Europa League qualification, Thursday, 11.07.2022 at 19:00
The final of the 2024 European Championship has not even been played yet, but the first European qualifying tournaments are already starting again.
Sheriff Tiraspol missed out on the national championship last year and will have to make do with Europa League qualification. However, the Yellow and Blacks cannot be denied the role of favorites against Zira FK.
In my Sheriff Tiraspol Zira betting tip, I take into account the defensive strength of the visitors and play the odds of 1.77 for “Both teams will NOT score” at Oddset.
Every streak comes to an end at some point, even Sheriff Tiraspol’s winning national championships. The “Osy” won seven league titles in a row up until last year, but only finished runners-up in the last season.
The Moldovan record champions reacted promptly. Without further ado, Yuriy Gura was chosen as the new coach. The 47-year-old is expected to bring back success in the following season
The Yellow and Blacks have recently competed in one of the three European competitions three times in a row. In the last two years, they made it to the Europa League group stage, and the year before that they even played Champions League soccer at the Sheriff Stadium.
The visitors from Azerbaijan have not yet had such an experience. Zira FK have only been in existence since the 2014 season, which is why their establishment at national level can already be seen as a success
The “Quartall” have been coached by Rashad Sadyqov since summer 2020. After “only” finishing fifth in the table the previous year, the visitors were crowned runners-up last season.
The Azerbaijani side will in all likelihood be looking for the key to a winning game in a defensive bulwark.
Zira FK developed a means to counter almost every opponent’s attack last season and boasted the best defense in Premyer Liqa (22 goals conceded).
If you check the odds of an away win with the betting providers without taxes, the answer sounds clear: odds of up to 6.00 are a statement.
The big challenge for the club, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, is to create scoring chances.
Although Zira FK finished runners-up in Azerbaijan, only two teams have managed to score fewer goals than the Quartall (33).
While coach Sadyqov prefers a 4-2-3-1 formation, he proved in the cup final against league leaders Qarabag FK that he is quite flexible in this respect.
Zira FK tackled the 2-1 defeat in the final with a 5-4-1 formation. Sheriff Tiraspol will therefore have to find solutions against a disciplined unit.
Sadyqov’s side can be expected to adopt a defensive game plan, especially away from home.
A narrow victory for the home side is the most likely scenario. Zira FK scored “under 1.5 goals” in 28 of 36 league games last year. The quality in European competition can be rated higher than in the national league and makes scoring goals more difficult
Sheriff Tiraspol have usually been able to beat their rivals in domestic competition and have conceded the second-fewest goals in the league (16).
Only champions Petrocub (59) had a better attack than the Yellow and Blacks (51 goals), whose first title led to the sacking of Tiraspol’s coach.
Things will not yet run smoothly under Yuriy Gura’s new regime. Without any known test matches, the first EL qualifying round is a kind of baptism of fire
Back to Zira FK. In their last season, the visitors finished 26 of 36 league games with a successful bet on “Both teams will NOT score”.
This bet is also appropriate in this first qualifying round, as several outcomes are possible.
It is possible that the Quartall defense bites into the attackers and defends its own goal with great passion. Even more likely is no own goal outside the home arena
Sheriff Tiraspol are clearly given the boot with the label “favorite” by the best bookmakers with odds of just under 1.70 to win.
However, this early in the season and directly after a change of coach, a home win for the Moldovan record champions (21 titles) is not a “safe bet”.
I therefore prefer to play my Sheriff Tiraspol Zira betting tip on “Both teams will NOT score”
