Criciuma under 2.25 -112 2.5units
Criciuma got rid of 6 players about 2 months back, then let another 7 players go about 3 weeks ago, plus some long term injuries. After that they beat Ceara 3-0 at home and lost 0-1 and 0-2 on the road. They don’t create many scoring opportunities aside from set pieces and even these are usually harmless. The 3 goals vs Ceara were more due to Ceara playing bad defense then Criciumas offensive abilities.
Normally would have taken Botafogo pk, but went with the under instead. Bota went over 2 out of their last 4, scoring 4times in each game. But Sassa scored 3 times and Navarro twice and both strikers are injured. Plus Luis Henrique is back from the under17 world cup, but will be rested here after not feeling 100%. So their best 3 strikers are out and the replacement will play for just the 3rd time this year, 1st time he even starts for Bota. The pitch in Criciuma will be in terrible shape due to the constant rainfall over the last 1.5 months. So don’t expect many good combinations but many misplaced passes and long/high balls…
Vitoria pk (@Macae) +104 2units
Since their 1st encounter Macae went 3-6-9, only beating 14th seed Oeste, 18th seed ABC Natal and league worst Mogi Mirim. Fan support has deteriorated over the last few weeks, so home field advantage should be rather small, plus most of the team supposedly hasn’t been paid for up to 5-6 months, some sort of player association for Rios clubs even went to court, but the case was dismissed this week because their case wasn’t officially launched by the players themselves or some other bullshit argument. Either way, someone could question the players motivation, especially when looking at their recent games…
Vitoria also struggled recently, just 2 points out of their last 3 games, but still in 3rd place and 3points ahead of 5th place (1st 4 seeds move up to Serie A next season). Overall they are the 2nd best road team this year and over the same span, that saw Macae go 3-6-9, they only lost 4 games: 2-3 last week vs Nautico, a team that just gives them fits this season, 1-2 vs leader Botafogo (losing goal conceded in the 95th min, Bota best team in Serie B by far) and 2-1 and 1-0 losses at Bragantino (losing goal conceded in the 91st min, Bragantino best home team) and Sampaio Correa (6th most points at home, one less game. If they win that game, they would actually become the best home team…). So all losses came vs far superior teams than Macae.
Macae also will be without Anselmo, who scored the 2nd most goals for Macae (8 goals, Macae in total scored 40times) and who is one of their most experienced players.
There were some rumors about Vitorias players trying to (re)negoatiate a higher bonus for promotion to Serie A due to their recent struggles, but their coach dismissed those rumors and quite honestly, their performance in the 2-3 loss to Nautico didn't really support those claims anyways.
Criciuma got rid of 6 players about 2 months back, then let another 7 players go about 3 weeks ago, plus some long term injuries. After that they beat Ceara 3-0 at home and lost 0-1 and 0-2 on the road. They don’t create many scoring opportunities aside from set pieces and even these are usually harmless. The 3 goals vs Ceara were more due to Ceara playing bad defense then Criciumas offensive abilities.
Normally would have taken Botafogo pk, but went with the under instead. Bota went over 2 out of their last 4, scoring 4times in each game. But Sassa scored 3 times and Navarro twice and both strikers are injured. Plus Luis Henrique is back from the under17 world cup, but will be rested here after not feeling 100%. So their best 3 strikers are out and the replacement will play for just the 3rd time this year, 1st time he even starts for Bota. The pitch in Criciuma will be in terrible shape due to the constant rainfall over the last 1.5 months. So don’t expect many good combinations but many misplaced passes and long/high balls…
Vitoria pk (@Macae) +104 2units
Since their 1st encounter Macae went 3-6-9, only beating 14th seed Oeste, 18th seed ABC Natal and league worst Mogi Mirim. Fan support has deteriorated over the last few weeks, so home field advantage should be rather small, plus most of the team supposedly hasn’t been paid for up to 5-6 months, some sort of player association for Rios clubs even went to court, but the case was dismissed this week because their case wasn’t officially launched by the players themselves or some other bullshit argument. Either way, someone could question the players motivation, especially when looking at their recent games…
Vitoria also struggled recently, just 2 points out of their last 3 games, but still in 3rd place and 3points ahead of 5th place (1st 4 seeds move up to Serie A next season). Overall they are the 2nd best road team this year and over the same span, that saw Macae go 3-6-9, they only lost 4 games: 2-3 last week vs Nautico, a team that just gives them fits this season, 1-2 vs leader Botafogo (losing goal conceded in the 95th min, Bota best team in Serie B by far) and 2-1 and 1-0 losses at Bragantino (losing goal conceded in the 91st min, Bragantino best home team) and Sampaio Correa (6th most points at home, one less game. If they win that game, they would actually become the best home team…). So all losses came vs far superior teams than Macae.
Macae also will be without Anselmo, who scored the 2nd most goals for Macae (8 goals, Macae in total scored 40times) and who is one of their most experienced players.
There were some rumors about Vitorias players trying to (re)negoatiate a higher bonus for promotion to Serie A due to their recent struggles, but their coach dismissed those rumors and quite honestly, their performance in the 2-3 loss to Nautico didn't really support those claims anyways.
