The Footy Tipster Free football betting tips from an expert on worldwide football

Club Nacional de Montevideo vs Estudiantes De La Plata

The Copa Libertadores is gradually reaching its climax! This is unfortunate because I (like many) enjoy ridiculously high numbers of red cards the good football on show. Today's semi-final game is the second leg which sees Uruguayan giants Club Nacional de Montevideo entertain an Argentinian that have somehow fought their way to this position - Estudiantes De La Plata. The Argentinians have been far from convincing in this tournament, particularly on the road. In fact, from the six away games they've scored in the tournament, they've only managed to score two goals in that time, and that includes games against lower class opposition like Bolivia's Universitario de Sucre. They've not been playing good football, in my opinion, yet somehow they've managed to stumble their way here. Having won the first leg 1-0 already, the Argentinians won't have come here to do anything other than put their team bus in front of the goal. Unfortunately, they've left this game in the balance at one of the most fearsome away games you can play in the Copa Libertadores at the moment. The hosts haven't lost here in fifteen home games in the Copa Libertadores and that does look distinctly ominous for a poor away side like Estudiantes De La Plata. Club Nacional de Montevideo simply have to win this game, regardless of what happens. The visitors can lose and still progress, however, so I am getting a strong sense of a home win here. Unfortunately for the Uruguayans, I've got a 2-1 scoreline in my head (with plenty of cards, naturally!) and with odds of 6/5 on a home win, you can't help but take a bite of this one! For the record though, I do hope the hosts progress because they've certainly earned it far more in this tournament than the visitors in my opinion.

Wednesday's Picks

My tips:

Club Nacional de Montevideo vs Estudiantes De La Plata - home win at 6/5 - see introduction for further details

Tre Fiori vs Sant Julia - away win at 11/8. I gotta tell you here that despite the lack of quality on show, this will be an extremely interesting fixture because it's two of the minnows of Europe that are competing here. Even the bookies are struggling to seperate these two! Just in case you are struggling to seperate these two sides - Tre Fiori are from San Marino and Sant Julia are from Andorra. There really isn't an awful lot to choose between these two sides but there is one fundamental difference that I think really does make a difference - player nationality. Tre Fiori only have San Marinese players. They have no cultural variety or difference in style - it's all the same. Sant Julia are full of a wide variety of nationalities, the majority of which are flambuoyant players from hispanic countries like Argentina and Spain. Sant Julia compete in European football more often than their opponents and can score goals. For those reasons, I'm liking the away win here at 11/8 probably a bit more than I should given that both sides are pretty poor!

VPS Vaasa vs HJK Helsinki - away win at 10/11. HJK Helsinki have beaten VPS Vaasa the last three times they've met in all competitions. In fact, VPS Vaasa haven't even scored against HJK Helsinki in the Veikkausliiga since 2007. However, VPS Vaasa have been on a tremendous run lately, boasting five wins from their last five games, which is currently the best form in the league. I think that's why the bookies are giving good odds of 10/11 on an away win here. They've nailed some impressive scalps too and have certainly tightened up defensively having only leaked two goals in their last five games, and both of those were last match. However, that does sway me further towards the away win, really - if a side can concede two goals at home to lowly JJK Jyvaskyla then you've got some issues somewhere! HJK Helsinki aren't big goalscorers or conceders on the road so this should be an interesting game to view the outcome of, even if it is a boring spectacle. I like the away win and I like under 2.5 goals or even under 1.5 goals at whatever odds you can take them at.

RoPS Rovaniemi vs JJK Jyvaskyla - both sides to score. Both of these relegation battling sides have played pretty well lately, even if results haven't shown it. Both have battled hard and scored goals against good sides. This should be a gritty game with a few cards flying around. I can see a home win on the day but that's not my betting focus. My focus on this game is both sides to score. Both sides have managed to find the net for the last three games in a row, all of which were better sides than these two. I predict that neither side will keep the other out, particularly as neither has kept a clean sheet in their last four games either! This should be a goal fest - take both sides to score or over 2.5 goals here, maybe even over 3.5 goals.

Kawasaki Frontale vs Gamba Osaka - home win at 6/5. These odds look a real bargain here. Not only are Kawasaki Frontale flying at the moment with five league wins in a row, but they also have the mental edge over Gamba Osaka after winning away to them 3-2 in the first leg of their Asian Champions League Knockout Stage clash. The hosts also boast an impressive home record in the J-League so far - five home wins and a draw from six home games. However, do approach this bet with caution as Gamba Osaka are still one of the best sides in the country. Their form is poor, or was until they managed to claim three points last match, their first win in three games. One final point, however - Kawasaki Frontale have won this fixture the last three seasons in a row. The decision is yours, but 6/5 looks awfully tempting...

Nagoya Grampus vs Kashima Antlers - away win at evens. I'm not a big advocate of betting on Eastern Asian games, particularly not away wins, but this one has to be in the bag, surely? Kashima Antlers are top of the table which is largely due to the fact that they've won their last seven league games in a row and have won five away games from seven this season. Whereas Nagoya Grampus aren't anywhere near as bad a side as the table indicates, their form is poor and they've now succumbed to three defeats in a row. Their heads will have dropped and will no doubt have fresh in their memory the 4-0 hammering they took here at home to Kashima Antlers last season and wonder what's in store for them. Evens is beginning to look pretty damn good, isn't it?

As ever, any questions/explanations required, feel free to email me at thefootytipster@gmail.com. For the complete picks listing, see below!

Copa Libertadores:

Club Nacional de Montevideo vs Estudiantes De La Plata (7) 2-1, at least one red card in this game

UEFA European Champions League:

Tre Fiori vs Sant Julia (7) 1-2

Ecuadorian Primera A:

Manta vs Liga de Quito (7) under 2.5 goals

Finnish Veikkausliiga:

VPS Vaasa vs HJK Helsinki (7) 0-1
RoPS Rovaniemi vs JJK Jyvaskyla (7) 3-2
Tampere United vs Inter Turku (6) under 2.5 goals

Icelandic Landsbankadeild Karla:

Fylkir Reykjavik vs IBV Vestmannaeyjar (8) 3-1

Japanese J-League:

Kawasaki Frontale vs Gamba Osaka (7) 2-1
Nagoya Grampus vs Kashima Antlers (8) 1-2

Latvian Virsliga:

Blazma Rezekne vs Skonto Riga (8) 1-2
Olimps Riga vs Liepajas Metalurgs (8) 0-2

Norwegian Tippeligaen:

Lillestrom vs Start Kristiansand (6) 2-2

Singaporean S-League:

DPMM FC vs Balestier Khalsa (10) -1.75 handicap

Enjoy your free betting tips!

Hibernians (Malta) vs Mogren

Just over a month has passed since Barcelona won their third Champions League title and the new Champions League season has already began, which is largely unbeknown to the vast majority! However, this round is almost like the preliminary round of the preliminaries as just four sides compete in this round - Hibernians (Malta), Mogren, Sant Julia and Tre Fori. The winners of each respective tie enter the next round, which I believe starts in two weeks time.

Today's game in Malta sees the hosts entertain a tough opponent in Montenegrin side Mogren. It almost seems a little harsh on them that they're having to qualify at such a ridiculously early stage having won their league last season, but I suppose UEFA knows best! Unlike the average Montenegrin side, Mogren have shown that they have the ability to win away from home as well as at home. This will come in handy today, particularly as Hibernians aren't anywhere near as good as they are. That said, I can't see this being a whitewash; I think Mogren will be happy with a couple of goals and most probably will win 2-1 tonight and finish the job in the return leg. The early odds I've seen for this are about 5/4, which is a steal!

Tuesday's Picks

My tips:

The only game I like the look of today in terms of value is the one I've mentioned in the introduction, sorry guys!

As ever, any questions/explanations required, feel free to email me at thefootytipster@gmail.com. For the complete picks listing, see below!

UEFA Champions League Qualifiers:

Hibernians (Malta) vs Mogren (7) 1-2

Latvian Virsliga:

Daugava Riga vs Ventspils (8) 1-2

International Friendly:

Guatemala vs Canada (7) under 2.5 goals

Norwegian Adeccoligaen:

Hamarkamaratene vs Moss (8)

Singaporean S-League:

Home United vs Albirex Niigate (7) 2-1
Woodlands vs Armed Forces (8) 1-2

Enjoy your free betting tips!

England U21 vs Germany U21

Today's featured game is the UEFA European U21 Championship final between England U21 and Germany U21. Both sides have been impressive and truly earned their respective pre-tournament "favourite" tags. The two sides met earlier on in the tournament in a fairly redundant encounter but there were certain things you coud pick up on from this game. For instance, England U21 rested a good number of their first team players and still managed to draw the game 1-1 with Germany U21. Whereas that doesn't necessarily mean that England U21 are better than Germany U21, it does give an indication of more strength in depth, more options in both attack and defence which could prove key in this encounter. Unfortunately, quite a number of key players are missing from this game. For England U21, strikers Campbell and Agbonlahor miss the game through suspension, as does unfortunate goalkeeper Joe Hart, who was booked for the laughable "crime" of talking to the Sweden U21 team as they took penalties against him. Whereas I'll agree it's not sportsmanlike, there's no rule in the game that says it can't be done. Germany U21 are missing lethal striker Ashkan Dejagah, also through suspension. The U21 games are already generally rather compact encounters, let alone with both sides missing key attacking players. For that reason, taking under 2.5 goals looks worthwhile, although the odds are a shitty 1/2. To be honest, I'd even look at taking the under 1.5 goals card at 6/4 because Germany U21 aren't big scorers to begin with - they've only scored more than one goal in a game once in their last eight games - and England U21 are missing attacking players so would probably take a 1-0 win, particularly to banish the memory of their horrendous defensive antics against Sweden U21 in the semi-finals that saw England U21 throw away a 3-0 lead. Aside from the above bets, the only other I like is taking England U21 to win in 90 minutes at 6/4 because they're just better than their opponents today and they will treat this game with massive importance (aside from it being a final) because English players and fans have a very fierce rivalry with German fans/players for obvious reasons. Either way, I don't think we're going to witness a classic game here but there's certainly some value in it.

Monday's Picks

My tips:

England U21 vs Germany U21 - England U21 to win at 6/4, under 1.5 goals at 6/4 - see introduction for full details.

Staebek vs Brann Bergen - home win at 10/11. Reigning champions Staebek are beginning to find the form that won them the Tippeligaen last season, winning three of their last four games, the other game being a defeat away to league leaders Rosenborg. The ever-unpredictable Brann Bergen enter this game with two wins from their past four games but have only lost three out of eight away games this season, which emphasises their "tricky customer" status. Staebek have a decent home record with three wins, three draws and only one defeat at home this season. An important statistic to be aware of is that they are the third highest goalscorers in the league at home against a Brann Bergen defence that ships in more goals than most sides on the road. For the above reasons I'm going to call a narrow home win, particularly as Staebek won this fixture last season and have only lost once to Brann Bergen in their last three meetings, which included two trips to Brann Bergen. 10/11 looks a potential steal for this game.

As ever, any questions/explanations required, feel free to email me at thefootytipster@gmail.com. For the complete picks listing, see below!

UEFA European U21 Championship:

England U21 vs Germany U21 (7) 1-0

Icelandic Landsbankadeild Karla:

KR Reykjavik vs Breidablik Kopavogur (8) 2-0

Norwegian Tippeligaen:

Staebek vs Brann Bergen (7) 2-1

Singaporean S-League:

Super Reds vs Sengkang Punggol (8) 2-0

Enjoy your free betting tips!