Betting Tip
Vernydub’s players clearly burned out emotionally in their first match of the season. Neftchi made a brilliant start — their first shot on target immediately brought a goal, and after a few more attacks the Azerbaijanis added a second. Then the mistakes began: the black-and-whites simply could not cope with the tempo, repeatedly allowing their opponents into free space from where it was easy to shoot. Perhaps Vardanyan’s freak goal before the break affected Vernydub’s team — the goalkeeper failed to deal with a routine situation and was then substituted at half-time because of an injury. By the 57th minute Neftchi were behind: their opponents completely controlled the game and by the final whistle had taken nine shots on target to the hosts’ four.
One definite plus for Dinamo is how they handled the psychological side. The Minsk side did not give up after the opponents’ early sprint at the start of the match, and Shagoyko also made smart substitutions. Sokolovski, Gweth and Alykulov raised the tempo in the opposition half — it was the Kyrgyzstan international who, with a slaloming solo run, earned a penalty. He failed to convert it, but reacted well to score on the rebound. In fact, the blue-and-whites could have increased the tempo even more — the coaching staff used only four substitutions, and Lutskovich could also have been useful in attack.
In the same Stara Zagora at Beroe Stadium, two weeks ago Dinamo suffered an illogical defeat against Sileks (0:1), after which they had to fight back in North Macedonia (2:0 after a penalty). On paper Neftchi clearly have the stronger squad, but the Minsk side punished the Azerbaijanis intelligently on the counter-attack — the difference in fitness levels showed. We think no one will get close to winning on Thursday — this could be a match with goals, or a low-scoring encounter with the nominal hosts focused on defence.