Both the Spaniards and the Italians know how to defend and their defense is solid. In reality, all the Italian teams made it to the semi-finals, not standing out for their good defense, and their results are astronomical, but this is the semi-finals, the opponent is of the highest caliber, everything should start with defense. The Spaniards don't seem to be such obvious favorites and it's not like the Italians can't put up a fight. If they can play defensive basketball, the Italians can maintain a competitive distance.
Both the Spanish and the Italians know how to defend themselves and their defense is solid. In reality, all top teams in Italy made it to the semi-finals without standing out for their good defenses, their results were astronomical, but this is the semi-finals, the opponent is of the highest caliber, everything should start with defense. The Spanish don't seem to be the clear favorites here and that the Italians cannot put up a fight. If they manage to play a defensive game, the Italians can hold their ground in a close battle.
The Croats took care of the Norwegians, today they should also take care of the Danes. The Danes do not have a strong squad like Shields or Lundberg. The Croatians have a serious lineup with players like Hezonja, Saric, and Smith all playing. It is obvious that Croatia is fully focused on getting to the next stage of the qualifiers and resolving things as quickly as possible.
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.
In friendly matches, Celtic looks very good, as shown by their 4-0 victory against Newcastle. Friendlies are friendlies, but the start of the Scottish league was typical for Peru, maybe slightly weaker due to the Celtic team's composition, but many players remain, and in Scotland, the team realistically wins against everyone, so the coefficient doesn't look bad. Even away matches, Peru still looks extremely convincing, as seen from the uninspired start of the Aberdeen team, who lost 2-0 against Hearts.
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.
Once again we will try our luck against Arsenal, some sort of cosmic event happened before Vilareal but I think it only strengthens our chances to win here, Emirates Cup is their annual home tournament which Arsenal usually wins and they will also face another La Liga representative, Bilbao club. Arsenal is a stronger team and I think it's necessary to start the season with a good game against PL, Bilbao's preparation is tragic, losing 5 games in a row, also in the second game against Liverpool when they had the upper hand but failed to capitalize on their chances. I believe Arsenal will win 3-1 here.
Volendam returned to the highest league in the Netherlands and their first opponent is Heerenveen, which is a complete home team. Last season, they earned 36 points at home and only 7 points away, an unbelievable difference. Both teams had friendly results, which may not be positive, but Heerenveen is definitely a stronger team. Both teams have a good attacking game, but Volendam struggled with their defense even in the Eredivisie.
Napoli, a solid team for me, did good work in the summer, including signing with De Bruyne, who can become a crucial figure in this team of stars. Napoli is known for its strong defense and I believe that should be the key against Peru. Girona, after a fantastic season, returns to a more average role, but at times it seems that their achievements are not quite enough for them to match Peru.
Italians are already playing 3 friendly games, so the preparation intensifies and both team play and shooting have to improve. Latvians will play their first friendly game, so it may be difficult but realistic to expect a lot from them, as the brothers play an attacking basketball and score a lot of points. The free-flowing Banchi basketball and the high-level Latvians with Porzingis in sight, I believe, will be productive against the Italians who are also able to adapt to this type of basketball.
Another overseas match. Taipeja team, just like New Zealand, won both games in the battle for the top spot in the group. In their two games, New Zealand played with a similar strategy, while Taipeja team is also known for their strong offense, as shown by their combined total of 182 points with Philippines. Both teams play a similar style of basketball, and New Zealand can always be trusted, as their team is composed mainly of local league players who are skilled at both attacking and defending.
Austria's Salzburg is fighting on two fronts, and it's not an easy task. Salzburg is playing at home and there should be goals in the story, as their opponent is also a productive team. In the first match, Grazer played a 2-2 draw with Austria Vienna, who is a serious club, and Salzburg also played with the same result against Ried. The essence is simple - the Austrian championship is productive and these teams are no exception. And when the favorites sweat in the Champions League qualifiers, I think we can expect surprises and clear goals.
Liquid, somewhat randomly, managed to defeat Ecstatic, but against a more serious team they would have lost in such a match. After the demise of team Liquid, they suffered losses even against academy teams, not to mention tougher opponents. FURIA has settled in to some extent, their young form is good. FURIA has already beaten opponents of similar strength or even stronger ones.
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.