehow it seems that they have other worries, than if they can advance from this group.

-1,75 might be a bit too much. But should Getafe manage to create a lot of chances, I thnik they should be able to score at least two goals. The difference in class, Getafes way of play, the trouble at Hapoel, all should result in a comfortable homewin.

I think this might look like a solid bet. If Zenit wins they are through to the next round. A point might aswell be enough, but they would still have a theoretical chance of getting eliminated.

Zenit is the new russian champion. This fact should indicate what strong team they have, players like Tymoschuk anf Arshavin are top players. In generalt they play some nice football, that should result in some trouble at the back line of Nürnberg. So a clear homewin for me in this match.

Nürnberg right now has other worries, than getting a result in Russia. They have a very important game against Dusiburg next sunday, so this game will for sure, play a bigger part in theri mind than the one against Zenit. Meier has said he will not gamble with the health of any doubtfull players, wich means that a player like Wolf will not play. otherweise it seems that they will be able to play with their best players availabe right now.

I thnik there is a difference in class between those two team, even ethough Nürnberg has a stronger squad than the their current place in table shows. I think that the Russian champion in most cases should be a solid favorite against a mid table bundesliga side.

Stuttgarts meets at home Rangers. Only Rangers has anything to play in this match. But on the otherside, Stuttgart want to show a nice performance.

Stuttgart have been hit by injuries during this chl campain. Bastürk, Hitzelsberger, Da Silva, Delpierrie and so on, have all been out during some of the games. The could all of them be counted as regulars! Now it seems that the injury trouble are over. Eventhough Bastürk will be out. Gomes is very doubtfull, and will face a late fitness test, to see if he can play. His replacement should be Marica, who seem to have found a little upward trend. Scoring in the last two games, once for his NT(Romania) and for Stuttgart, against Frankfurt.
Suttgart have been playing very nice in the recent games, showing some of the play that made them german champions.

I watched Rangers some times this season. IMO they had the luck on their side in some games. At home against Stuttgart(2-1), they were somewhat lucky that Stuttgart stopped playing football after they went up 1-0. Before the goal, Stuttgart were dominating this game.
Against Lyon(3-0) they showed a very nice performance, showing a lot of spirit, compared with a strong defensiv performance ment they won this game. But Lyon played a very poor game, only after they were down 0-3, they started to create real chances.

If Gomes should be out of this game, this bet might by to risky. Because without two of their strongest offensiv players Gomes and Bastürk they might struggle in creating chances.
But a player like Hitzelsberger might be the key for Stuttgart to win this game. Since I expect Rangers to play as shown in the others games, wich mean very defensiv. Hitzelsbergers long shot could be a very effectiv way to break the strong defence of Rangers. Furthermore should Stuttgart manage to show some nice passing play, they might be able to create chanes in that way aswell.
Even though I rate Lyon as a far better team than Stuttgart, I thnik that Stuttgart has a style of play, that might be more effectiv against a team like Rangers. I think the difference in this game and their first encounter at Ibrox, will be the Determination of Stuttgart, they have a lot to prove in this game. Should they score the first goal of the game, we might se a more open game, since Rangers needs the points. Wich should suit Stuttgart even more. For me Hitzelsberger is going to be the key player in this game.

R. Schäfer - Beck, Fernando Meira, Delpierre, Magnin - Pardo - Hilbert, Hitzlsperger - Khedira - Gomez, Cacau

McGregor - Hutton, Weir, Cuellar, Papac - Hemdani - Beasley, Ferguson, Thomson, McCulloch - Darcheville

This might be a riscy bet. But only if Germany should try to avaoid beeing place in the first seedningsgroup. If you look at the draws right now. We could se a group with France, England, Italy and Germany, that would really be a hammer group! Of course I am talking about the Euro 08 groups.

My bet is based on that Germany will not focus on any possbile results, that could mean they only will be placed in group 2. If the Netherlands loose away against Belarus, then Germany will be placed in the first gruop if the defeat wales.
according to Löw they will play to win this game, but what should he tell anayway?

Podolski is expected to play left wing once again, wich proved very effectic against Cyprus as he was involved in three of four goals. In this mtach Germany will have Gomes and Klose up front, with Hitzelsberger in the midfield aswell, the german line-up looks very strong in offece, and if they will put 100% into this game Wales will be up for a hard task. Also looking at they injury trouble they fail to field a strong line-up. Klose said he thinks that Wales are weaker then Cyprus, but they might play from a very solid defence.

I expect Germany to show a "normal" performace, and in that case I thnik players like Podolski, Gomes, Klose and Hitzelsberger will prove to strong for the defence of Wales.

Important game for Croatia, maybe alos a bit for Macedonia?

Macedonia dont have any chance of qualifing, but maybe they want to show a nice performance against s strong team like Croatia. Macedonia have been playing 5 games at home, only games against Andorra and Israel went over2,5. Against Russia(0-2) and England(0-1) both games went under. So it seems that Macedonia can play from a nice defence. Their star player Pandev, is out of the game. Even though he has only scored twice in this qualifier, I thnik this might be a advantage for the under in this game.

Croatia has shown an impressiv form in this qualifier, only Russia managed to draw then twice, so their record shows 8-2-0 with an inpressiv 25-4 GF-GA.

My bet is based on the importantce of the game for Croatia, even though they for sure, are the better team in this match. I doubt they will be attacking the whole game, cant se any resaon for that. A point and they are going to play at the EC 08, so there is a lot at stake in this game. My "only" concern is that Macedonia should manage to dcore the first goal, then the under might get in danger. Also an early goal from Croatia might be something that could result in a "blow out" of Macedonia.

Normally I would not bet on under is that games, but I doubt that Croatia will take that many risks. Furthermore Macedonia might be in trouble in challange the defence of Croatia withuot Pandev.

I just think this odds is a bit to high. Not doubt that FCM has been performing well at home 7-1-0 shows that. But they have not been playing that well in recent matches. Furthermore FCK tend to grab the points at Midtjylland. I have been recomanding some bets going FCKs way, at this blog several times, last season and this one aswell, and it seems that I tend to lose on that picks, just a little warning!

FCM IMO has a very talendted sqaud, were FCK for sure has the best sqaud in the league, or the best players, I thnik FCM has the sqaud with the most talent in it. Players like Simon Poulsen, Salami and Simon Kjær are all very talented. In fact I expect at least one of them to play in one of the top 5 leagues next season. Simon Poulsen, has just been playing at a high level all season, Morten Olsen(NT coach) finally decided to call him for the next NT games. Salami has been at several trials at Chlesea and Kjær has been at Real Madrid some times aswell. In fact Kjær turned down an offer from Real, because he wanted to wait a bit before he sigins to a club abroad.

FCK lost aginst Panathinaikos in the Uefa.cup a huge blow for the ambitious club, but it seems that the loss of Linderoth makes this team a bit weaker when they play in the uefa.cup. Cant say that Panathinaikos did not derseve the win.
But one thing is the Uefa-cup games, now they face an important game aginst FCM, if they loose they alos will loose thier first place. So I expect FCK to display a concentrated performance, were their skills at the end will secure them the 3 points. I especially expect them to win this games, with a strong defensiv performaces. This is for sure the key for FCK in this mtach. In fact if FCM should manage to score once I thnik that they at least could get a point here. FCK has been very ineffective in front of goal this season a 18-7 after 15 games, should be an indicator of that.

I will just go with the -0,25 in this match, I thnik that FCK should be able to win this one, or at least get one point, wich would mean that the half of the stake would be returned.

Centrebet's FREE official team shirt promo is back!

I have already written most infos about this game. I just will add, that S04 had a chl match against Chelsea midweek, this might have an influence on the performance. Furthermore HSV did not play in the uefa-cup, so they had enough time to prepare for this game, wich I thnik should be a advantage for them in this game.

Maybe this bet is a bit riscky, if you think that a streak at some point, has to come to an end? S04 have been under 2,5 for the past 10 games!

I take the risk and think that we once again might see a low scoring game. This match is very important, especially for S04, if they loose they IMO will be out of the fight for the chl spots this season. On the other hand HSV, surely wants to win this one, but I dont thnik thay will take any risk. A point is nice, furthermore they will keep the distance to one of their competitors for the top 3 spots.

I expect a very tactical game, and looking at the missing at S04, I doubt they have enough offensiv power to break the nice defence/organization of HSV. S04 are still without important players like Kuranyi, Kobiashvili, Pander, Bordon and Özil. All players should be rated as regulars, maybe Özil should only be counted as a resverve player. I still think that their starting line-up looks okay. But S04 don’t play that great football, if they want to win a game they have to put 100% into that game. Comparing that with Bayern, HSV and Bremen, who can play at 80% and still win a game, because they play a bit better/smarter than S04. Hereby I mean, Bayern should be obvious they just has a strong attack, Bremen aswell plays some nice attacking football. HSV has a strong organization and Van der Vart. Personal I can see why S04 don’t win their games, they are just not good enough to create chances, and when they finally manages to create some, they are being wasted! So when their oppononets score once, they normally gets under a huge pressure, because they struggle that much in scoring goals. In fact I did think the same about HSV, but it seems that have been able to develop their offence in recent games aswell. They have proven thay don’t need Van der Vart to win games.

HSV btw. Is the best performing team in the german Bundesliga in the year 2007, they are just 2 points ahead of Bayrn, if I remember it right. So this should tells us something about who well they have performed for almost 11 months, always getting some nice results. HSV also has proven to be a strong away team, who seem to be experts in getting a 1-0 victory. Something I also could see them doing tomororrw.


My bet is based on the importants of the game, were both teams can by satisfied with a draw, okay S04 cant, but I rate HSVs defence much stringer than S04s offense, so I expect that HSV will be the team who decides how this game will turn out, either a game with a lot of chances or the opposite, I expect the last thing.

As this bet seems a bit to obvious I keep the stakes in the middle, but my fair odds linie would be something about 1,75 or even 1,70. This game has under written all over it.

Neuer - Rafinha, Westermann, Krstajic, Bajramovic - Jones, F. Ernst - Rakitic - Asamoah, Larsen, Lövenkrands

F. Rost - J. Boateng, B. Reinhardt, Mathijsen, Atouba - Jarolim, Kompany - Trochowski, van der Vaart, Olic - Guerrero

I might overestimate Dortmund in this game. But looking at the missing players Frankfurt, I thnik Dortmund should have a nice chance of winning this one.

Dortmund have benn unstable in their performance this season, although they have been hit by a lot of injurires at the begining of the season, only Frei is an important missing in this game. I thnik that Dortmund with players like Federico, Kringe and Petric always has some players how can score a goal in a match, hereby I mean they are all very strong at long range effords on goal, so Dortmund has the advantage of, not needing to get into the penalty area to score a goal. Sofar this has proved to be a real weapon for them, Kringe, Federico and Petric all scoring some nice goals from lange range.

Frankfurt once again are without Streit, Meier and Mahdavikia all very important plyers. Especially Streit who is their set pice taker, and Meier who often is the target of his crosses. The also will be missing Mahdavikias speed, when they need to make a counter attack.
Against Bayern(0-0), they were outplayed for 90min, only a very strong performance from Nikolov, ment that Frankfurt could take a point in that match. Btw Nikolov is expected to be replaced with Pröll who is their first choice goalkeeper.

This bet in based on the missing at Frankfurt, compared with the strong offensiv power Dortmund in fact has. I thnik that Dortmund should have a nice chance of winning this match. Dortmund has managed to score in 8/10 games sofar. Only HSV and Bayern manage a cleansheet against Dortmund. Looking at he table, I thnik this is something you could expect, two of the strongest defences in the league. I thnik that if Dortmund manages to score in this match they will win, Frankfurt dont seems to have the offensiv power ot break the defence of Dortmund, already they have been playing 4/10 games without scoring, and now with their offensiv missing they might struggle even more.

Weidenfeller - P. Degen, Brzenska, Kovac, Dede - Blaszczykowski, Tinga, Federico, Kringe - Petric, Klimowicz

Pröll - P. Ochs, Russ, Kyrgiakos, Spycher - Preuß, Inamoto, Chris, Köhler - Amanatidis, Takahara