Last season, Varazdin was a complete home team and performed poorly on away games. This is something that Belupo should take advantage of in the early stages, where spectators greatly contribute to the quality and energy of the game. They were unable to defeat the weak Gorica team in the first round. Belupo had to play against the previous year's champions, so that loss is not significant. They seemed very friendly and had a good coefficient, so it is worth trying their luck against them.
The essential thing is how much Doncic will play for the Slovenians, but I believe they must take the lead. The away game against the Germans will be a fast-paced one, and they don't care how many points the opponents will score as long as the Germans score over. Doncic has been training hard all summer and is in great shape, so I expect him to contribute to the over, and any team playing against him must collect at least 80 points.
The Greeks play with their own 50% team, which is Giannis, but soon he will turn on and the question is whether he won't already be in these games. The opponents, Israel, have their own advantages and NBA players, but their team is weak and lacks the character that the Greeks possess. The experienced Greek team plays well and is friendly, so it must be reached by Peru.
Hearts look fantastic, with an unstoppable offense and an incredibly strong defense. Despite conceding a few goals in the period, and facing seemingly weaker opponents in the cup, they managed to secure their victories confidently. In 4 matches, they scored 16 goals and only conceded 1. The season opening match was a solid 2-0 win against Peru. In the start of this season, Dundee will face the same challenges as the league leaders, playing on two fronts. They are also competing in the CL qualifiers and have a high chance of making it to the final stage. At this stage of the season, the focus is definitely more on the European competition than the domestic league.
Further with Chelsea, as the opponent is once again difficult to beat and at the moment probably of a similar level as Bayer. Yesterday, although not the strongest lineup, but against Leeds they played on an equal footing, with Leeds being the better team at certain moments. Chelsea has improved their defense, their lineup is deep enough that even if some players are substituted, there is enough quality to still perform well.
It will not be easy for the team to recover after such a defeat, especially since today's opponent can offer a tough defense, which could further throw us off balance. In the friendly matches, these teams played with final scores of 73-56 and 64-55 in favor of the Italian team. Even though they let the Spanish team score 25 points in the first quarter, the Italians only allowed 73 points overall.
It will not be easy for us to recover after such a defeat, and today we face an opponent who can offer a tough defense that could push us even further behind. In the friendly games, this team played against us and the scores were 73-56 and 64-55 for Italy. Even though Italy allowed Spain to score 25 points in the first quarter, they only allowed them to score a total of 73 points.
In terms of Barcelona's goals, we can expect some fiestas there. We are preparing for our Asian tour where we are aiming to score at least 15 goals in 3 matches. Of course, the opponents may not be on the same level as Barcelona, but knowing their strength as the top 2 betters in the world, I don't think it will make a big difference. However, their defense has some weaknesses, which gives us hope that even with our Swedish opponents, we will have our chances. Como motivates us to play well and we will prepare for our games accordingly. We have won our last 4 matches with goals, but also conceding, which adds to our advantage. I believe we will definitely contribute to the overall score, and with Barcelona's typical style, they will score 3-4 goals themselves.
This group should be decided between the 2 teams, Slovenia and France, not paying much attention to other teams because this group is really weak without these two teams. Israel, Poland, Iceland and Belgium are left in this group, but the only team that can surprise is probably Israel. Slovenia has a good coefficient and their team could be even better, especially with Doncic, you can always expect good results. Especially now with him having a break after the tough NBA season. With France, their main core is missing this year, there won't be Fournier, Gobert, or Wembanyamos, and I think this summer will be difficult for them even though they have a lot of talent. They lack a true leader, unlike Slovenia. In my opinion, in a match between Slovenia and France, Slovenia would play the key moments more confidently and they wouldn't need to overcome many lower level teams.
Champions of England, Liverpool, have a chance to win trophies once again, as the so-called Super Cup against the Crystal Palace team looks beatable for them. Not to mention that the friendly match cycle does not seem promising from the Palace's side, but also not to expect stability from such a team, so we cannot expect a similar performance to last season's success. With a lot of new signings, Liverpool looks very attractive and despite uncertainties about their game, they seem to be much better. I hope we will see that on the field as well.
Having already played 3 official matches in the Europa League, Braga is now warming up for the first round of the Portuguese league. Their first opponents are a team that has been promoted from a lower league. We all know how dominant the top Portuguese teams can be against any opponent, especially against newcomers. Tondela will be fighting to avoid relegation, and teams like Braga tend to easily defeat such teams. Therefore, we can expect a tough game, even though it is the beginning of the season and Braga usually performs well at home.
Currently, with the renewed lineup, the heroic team is struggling because they recently benched their new AWPer, who hadn't had enough time to warm up. Now the stand-in is playing as the academy team's AWPer. They managed to defeat the struggling Complexity team, but now they are facing a much stronger opponent. Aurora is not at their best yet, but with the return of their better player Xantares, they hope to defeat the dry FQ team.
(Slaven Belupo) @140 7/10
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