Athlone are very unstable in their performances. That's why home team is still close to the bottom. Already six matches without a win, but the optimistic part is that when come the important matches versus direct rivals, they earn good result. After four unbeatable home games, two weeks ago Limerick won 0-3 here. On this stadium most of the leaders take three points, so Dundalk should do the same.

Dundalk took good advantige after 2-1 win over Waterford. But after lose from Limerick, their lead on the top is just two points. Now, after two away games without a win, now Dundalk must win and if Shelbourn win, they will have again 5 points lead.

Dundalk lost last-year promotion, so now i am sure they will do everything possible to win First division.

Envigado made very good Apertura. They were fifth in regular season and after that finished second in their group. But this did not give them place to play in contitental tournaments. So in Clausura must take it. After 6 rounds they are still unbeaten and have 10 points. Envigado looks very solid at home. Goalkerper Roberto Mosquera and striker Mauricio Gonzalez recoverd from injuries and are ready to play.

Chico last Apertura, booked place in Copa Libertadores, so they can play more easily. Now Chico have many injured players and that why they have just 4 points so far. But as i said this is not so important for them. Their main purpose now is Copa Columbia.

Envigado are very good at home, some players are back in squad and should win here.

Finnish Veikkausliiga enters in it's decisive phase just 8 rounds before the end of the season.

Tampere are one of the teams who don't have any chance to reach something other than middle-table place. So their motivation is not so big. They are three matches without a win, but we should mark United have some injure problems. Today they will play without defender Kuoppala, midfielders Savolainen and Saarinen and forward Niemi. Last three players are regulars.

HJK won last week versus leaders Inter Turku at home 3-2, so now they must keep good performance. Team from Helsinki is just two points behind Inter and again can think for gold medals. Visitors will be without defender Aho, but he can be replaced. After three consecutive away wins, in the last visit they lost from Kups 2-3, with a winning goal in 90th minute.

HJK is very motivated now, they are close to leader so must take three important points.

Az Alkmaar open their campaign with a home match versus third-placed from last year Nac Breda.

Last season Alkmaar didn't perform very good. They finished 11th on the table, but it sounds logical after so many injuries of important players during the season. Now Louis van Gaal can select the best starting XI, and during the transfer window were bought striker Brett Holman from NEC and defender Nikolas Moisander from Zwolle. This year Az will play only in domestic competitions, so they must give their best.

Nac Breda were the surprise of last season. After finishing third in regular season, in plaoffs they were just awful. Nac were defeated with some big results. Breda have new coach Ernie Brandts and there is a big questionmark whether he can succeed just like predecessor.

IMO Az are hungry to show they can be stronger than last season. All squad is available, so they should start with a win.

Middlesboro start the season in very good form. First they defeated Tottenham 2-1, and last week lost 1-2 away Liverpool after Boto leaded 0-1 in 86th minute. Gareth Southgate is doing very good work and his team become better and better.

Stok City won versus Aston Villa 3-2 at home last week, but away IMO they are diferent team. Their defence make some simple mistakes and against better teams this would be big problem.

Boro is very solid at "Riverside" and i think they should take three points here.

Concordia is good-scoring team at home, while away they find themselves toothless in front of rival goalie. So far Concordia played two home games. First finished draw 2-2 against Yverdon Sport and two weeks ago they beated Locarno 2-0. So i think now they again can score. But i don't think their defence will stop Thun forwards.

Thun relegated last season, but it would be very difficult to get promotion. Their latest results show they score goals, but the defence is very unstable. Thun conceded three goals from FC Schaffhausen last week, and before than 4 versus Lucarno.

Mainz started the new season quite well. They are still in DFB Pokal and with four points after two matches take second place. First Mainz scored three goals in 3-3 draw at home versus Kaiserslautern, and then won away 1-2 TSV 1860 München. Today coach Andersen will start with 4-4-2 formation and it should bring several goals.

Osnabruck ruled out of DFB Pokal. After that they had two draws 2-2. This mean they have good attack, but in defence still have problems. Coach Wollitz will try 4-5-1 formation, but most of midfielders are attacking-minded because some injure problems.

So i think here play two attacking teams and should score over 2.5 goals.


1. FSV Mainz 05
Wache - Hoogland, Bungert, Noveski, van der Heyden - F. Heller, Karhan, Feulner, Amri - Bancé, Baljak

VfL Osnabrück
Wessels - Engel, Cichon, Anderson, A. Schäfer - Heidrich, Surmann - Grieneisen, de Wit, Manno - Reichenberger

First leg ended 0-0, so now both teams have good chances to qualify for next round.

Hajduk Split is second-best croatian team after Dinamo Zagreb. Their fans will make fantastic atmosphere and for spaniard will be very important if they can ignore the public. Hajduk didn't spend much money, but make some quality players free from Dinamo.

Deportivo have better squad, but home advantage is considerable factor. La Coruna finished 9th last year in Primera Division, so they still are middle-table team in Spain. I think they will go through, but after away goals rule - maybe 1-1 or 2-2.

In first leg Djurgarden won 2-1, so now Rosenborg must win if they want to go through.

IMO Rosenborg have much better squad than swedish team. I watch reportage from first match and Djurgarden didn't deserve the win. Norwegian team created more goal chances, and Djurgarden scored second goal in 90th minute after big mistake of Rosenborg's keeper.

Now hosts will play attacikng-minded football with formation 4-3-3 and must win.