Astra hosts FC Hermannstadt in round 12 of Romanian Liga 1. The match will be played on Monday, October 7th at Stadionul Marin Anastasovici (Giurgiu)
At first glance, the favorite in this pair is obvious. Astra is the finalist of the last year’s Romanian Cup. The team also excelled in the championship, haven taken the final 4th place. The team is quite experienced because the hosts are frequent guests of European cups in recent years. Besides, home games are the strengths of the Black Devils. In 5 matches of the current season, Astra has no defeats in the home arena, and the men of Alexa won three games. And then there’s a pretty convenient opponent.
Hermannstadt was founded 5 years ago, and it spends only the second season in the top division. Sibienii has to lead a difficult struggle to maintain their place in the sun because they occupy only 12th place out of 14 participants. The weak away game of Hermannstadt is one of the reasons for the failure at the starting segment. According to this indicator, Sibienii are the worst in the championship – they gained only one point in six games. In the last championship, Astra beat the opponent with a clean sheet twice, but the Black Dragons are unlikely to repeat a similar result in the upcoming game. Although Hermannstadt cannot score in four away games and in three last championship matches, the men of Neagoe are quite capable of upsetting the opponent’s goalkeeper at least once in Giurgiu.
Both teams play in defense disgustingly, and therefore I expect a scoring game. The upcoming match is a great opportunity for one of the championship’s top scorers, Gheorghe, to replenish his scoring statistics, while the visitors intend to break the protracted goalless streak, which amounts to 320 minutes. Still, the hosts are superior to the opponent in terms of skills, and therefore the maximum that Hermannstadt can count on is to take a draw from Giurgiu.
Prediction for the match: Astra to win with +0.5 handicap and Both teams to score - yes
