The first match from this round of the Romania Liga I will be played in Arad where the local team UTA will host Poli Iasi.

I will start of by saying the fact that both teams are in bad form and in real bad need of points.Last week UTA played at Farul and with all the problems they had, Farul was expected to edge that match and so they did and won it with a 1-0 score.But UTA didn't play that bad.They played quite well and had plenty of chances to score that is mainly because after scoring the early goal, Farul was satisfied in keeping the advantage and just trying to hit on the counter-attack.

Since the 1-1 draw with Steaua at home UTA has lost all it's matches with a 1-0 score.As i said in previous UTA previews they do have problems with the squad and also the club management has a lot of problems.

UTA had to owners until about two weeks ago.The two just didn't seem to get along any more as one is accusing the other of not investing the same amount of money and throw the blame on each other for the situation at the team.At least that's what they say in the papers.The truth is that it's all about the money.Two years ago the two decided to invest in soccer and things did not turn out as they expected.

Now one of them decided to leave the club and give up his part and take his investments as advertising but as if that wasn't enough the remaining investor still expects the one that left to pay the VAT taxes which from what i understand are about a few mil. euro.If you ask me both are more that incompetent, not only in leading a soccer club but also in real life and in their businesses.All their so called fortunes are obtained by luck and and i see them going broke in at least 5 years in the way they are administrating their money.And under these circumstances and no real solid financial foundation i don't see a bright future for UTA. Right not they is an a relegation position.

Also as the injury list UTA has wasn't long enough, UTA's new couch also suspended Bruno Simao.I wouldn't rate him as a very important absence for UTA but players like Varga, Baltoi, Radovanovic, i would rate as players that can have an impact on UTA's game play.But all these players also were absent in the match against Farul and as i said before UTA didn't play that bad.

The team that UTA will face today is quite a "special" team.And let me tell you why.First of all because Poli Iasi, along with Otelul Galati, are the only two teams that have failed to obtain at least one points on the road.And the interesting fact is that both teams have acceptable excuses for their misfortunes on the road.Both had to face top Liga I team.Take Poli Iasi for example.Here are their all their away matches so far in this season.

29/07/2007 Poli Timisoara vs. Poli Iasi 3-1

11/08/2007 Steaua Buc. vs. Poli Iasi 1-0

24/08/2007 Ceahlaul vs. Poli Iasi 1-0

23/09/2007 CFR Cluj vs. Poli Iasi 2-1

07/10/2007 Unirea Urziceni vs. Poli Iasi 1-0

You can clearly see that all matches were against top teams in Liga I and they managed quite well against Steaua, Unirea Urziceni losing only 1-0 (against Unirea a late goal in 87 min.) while against CFR they again made a great match losing only by one goal difference in a place where it is hard to make a good game.I even would rate the match against Ceahlaul as a hard match as the two teams are in the same regional very close to each other and that match could have been considered as a regional derby.Any the fact remains that in the last match at Unirea Urziceni, Poli Iasi was only a few minutes away of obtaining their first points on the road.Now they travel to Arad to face a team that has real problems and under these circumstances Poli has all the chances of obtaining their first points on the road.In the sports papers i saw that Poli officials declared that they will travel to Arad in the hope of obtaining all 3 points.It will not be easy to obtain all 3 points as UTA's players do feel the position on which they stand on should really give all they got in this match.

Also it is important two know that Poli Iasi will have 5 important players unavailable for this match.Their most important is in my opinion I. Balba (striker).Plus another fact that leads me to say that Poli Iasi is a "special" team for this match is because they got "Ionut Popa" as couch.The interesting part of this is that Ionut Popa was one UTA's couch and a very love one i have to say.He managed to promote the team in Divizia A about 4 seasons ago and before that helped the team a lot.The last match between the two team was last season, in this year in April when the two teams finished 0-0.I must say that i don't remember assisting at a much boring match than that one.It clearly didn't deserve to have Liga I labeled on it.It looked more like a Liga III match.I don't believe there were more that 5 goal actions in the entire match.It was at the end of the season and i wouldn't exclude a possible fixed match in that match in which a draw was enough for both teams.

But such an event is unlikely today as both teams are in almost desperate need of points.But that doesn't mean i exclude the possibility of another under 2.5 goal match with another 0-0 scoreless draw.In fact i rate this score as the most probable, as UTA's couch said he wants his team to score an early goal which will mean that Poli Iasi will be taken a little hard at the start at the match and then will back up in defense and start defending.And i do have to say that they aren't that bad in defense as they showed they are talented in that compartment in the match against U. Urziceni in the last away match.

I really believe in Poli's chances today in obtaining their first points on the road with at least a draw against UTA.But knowing what UTA's capable of, even with the injury problems i'm going to place only a medium stake on AH Poli Iasi (+0.5).Again Pinnacle comes in our help and offers us some great odds.1.81 to be more exact.A few hours before a began writing this article, the odds where 1.76 so they went up which is quite nice for us.

Pick : away win
Odds : 1.81
Stake : 5 / 10
Bookmaker : Pinnacle
Match Result :
Tipster Personal Link/Sponsor: http://www.smart-betting.com