Gloria Bistrita – Viitorul Constanta   

In the opening match of the round we have a clash between two of the newcomers in Liga 1, with Viitorul Constanta visiting Gloria Bistrita. The visitors are performing very well at their first ever presence on the main stage in Romania and currently they are on a two matches winning streak against a couple of Romania’s best teams: CFR Cluj and Pandurii Targu Jiu. On the other hand, Gloria Bistrita will came back home after two very difficult matches in Bucharest, against Dinamo and Steaua. Surprisingly, Gloria managed to defeat Dinamo just before losing in a speechless fashion against Steaua. The main difference between these two teams is given by the financial stability: Viitorul is well supported by Romanian legend Gheorghe Hagi while Gloria Bistrita has a lot of difficulties when we talk about money. Players didn’t received salaries for more than three months and their motivation is questionable at this moment. Although Viitorul looks on fire these days, the spotlight can turn against the young and inexperienced players from Constanta and Bistrita can benefit from that. Despite playing poorly, Gloria won’t lose this one. 

    CSMS Iasi – U Cluj   

2^nd November announces to be the most decisive day for the future of Universitatea Cluj. It isn’t about their match against newcomer CSMS Iasi, but about the takeover of the club by a German marketing agency that aims to solve the financial problems of the club. Everything is set for a deal and that will certainly be perceived as a relief for the players from Cluj. Despite those problems, Cluj managed to perform decently so far and at this moment they are 4 points ahead the relegation line. On the other hand, there are a lot of problems for Iasi, a team that scored only two goals in last nine games. It looks like the presence of Iasi in the first division won’t last too long as currently the team is 10 points behind the 14^th place. Also, there are some misunderstandings between players and president Prunea, while the fans are already sick and tired of their team performance. We can’t see any positive result for Iasi.      

   CFR Cluj – FC Brasov   

As we were already used to, in the season when CFR Cluj plays in Champions League, their performance in Liga 1 is a very modest one. Being already at 13 points behind leaders Steaua after 13 rounds, the title contention is only a dream for the champions. With a new coach and a new objective, CFR Cluj will probably rest some of the regular starters in order to keep them fit for one of the most important games of the season, against Galatasaray on Wednesday in UEFA Champions League group stage. After escaping with a draw from Istanbul inferno, CFR Cluj will look for a win that can be synonym to qualification to the next stage. The match against Brasov will came on the second plan for the champions and the visitors can benefit from that fact. It’s important to add that Brasov’s coach Sorin Cartu will have something to prove against his former team. During the time he managed to block CFR Cluj with his defensive style of play and we won’t be very surprised if the visitors will escape with a good result from Cluj.

   FC Vaslui – Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt   

A regional derby will take place at Vaslui when locals will host neighbors from Piatra Neamt. Visitors qualified for Romanian Cup quarter finals after defeating Gaz Metan Medias on Wednesday while Vaslui had a week off in order to prepare this match. The fatigue will certainly be a decisive factor in this one as Ceahlaul isn’t a team used to play three matches in six days. Easy win for Vaslui as they have dropped only two points at home this season. Ceahlaul is the worst traveler from the league and in our opinion this is the banker of the round.   

   Otelul Galati – Gaz Metan Medias   

Both teams are struggling this season and as a consequence both are involved in the relegation battle. Former champions Otelul Galati is the first team under the line at this moment, while Gaz Metan has only 5 points more than Otelul. A win for the hosts in this one will bring these teams to touching distance, while a success for Gaz Metan will put serious problems to Otelul. At the middle of the week both teams played in Romanian Cup, but only Otelul was strong enough to progress to quarter finals. It is true that the opponents were on a different caliber, but still the morale can be a factor for the hosts. A very interesting fact is that Otelul is undefeated for 9 games, with 5 draws in that period. Both teams are above league average when we look at squad names, but unfortunately they are underperforming at this moment. We expect a tight encounter and a draw is maybe the best option for this match.   

   Steaua Bucuresti – Dinamo Bucuresti   

For the first time in the existence of betting industry in Liga 1 we see that kind of odds difference in “Derby de Romania”. Currently Steaua is rated with less than 1.50 for a win while visitors Dinamo have 6.50 odds for a surprise. It is very strange to see odds like that for this match, but if we are objective we can see that bookmakers are fair enough when they give those odds. At this certain moment Steaua is favorite for a win, but we will come back with a full analysis of this match.    

   Pandurii Targu Jiu – FC Severin   

After an impressive start of campaign, Pandurii Targu Jiu slowed down the tempo lately and they are currently on a 3 games winless streak. After that 0-0 draw against Steaua two round ago, Pandurii lost at newcomer Viitorul Constanta in a match in which they missed a lot of scoring opportunities, including a penalty. More than that, Pandurii lost their first home match of the season in Romanian Cup on Thursday, in a 1-2 defeat against Dinamo. Things aren’t as good as they looked weeks ago for Pandurii, but we can expect a comeback to winning ways in this round, especially if we consider the profile of their next opponent, Turnu Severin. Being placed last in the standings, Severin is the only winless team from our league and in the same time one of the worst travelers, with only 1 point in 6 games, but with a decent goals difference: 3-9. In the same time Pandurii is the second best home team from first division, with 16 points from a maximum of 18. Despite passing through a poor form, Pandurii is favorite for this match and it only remains to discuss about the score.

   Petrolul Ploiesti – Concordia Chiajna   

Finally Petrolul Ploiesti is starting to look as a solid team and in the same time a real contender for a top 3 classification in Liga 1. Thanks to a three games winning streak, Petrolul climbed to the third spot, at tie with Vaslui and Dinamo. Having a new coach with a winning mentality, Petrolul is expected to fly high against Concordia Chiajna, a team that also performs decently this season. Both teams qualified for Romanian cup quarter finals this week, with Concordia making the front page after defeating Steaua at penalties. At the end of that game Concordia’s players looked exhausted and that’s another reason for choosing a home win in this one. Considering the strength of Petrolul when playing at home, we see them easily pick all the points from this one.   

   Rapid Bucuresti – Astra Giurgiu   

The round will end on Monday with an interesting clash between Rapid and Astra. If we take a look at standings, we see a classification that wasn’t expected at the start of the season. These two teams seem to have made castling so far, with Astra placed third with 24 points and Rapid currently nine in the standings, with 19 points after 13 games. Astra was known to be a defensive minded team but this season shown a different approach so far.  The proof is the fact that Astra has the second best attack from our league, with 27 goals scored in 13 games. It’s interesting that Rapid only managed to score 15 goals in the same period of time. As an addition, both teams easily won their matches in Romanian cup this week. Also both teams lost their coach lately but after different reasons: Sabau was dismissed from Rapid due poor results and defensive style of play, while Multescu left Astra after some conflicts with the president and the chairman. There are yet to be announced the replacements and in those circumstances the assistants will be in charge of the teams for this match. Over might be an early option, but our selection will probably be a home win.    

Round 13 Free Picks:

Date / Time	Match	Pick	Odds	Stake	Bookie
26.10 / 19:00	FC Brasov – Petrolul Ploiesti	both to score	1.80	7
28.10 / 18:30	Gaz Metan Medias – FC Vaslui	X	3.48	4
28.10 / 20:30	Steaua Bucuresti – Gloria Bistrita	Steaua over2.5	2.00	6