Plzen – CSKA Moscow SOCCER PICKS
The ‘weaker’ brothers from group G can immediately do a good job in their first match. The winner of this game immediately takes a nice step towards third place. Or can these two teams in a group with Real Madrid and AS Roma do something more?
Viktoria Plzen:
Pilzen has started well at the competition. With 21 on 24 they are currently in charge together with Slavia Prague. In their own house they presently present a perfect report with four wins from as many matches, nine goals for and one goal. Last weekend, Opava won 1-0. It was far from easy to dismantle the defensive position of the visitors because only in minute 87 Hrosovsky was able to score the winning goal on penalty.
The selection of Viktoria Pilzen contains no known names. What is striking is the large number of Czechs in the selection. This weekend, no less than 16 of the 18 players were on the Czechs. In the Belgian competition it is often different this season. Whether this also guarantees the quality that is needed to get through the group stage of the Champions League, is still the question. Only four players were recently selected for the national team of the Czech Republic. Only striker Krmencik could count on playing minutes in the match against Ukraine. If the results of the national team are taken into account (1-2 loss at home against Ukraine and 5-1 loss in Russia), it can be concluded that Czech football is currently not in a boom. This also raises the question whether the quality that is present at Pilzen is sufficient for the international stage.
CSKA Moscow:
CSKA started quite changeable to the season. Especially the first match days, points were lost. Then at home was lost to Rostov and they played equal against lesser teams such as Yenisey and Samara. At the moment, the Muscovites seem to be in better shape. In the last three games they gained a nice seven out of nine. It was tied to Kazan, Ural was defeated 4-0 at home and last Saturday they went on to win Ufa with convincing 0-3 figures. A good dress rehearsal for their first match in the Champions League.
The selection of CSKA Moscow also includes many players from the Netherlands and it is mainly young talented players. Fedor Chalov is a 20-year-old striker who scored six games this season in seven games. Also Zhamaletinov (21 years old, attacker), Bistrovic (20 years old, midfielder) and Chernov (22 years old, defender) are fixed values in the team of Goncharenko. Other famous names are right back Manuel Fernandes. He was one of the strong holders of Russia at the World Cup. Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev is a hero in Russia after he sent Spain home with some good saves after penalties. One last known is attacker Abel Hernandez. He played for a while with Palermo and with Hull City in the Premier League.
