Romania are a superb home team. They are so good they have not lost at home for 16 straight games. Their last loss at home was a 1-2 friendly defeat by the Ivory Coast. In their last 11 matches at home, they have won 10, with the other one drawn, 0-0 against France. They have beaten some good teams as well, including Serbia (4-0), Russia (3-0), Holland (1-0), Turkey (2-0) and Slovenia (2-0). Lithuania have proved to be tricky oppositions to some teams however, and they might cause Romania a problem or two. However, Lithuania's bad record against better teams away from home could prove to be their downfall.

Romania boast some quality players, but they must tackle today's match without their inspirational striker Adrian Mutu. As such, Ciprian Marica, Daniel Niculae and Niculae Dica will be looked upon to fire Romania through. Lithuania's main men must surely be Jankauskas and Danilevius. Jankauskas is a very experienced forward, while Danilevius is Lithuania's captain and top scorer. Still, I think Romania are just too good. The last 3 times these sides played at Romania's home turf, Romania won each and every time, without conceding a single goal. With that in mind, Romania look tempting!

(c) asianhandicap

Baner