Today in Meistriliiga

Flora vs Paide

15:00 CET

Flora -1 AH @1.90

I guess it is safe to say that both teams were brought back to earth earlier this week cause after 10 and 5 consecutive wins they both actually managed to lose leaguegame. Prior to their awaygame vs Viljandi Flora had dropped just 2 points all season so it'd be kinda hilarious if they go now 2 games without a win.. Paide meanwhile is still 2nd in the league but they also have like 3-4 important players unavailable so this might easily affect them.. Anyway Flora haven't lost not a single h2h match in the last 4 years as they won 6 of the last 7 h2h matches so i'm going with their win today aswell (although i'd be positively surprised should they fail to win here)

Today in Meistriliiga

Paide vs Kalju

18:30 CET

Kalju +0.5 AH @1.81


After 5 consecutive wins Paide have now gone backwards as they've lost 2 games in a row so at home it's time for them to redeem themselves perhaps... Meanwhile Kalju is unbeaten in 4 games as they won 3 during that time while conceding just one goal and they've won 2 in a row to nil aswell. Curiously enough 4 of the last 5 h2h games went to the away team. Kalju have also won last 6 h2h awaygames + in the league they haven't lost awaygame since may 2017 i think so hopefully they can extend that run and actually get something from this game.

Today in Meistriliiga

Flora vs Kalju

18:30 CET

X2 @2.55

Both sides are in great shape as they both won 4 of the last 5 matches so clearly they both would like to continue winning i'd imagine. Still while Kalju kept 3 clean sheets during that period then Flora practiced outscoring method since they conceded in all these games ... Flora may have collected maximumpoints vs other top4 clubs so far this season but clearly even they are far from being brilliant.. For Kalju game like this is probably pure luxury since they can play on grass instead of artifical turf so they'd be able to make decent perfomance.. Kalju still havent lost away leaguegame since 2017 - also Flora's last homewin vs Kalju was in that year so ... Anyway's i'm probably going to regret not taking Flora -1 AH here (so i'd be happy if they fail to win) but let's see..

enjoying the thread and tailing the picks, love tallinn, it's a great city

what do you mean by x2? is that flora o1.5?

'X2' means draw or away win.

ahh thanks makes sense, well i bet the o1.5 and looking good so far, bet it at +157 and it's now +130

Today in Meistriliiga

Kalju vs Tammeka

18:30 CET

Kalju -1 AH @1.62


Both teams may have lost their last leaguegame but were victorius in midweek cup round when they beated lower league opponents 8:0 and 13:0 ... So guess one thing is certain: we dont see that many goals today ... Kalju started slowly at home as they won just 1 of the first 5 homegames while lost 4 but they seem to get back on track now as they've won 3 consecutive homegames to nil. Meanwhile Tammeka won 3 and lost 2 of the last 5 awaygames but as they were in format of WLWLW then ...

Tammeka have also yet to lose in Tallinn so far this season as they beated Legion here and drew with Levadia & Flora so i'd imagine they will make another solid perfomance today in this artificular turf and that despite having 2 defensive players unavailable ... Still Kalju have conceded least amount of goals (9) in the league so far this season so wouldn't surprised if they get typical 1:0 or 2:0 win here ... Also Kalju is the only estonian club which will be seeded in next seasons european competion first qualifying round but more about that next weekend ...

Preview Time*

Champions League 1st qualifying round (18-19 august)*

Flora possible opponents:*

Molde

Suduva

Dundalk

Slovan Bratislava

From that list Molde is probably the strongest one but others clearly arent joke teams either as Suduva have been (un)fortunate enough to fall on the last hurdle before groupstage in each of the last 3 seasons where they reached EL 4th quali round ... Dundalk have also been quite regular in this region recently cause few years ago they beated Levadia and last season their match in Latvia went all the way to penalties where they won i think ... And Bratislava reached EL groupstage last season & there in group with Besiktas, Wolves and some other team they finished third with 4p ...

As for Flora itself they may beat everyone domestically and so on but on the other hand they will need to start having constant decent results in europe ... Also their current squad may be easily the all time strongest so guess it's intresting to see are they going to (under)peform in european competions yet again or not ... Last seasons success when they knocked Radnicki out was only the second time in 20-22+ years when they actually knocked some club out so ... And this summer they've already boosted squad by bringing new GK & LB to the team ...

And the draw is made now:*Flora vs Suduva it is. Obviously odds arent out yet but as this is homegame then i'd imagine opponents odds are going to be slightly better than they usually would be so this is positive sign (or not) ...

So yeah at home in one leg game vs other Baltic club: what could be better. Shame though that these games take place behind closed doors though and for Flora i'd say if they dont reach (atleast) EL 3rd quali round then their european season is once again huge failure.*

I'll probably have closer look on that game whenever odds do come out but for now it's time to wait for tomorrow's morning when Levadia, Kalju and Paide learn which opponents might knock them out.

Preview Time vol 2

Europa League first qualifying round (27 august)

Levadia possible opponents:*

Olimpija Ljubljana (SVN)
Maribor (SVN)
St Joseph's (GIB)/B36 Tórshavn (FRO)

Paide possible opponents:*

Žalgiris Vilnius (LTU)
Riteriai (LTU)
Budapest Honvéd (HUN)

Kalju possible opponents:*

Mura (SVN)
Kauno Žalgiris (LTU)
Bohemian (IRL)

Kalju is playing at home but they probably got hardest possible team. Still they known very well what it feels like to knock stronger teams out. Paide is heading to Lithuania for their first ever european game - Zalgiris probably will be favourite here but i´m sure that Paide will try to make it difficult for them. And for Levadia eventhough they also need to travel then atleast they managed to avoid slovenians so this should be half win ...

Champions League 1st qualifying round

Flora vs Suduva

18:30 CET

Suduva to qualify @1.75

I'd imagine this is probably dream for either team specially as opponent arent too much stronger and so on ... Anyways both sides have been quite good decent recently as Flora have won 5 consecutive games while Suduva won 3 during that time and they both also dominate/are leading domestic leagues aswell at the moment cause Flora won 15 of the 17 games while Suduva won 11 of the 15 matches ... However in the last 20-22+ years Flora have only eliminated 2 opponents in european competions while Suduva in the last 3 seasons alone (when they made it to the EL 4th quali round each year) knocked out 7 teams ... So they clearly know what it takes to be succesful in europe - their current squad may not be as strong as in recent years but they still have like 10+ foreign players which is quite shame since they dont rely on local players ?!? Specially since Flora does exactly that (guess this must be reason they usually underperform in europe) - funnily enough Flora may have all the strongest squad full of local players right now but then again there are still estonians who aren't even in intrested joining them ...*

Anyway yesterday all 1st quali round games went to the home team so i probably wouldn't mind if home team advances in this pair aswell but i still pick visitors to qualify here cause if they cant even beat us then surely they must be ...

Thursday Special

Europa League 1st qualifying round

Kalju vs Mura

16:30 CET

Kalju over 0.5 goals @1.58

Mura -1 AH @1.88

This slovenian team who finished 4th last season and won cup recently is probably happy with their opponent since they probably got the weakest one ... Still their european history is not that great cause in their debut last year they lost both matches vs some israeli club. Mura may have played just 1 game in currrent new leagueseason but that was 2:0 win away vs defending champions Celje so clearly they seem to be fine on the road ... Meanwhile Kalju has much more european experience cause have played in european competions for 10+ years and they also know very well what it takes to eliminate stronger team cause did exactly that in 6 of the last 7 seasons. Kalju is going to play defensively here while making sure this match will be as physical as possible cause that is probably the only way for them to achieve here so i expect them to get atleast (consolation) goal here but i also went with opponents handicap to make sure that if this bet loses they are out or we see extra time ...

Zalgiris vs Paide

19:00 CET

Zalgiris -1 AH @1.61

Paide over 0.5 goals @1.57

Sadly we cant see this former Liverpool player anymore but Zalgiris probably has other (not so) decent foreign players too so ... Anyway Paide is making their european debut here so they have nothing to lose here and it seems that they are going all-in here cause they have signed like 3 new players in the summer. However Zalgiris aint joke team either cause have played in europe 8 consecutive seasons and during that time they eliminated 5 teams and they even played vs Sevilla not so long ago ... Anyways i am going with similar bets here cause expect Paide to get atleast (consolation) goal and went with hosts handicap to see how "good" they eventually are ...

B36 Torshavn vs Levadia

20:00 CET

Torshavn to qualify @1.66

When odds first came out they were like 50-50 with Levadia slight favourite but things have changed now ... This team played against Kalju some years ago and lost both matches so despite Levadia really cant underestimate team which has plenty faroese players alongside someone from Denmark and Poland ... Recent years clearly havent been great for Levadia cause in league they have finished second 5 years in a row and in europe they havent been superb either since beating some other faroese team 4 years ago cause in the last 3 years they fell on first hurdle ... Also this year Levadia have been anything but brilliant cause in league they are 17p behind leaders and have conceded already 26 goals - usually they dont even concede this many entire season ... So you may think things cant get any worse but in fact they did cause 4 attacking players from usual starting 11 were left home cause 2 are suspended and 2 just didnt get visas ... So with that in mind i am going with hosts to qualify here ...


As for the 3 games then who knows what is going to pehapn ... 3 defeats is sadly more realistic than 1 win but lets see. Also i hope that this trio have learned from Flora´ mistakes and actually have practiced penalties, dont waste substitutions (specially if match goes to ET) and most importantly dont waste chances where they are 6 vs 2/3 players ...

Saturday in Nations League

Estonia vs Georgia

18:00 CET

Estonia over 0.5 goals @1.68

Both sides have been quite dreadful recently cause together they've managed to win just 1 of the last 5 matches and both teams come to this match from losing streaks aswell having lost 3 and 2 consecutive games so on positive note (atleast) for one team their miserable run will end here ... Anyway Estonia have failed to score in each of the last 5 games so still no surprise there but Georgia defense haven't been rocksolid either since they conceded in each of the last 3 games. Teams have met 5 times so far with we finding the net in 4 and curiously enough away team has never won in this h2h pair so hopefully this stays this way ... But after seeing "magnificent" perfomances by other baltic nations i guess there's real chance we might make same dreadful display (or even worse one) ... Latvia & Lithuania managed to score impressive 0 goals in their homegames so perhaps we aren't going to be this wasteful in front of goal for a change ...

Great thread Risto!

I will follow along as I live nearby even though I know nothing about eesti football but it seems that's going to change

Today in Europa League (3rd qualifying round)

Floriana vs Malta

19:00 CET (although some sites still think this match starts 90 min later ...)

Floriana to qualify @1.80

Neither team havent been too succesful in european competions cause they both have knocked out staggering 3 opponents in their history but while Floriana's first 2 KO's came in the 90's i think then Flora have managed to KO one opponent last season aswell as in this season aswell.. Both sides are in decent shape aswell cause they've won 2 & 4 matches in a row. Floriana is at home so i doubt they'd be naive enough to park the bus here but they probably dont storm into attack either. Therefore i expect them to make sure that they are this team who will be "fortunate" enough to lose awaygame vs Dinamo Zagreb in the next round.

(As always i dont mind at all should this bet lose cause in that case it'd confirm these opponents are ... )

Should keep the running results tally going, just seemed to stop mid thread.

Subscribed, will keep an eye on your tips.

Gl

Well Floriana did show they were shite but then again guess even Real Madrid probably would struggle to win any penalty shootout if after 2 rounds they are 0:2 behind yet alone some Malta team ...

Anyway Today in international friendly ...

Estonia vs Lithuania

18:00 CET

Estonia over 1.0 goals @1.87

There is no doubt that both sides use this match as a warm-up ahead of upcoming Nations League fixtures but i doubt neither team is too naive to take this game too lightly specially as they both have their own problems. Lithuania may have actually won 2 of the last 3 games (to nil) but away from home they have won 1 and lost 7 of the last 9 matches although this rare win did came in last NL fixture ... At the same time we have still been even worse - 10 games without a win from which lost 9, have also lost 5 consecutive games and are goalless in 7 matches ... Also we havent won at home either after beating Lithuania 2 years ago so it is 10 homegames now ... However considering that in each of the last 5 h2h games home team won to nil then i should imagine that for once we actually manage to score atleast cause if we cant even do that here then we are probably never going to do it ...

Somehow we did score but still this tweet probably sums up the match perfectly ...
"In this difficult corona era where all things are constantly changing, we must enjoy more and more the things that remain unchanged. So - thank you for another loss, the Estonian football team!"

Sunday in Nations League

Macedonia vs Estonia

15:00 CET

Estonia over 0.5 goals @1.63

Both sides were in action in midweek as we visited Italy for whatever reason and lost "only" 0:4 whileMacedonia won 1:0 in Georgia which secured them a place in next summer's EURO's (which hopefully arent postponed/cancelled or whatever anymore) Anyway while Macedonia is unbeaten in the last 5 matches then we have (gladly) gone opposite direction since we're winless in 5. Macedonia won 5 and lost 2 of the last 8 homegames but during that time they kept just 1 clean sheet.. However we have been even worse on the road cause in the last 8 awaygames we actually scored impressive 1 goal - this was in march last year so we've now gone 6 awaygames in a row without a goal.. Expecting/Hoping us to score is probably longshot but then again perhaps for once we can actually be dangerous on the road (although it's probably too much to ask) so let's see how this match goes ...

Lets bring this thread back to life ...

Wednesday in World Cup Qualifiers

Estonia vs Czech Republic (in Poland)

20:45 CET

Czechs -1.5 AH @1.62

2 (european) nations with worst coronavirus stats (in the last 14 days) go head to head so i should imagine winner gets (unofficial) coronavirus cup or something. Anyway our team has still been quite average - its been like almost 2 years since last win with our record since 13 defeats and 4 draws ... Czechs havent been too superior either with 6 wins and 5 defeats in the last 11 games but after conceding in 8 consecutive games they managed to shut down their defense with clean sheets in the last 2 games which they won. Czechs have also won all 3 h2h games so far by 2 or more goals so i expect them to continue this pattern ...

Wednesday in Stockholm

Some friendly

Sweden vs Estonia

17:45 CET

Estonia +3 AH @2.15 - bet365

Estonia have already played 2 qualifiers this month which we both lost thanks to conceding 4+ goals in them but on positive note we did score twice vs Czechs and Belarus so this must be great thing considering last time we managed to score 2+ goals in consecutive competive matches was in september 2011 ... Sweden meanwhile won their first qualfier vs Georgia and visits Kosovo today (on sunday) but i'm not going to wait until that match is over ... Anyway it should be quite obvious that neither team doesn't use their strongest squad here so from swedes point it probably means no Zlatan (and probably some other regular starters) ... As for us then after conceding 4+ goals in 2 consecutive games then this game looks like perfect opportunity to try again parking the bus (and eventually failing in it). Anyway Sweden may be unbeaten in the last 5 h2h games from which they won 3 but not a single of these wins was by 3 goals or more and considering last 2 h2h games were 1:1 draws then i'd imagine that Sweden is not going to humiliate this time either and even if we do lose then it's probably by 3 goals or less ...