Both, Egypt and Ivory Coast are strong teams on paper. Bookmakers see Ivory Coast in front by a bit.
If the bookmakers put the Ivory Coast team ahead, I would definitely bet on Egypt. I will take the risk, and if Egypt can win, I will benefit more. I bet on Egypt because Mohammed Salah is here. One of my favorite players is Salah Senegal is still in the branch to the final for Tunisia. In fat they are probably the strongest team there now and should be watched. Today they should qualify against Cape Verde. Senegal is not a weak team though. However, today they are not able to play well against Cape Verde. Cape Verde 10 players are playing but Senegal are not able to score a goal. The 2nd game today is Morocco vs Malawi. Morocco should qualify here. The difficulty will await in the quarter finals ( the winner from the Egypt vs Ivory Coast match)
Morocco will win against Malawi. I think one is an easy choice. Morocco are the favorites in this match. I will bet on their victory.
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I am for meritocracy - the strongest (UEFA zone) should receive more tickets. How much this is a debatable question, but it can be clarified separately. The situation when some 7th strongest team from Africa does not get to the final part of the World Cup and this is considered unfair is absurd. If you cannot beat the 6 teams that are ahead of you, then you should not demand more quotas, but start playing stronger.
Agree with this. The real issue is with the continent based qualification process. Ideally, there should be a second round of qualification. Out of the 48 slots for the 2026 world cup, 50% (or 24 slots) can be decided on the basis of confederation-level qualifier tournaments. IMO, the remaining 24 slots should come from a second round of global qualifying event. Now this takes care of two issues: since 24 teams come from the first round, none of the continents will lose representation. And then, since there is a global qualifier, weaker teams will get kicked out and only the stronger teams will qualify. FIFA's proposal to hold a world cup event every 2 years is indeed a good idea, for those of us who love football, we strongly agree with fifa's proposal, but from the club and player perspective, it is certain that we will reject fifa's policy, the players will be overwhelmed, because the players no longer exist because they no longer have time off with their families, and the club will lose money, because players who are bought at high prices, will be prone to injury, and their fitness will also decline, especially the EPL league which has a busy schedule, of course they the first to oppose fifa policies.. It is obvious because players do have to stay healthy to play and with the world cup happening every two years they will face a lot of health issues. And we have to remember that the world cup once every four years is a lifelong tradition and it has been in going on since the start so it will be hard for the players to adapt to such a thing. We have already seen a lot of players with great potential get lost in time because of injuries. And honestly, we do not want to see that anymore and if the world cup happens once every two years it is more likely to happen.
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It was an entertaining match I have to say. Even though the Lakers played really well in the last quarter, but it was not enough for them to get the win. Heat got the early lead in the first quarter as they were 39-25. Butler is back and he scored 20 points with 12 assists and 10 rebounds. Duncan Robinson gave him good support by scoring 25 points. Lebron is as always the goat for the Lakers, he scored 33 points, and to my surprise, WB also played a good game but you know, it wasn't enough to beat the Heat.
When you have Westbrook and LeBron having great games and it's still not enough to overcome an opponent, you know that something is wrong with the supporting cast. Please don't blame Vogel, Lebron, or Westbrook for this. It's essentially a disaster in the making given that they are such a badly constructed team. The lack of continuity between seasons is certainly a contributing factor towards their demise as well. There has someone to be blamed, when the team is not working well then most likely the problem is the coach because he has the authority to make a command for the success of the team. LA Lakers is a team, although they have Lebron and Westbrook, they need to work as a team in order for them to become a championship team. @timerland, In the past few matches WB was off-form and that impacted them hugely as they lost a couple of matches in recent times. Lebron has always been consistent. If Davis can return asap, they can be one of the best teams in the league. @stadus, Your point is valid, playing as a team is very important but I think WB has to be blamed other than anyone else. When he plays bad, the whole team plays bad and there's a reason for it. He's the PG and he has the duty of build-up play and assisting. So he should play more consistently.
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So Nigeria is gone after Algeria, which team is favorite now? Looks like Senegal and Egypt have the lowest odds but we'll see if they can pass last 16 round. Ivory Coast is one of the heavy hitters here, one of them will be eliminated early. Aboubakar carried Cameroon and now they are in quarter finals. He already scored six goals in four matches, that's very impressive. I wish we still had him in Beşiktaş but he picked the big money, can't blame him though. He's earning six million Euro per year. He may finish the tournament as top goalscorer. Cameroon want this cup just like they won in 2017.
My prediction is that Egypt will win today against Ivory Coast. And we can watch the semi-final match between Cameroon and Egypt. I would be happy to see the final match of Cameroon vs Egypt. But this is not possible. The Tunisian team is very unpredictable. Their win against Nigeria was unexpected. I wouldn't be surprised if they made it to the finals. Because the teams that are likely to be Tunisia's opponents are not very strong.
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Barcelona were losing points by conceding simple goals in the last matches, this time it was the opposite. They won the match which they didn't play very well, with the goal they found in the last moments. No doubt they needed this win. They are way behind in the standings. Although they are far from the championship, they must do their best to finish the league in second place at least. Xavi couldn't figure some things out. If he's going to rebuild the team, he should start now. We should see a better Barcelona next season. Fans can't stand two seasons in a row without any championship chance.
Although often experiencing difficulties in every game, barcelona is now starting to be stable enough to get points in the league, slowly they are starting to approach the top 4 position and this is a threat to athletico who actually ran quite fast at the beginning of the season from barcelona, although not fully improved but xavi looks to have managed to overcome the pressure by improving the quality of Barcelona current game. Since Ferran Torres joined the Barcelona team, Barcelona has played great in every match. Barcelona's attack was very weak. Now it has begun to stabilize. If Fati, Depay and Torres can play without injury, Barcelona will be able to maintain their consistent performance. But Barcelona's midfield is not yet stable enough. Next season, maybe Barcelona will stabilize the midfield. Barcelona can improve themselves, but Atletico Madrid is not playing well. Suarez and Griezmann are out of form. Its effect is seen on the entire team.
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I think the event tonight isn't PSG winning with 4 goals against Reims but Ramos scoring a goal ![Grin](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/grin.gif) So far the gap between PSG and the others is quite big and reassuring since PSG will have quite hard games from now until mid-February whether in French Cup (Nice), Ligue 1 (Lille, Rennes) and CL (Real Madrid)! PSG will play two more matches in Ligue 1 before the Champions League match. In the first week of February, they will play against Lille, and in the second week, they will play against Rennes. PSG will probably play with their main squad against Lille. But PSG will form their second-tier team to play against Rennes. Because the Champions League match is more important to them than Ligue 1. They do not want any of their players will be injured before the Champions League. If Rennes can play well, thay have a chance to beat PSG.
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Miami Heat - LA Lakers game was really delightful and Heat won the game just as I expected. It was a 113-107 victory and Heat totally deserved it by a great team play. Lebron was Lakers' best as always. He got 33 pts, 11 reb. This time, Westbrook also played well and he got 24 pts, 9 reb, 9 ast. He was really close to making a triple-double. But Lakers still lost the game as the rest of the players couldn't contribute too much. Heat have captured the lead in the conference again by this win and I really wonder what they will do in the playoffs.
It was an entertaining match I have to say. Even though the Lakers played really well in the last quarter, but it was not enough for them to get the win. Heat got the early lead in the first quarter as they were 39-25. Butler is back and he scored 20 points with 12 assists and 10 rebounds. Duncan Robinson gave him good support by scoring 25 points. Lebron is as always the goat for the Lakers, he scored 33 points, and to my surprise, WB also played a good game but you know, it wasn't enough to beat the Heat.
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South Africa has lost 5 wickets and if they lose one or two more quickly, it will be hard for the South Africans to reach 270+. I will not under estimate this Indian team especially when they have already lost the series and have no pressure on them. Indian can chase any target in this match as they will play freely without the pressure to win the match. India have played and lost each match freely. For India, defeat is now a daily occurrence. In today's match, if the Indian bowlers could have bowled tidy in the last 10-15 overs, they would have had a chance to hold South Africa to 250 runs. They were too late to take Kock's wicket. As a result, a huge target of 288 runs is now in front of India. India has scored 61 runs in 13 overs, but they have lost the wicket of Captain Rahul.
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South Africa vs India
It's 3rd and the last match of the series. India won the toss and was elected to field. I don't want to bet on India's victory anymore. Batsmen are not regular, moreover, Indian bowlers are not doing well on such a pitch. South Africa has scored 42 runs in 8 overs, but they have already lost their 2 wickets. However, opener de Kock is still at the crease with 27 runs. If he stays at the crease, South Africa will be able to give big targets.
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Mad rumors for newcastle seems wont stop.
as time goes by ... there is a lot of top player linked with the crazy rich arab money club. ramsey and lingaard have been on their radar since the first day and now balotelli and an interest for real madrid mega fail transfer eden hazard , damn newcastle if they do completed these transfer , im pretty sure they are 100% guaranteed avoiding the relegation. mad newcastle in january , i couldnt wait to see who's else join them in.
There is no doubt they can spend very big amount for staying into Premier League and right now they are in talk with some good number of players for having strong squad because currently 18th in Premier League with having very tough competition between few teams for avoiding relegation is just possible with good number of quality players, and it's all possible with money which is available in their wallet for spending, and they already announce they will do their best for staying here. About Eden Hazard it's just rumor because Real Madrid coach is already announcing he is not leaving club, but Newcastle is already trying to have few other players which are surely in talk with them for coming with some good finances and bonuses for giving their 100% for this struggling club which has first won after some long time in Saturday match against Leeds United. I don't think Hazard would be leaving RMA as Anchelloti already said to the press that he is sure to keep Hazard at the club as Hazard has an important role for him in the next season. But with the money, Newcastle have, it's not surprising that so many players are linked to the club. If they can bag 1 or 2 star players asap, I think they can avoid relegations as they are currently only 1 point away from the relegation zone. I just hope that they can avoid relegations so that more players are interested to come to Newcastle.
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Lakers managed to beat Orlando but we have to remember that Orlando is literally at the bottom of the league with only 8 wins. So, it was always expected of Lakers to win against Orlando and for some reason people are acting like that is a big win. On top of that they are shopping Westbrook now, or at least that is what was talked about on Reddit, and Rockets were interested in him.
A Wall for Westbrook trade could realistically happen and that would be even worse for Lakers as well. Lakers just need to find a way to play Westbrook better, they haven't done that all year and they are acting like Westbrook is the problem. They should have gotten a better player to start off with, he just doesn't fit the system, but if they really want to change something then it should be their head coach and not westbrook, I am not his big fan but at least he is working hard.
I would say that with the form the Lakers are on right now, even a win against Magic, who are at the bottom of the table, will give them a slight morale boost they very badly need right now. And I don't think that trading Westbrook for Wall would be bad for them in my eyes. WB hasn't been able to create the chemistry needed with his teammates so far and you know, Paul George is a very important position for a team's build-up. So I think it's worth a try to give Wall a shot and see how he does. Moreover, WB has aged and I personally think that he has left his golden times way behind in his past.
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Rashford closing score was so shocking. That was quite good because throughout the second half Bruno and Telles always failed to execute a kick because it was too selfish to force a long-range shot that didn't matter at all. The presence of Cavani provided an ideal pass and ended with a goal in a crucial minute.
Quite a dramatic match. The last minute becomes a very tense battle, both teams take turns attacking but in the end, good teamwork from Man United's attacking line can lead to a goal and this is enough for Man United to gain 3 full points. With this result, Man United managed to snatch 4th place from West Ham. Manchester United is tooo much lucky. They won the match by scoring a goal in 90 + 3 minutes of extra time. Edison Cavani was assisted and Rashford scored. Bruno's performance in today's match was good. He has worked hard. However, Ronaldo is not able to do as much as Manchester United expects from Ronaldo. Ronaldo's performance was poor. We have seen Ronaldo's poor performance in the last few matches. If Ronaldo returns to form, maybe Manchester United will be able to stabilize.
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I would have added PSG but to me PSG aren’t really a team that can compete with Bayern Munich even with all those great players in the team especially the attack, the chemistry isn’t really there when they play and that is why they are having a hard time scoring goals. Domestically PSG have lost just one match with 5 draws and winning 15 games, but we know they are not really in a competitive league. And I don’t think the manager have enough champions league experience to know the right thing to do when the going gets tough. Champions league is very competitive and considered the highest league trophy in football.
PSG is a great team if you look at them on paper but considering the fact that they don't have much competition in their League, and Neymar currently seems to be more concerned about fragging out in counter strike global offensive than to scoring goals, I don't think PSG is in any situation to beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League. And I think we can all agree that we have never seen that type of chemistry which we expected from the star players in the team. And I also agree about the manager not being very experienced in the Champions League. So I honestly do not give PSG much of a chance to beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
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No, let AC Milan have hope of staying close to the points that Inter have. LOL Inter definitely have the ability to win the match vs Venice so they will keep a good distance from AC Milan. Meanwhile, AC Milan faces a difficult match vs Juventus so there is a possibility that they will lose points in this match, either with a draw or a loss. Now that Juventus are much more stable and finding their best game, it will make them more excited to win than AC Milan, but anything can still happen and maybe Milan can win that match in the end too. This's my prediction for the match. AC Milan vs Juventus 2-1 Inter vs Venezia 3-1 Lazio vs Atalanta 0-2
You made mistake prediction about games between AC Milan vs Juventus, check last several match both team. Juventus success win last two match before on Serie A when defeating Udinese 2-0 and going on take three points from AS Roma hands with score 3-4. Depend AC Milan just got easy team but failed get three points, last two match before Milan defeated by Venezia as mediocre team and playing home on San Siro not guarantee for Milan easy to get three points from Juventus. Position standing Juventus on the table still out from top four position and need three points back to champion league position standing and defeating Milan is one way to make Juventus back top position standing again. AC Milan vs Juventus is not really easy to predict right now. because AC Milan has been playing well in this season and also better than Juventus but right now Juventus has started to find their form and climbing up steadily in the points table. If it was about a few times ago I would have predicted that Juventus will lose but now it is hard to say that Juventus will lose against AC Milan considering the form they are in. But on the other hand, AC Milan has played well also in this season. It is really hard to say that one team will outclass another but I also don't see this match to be ending in a draw. It is best to say that Juventus should win this match because they are in form right now.
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Frankfurt didn't play too badly. they had more possession of the ball. they are strong in the middle but always fail to pass the ball forward. they made a good attack. but Bielefeld's defense did look good in this match. moreover, Bielefeld managed to score a goal early in the game. this took Frankfurt by surprise and took the pressure off. the midfield game began to panic and was too hasty to score goals. there were 18 shots with 10 corners, but could not be converted into 1 goal.
I didn't think Frankfurt would lose the home match. I lost the bet in this match. My guess was that the match would be a draw. Arminia Bielefeld took the lead after scoring the first goal of the match. After that they started defensive gameplay. Throughout the match we saw the dominance of Frankfurt. Frankfur dominated and they attacked a lot. But Arminia's defenders played great in this match. For the awesome performance of defender and goalkeeper, Arminia won this match. I would say that in this match the man of the match should be given to the goalkeeper Moreno. for me, too, arminia bielefeld's 2-0 away win in frankfurt yesterday came as a surprise. the action of the game was the preparation of bielefeld player Patrick Wimmer, who prepared the 2-0 with a so-called rabona cross. ![Shocked](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/shocked.gif) ![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FEnFVGgg-eGU%2Fhqdefault.jpg&t=665&c=QI1r8aVgiuPrJw) Well, that is something that you don't see every day. I think that the players were really confident to win this match which lead them to do some awesome stuff in the field. We have to give credit to the goal scorer as well because without the goal the cross would have been forgotten about, to be honest. But yes I also have to agree that this came to me as a surprise like you and I also thought that the home team would be the winner in this match. Credit to Armenia for pulling out Sachin's wonderful performance and coming out as the winners of this match.
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The problem between Barcelona and Dembele is still going on seemingly. Barcelona are trying to sell him before the end of this month. But Dembele made a statement lately and said that he didn't want to leave the club now. He is aiming to play for Barcelona for a longer time now. But I think that sending him from the club is the best thing that Barcelona can do now. Because he is a big disappointment and he should get going very soon. Barcelona can find a much better winger than him.
But this becomes a difficult move to pull when the player isnt ready to be moved. And because both parties want different outcomes the best is to let the contract run and once its elapsed its usefulness they should not renew his contract which will allow him to join other clubs as a free agent. It's just that the Barcelona leadership and Dembele have different interests and, accordingly, different views on this situation. At the same time, you can perfectly understand the club, which is working to optimize its financial expenses and, accordingly, the desire to save on contracts and the desire of the football player and his agent to earn more. At the same time, it is really possible to talk about blackmailing each other's parties, because Barcelona is an employer and can suspend a player from the activities of a player who can leave in the summer as a free agent. Therefore, now the main hope is for a meeting between the player's agent and the club's management next week, where the parties will try to come to a compromise. In this situation, Barcelona should not let Dembele leave. Because that would be the best for both the club and the player but the difference between them both seems to be really noticeable. And regarding the financial situation of Barcelona, they should also think about what's best for them financially as well in the field. so I think that Barcelona should try their best to keep him in the team and maybe in that way they can make more money out of him later but there is also a question of him underperforming while staying in the club and that will ultimately result in wasting money. So it's a tough decision for both parties I would say. So we have to wait and see what happens in the meeting between the players' agent and the management.
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Just like I was expecting, Espanyol was beaten by Real Betis yesterday. Is was really an interesting match to watch. Although, Espanyol was the first to goal, they scored their first goal 14 minutes into the game. Unfortunately for them, Betis got a penalty kick which they Scored and probably equalize the score. While, they were able to secure more 3 goals, which made the match to end with a 1-4 score. Also, Rodriguez scored his first goal of the season against Espanyol yesterday.
Real Betis took advantage of Espanyol's weak defense. If Espanyol's forward lineup is a bit better then the defense is very weak. Real Betis attacked a lot, probably they made 15 shots in the entire match. In the first half we saw the dominance of players from both teams. But Espanyol slowly retreated. Real Betis maintained their dominance in the second half and scored two more goals. If Espanyol want to do well in the upcoming matches, they should look at their defense now.
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India is going through a very difficult time now. The players are consistently playing badly, and from the board, all the players are under some mental pressure. Kohli has relinquished his captaincy. KL Rahul is now the new captain. He is not succeeding anywhere in captaincy and batting. Fans in India will definitely want to see a better innings from Rahul in this match. I will take the risk of betting for India today. I want to take this risk even if India's odd's is low. I don't think India will make the same mistakes in today's match as in the previous one.
After winning the toss, India captain KL Rahul decided to bat. If the top order is successful, India will be able to give a big target. Because Iyer and Ashwin don't seem to be in good form now. It would be foolish to expect more from them. With a target of less than 280 runs on this pitch, India will not be able to win today. Because the pitch is batting friendly at the same time, the Indian bowlers could not do well in the previous match except Bumrah. So today if India wants to win or dominate the match then they must give more than 300 targets. At the end of 4 overs, India collected 26 runs without losing a wicket
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Tottenham have played great and they deserve this win. Their gameplay was very awesome and tidy. The strategy was good so they won, at the same time Kane is now in good form. Tottenham were very aggressive in this match. Tottenham made a total of 27 shots in this match, Harry Kane made 10 shots. The players have been able to play better due to the change of strategy. Tottenham's players have the ability to score goals. Yet so far we have seen their defensive gameplay. Tottenham will rise to the top of the points table if Tottenham continues to do so in future matches and if Kane and Son can play properly.
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Leicester have a habit of playing well against top teams and losing to weaker teams, in my many years of watching the team as a fan I have noticed that ![Smiley](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/smiley.gif) Besides, they are in good form now, I would even say very good, so Tottenham will either have to put the pressure on Lees straight away, or keep a moderate game and score towards the end. It's not a good idea to push at the start because even if they manage to score, Leicester will easily come back to haunt them later on. Today we see a different Tottenham team. Their match strategy has changed. It seems that the coach has realized that it is impossible to win against a team like Leicester by playing defensively. So from the start of the match we have seen a lot of attacks from Tottenham players. Leicester are now forced to play somewhat defensively due to Tottenham's massive attack. The match is still a 1-1 draw.
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