Inverness v FC Astra Giurgiu
Thursday 16th July 2015 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Football – Europe – Europa League
Inverness will play their first ever game in European competition on Thursday night, as they entertain Romanian opponents in the shape of FC Astra. John Hughes men reached the Europa League after winning the Scottish Cup – beating Falkirk 2-1 at Hampden back in May. The visitors make a quick return to Scotland having played Celtic in the group stage of this tournament. They went down 2-1 in Glasgow last October but caused them plenty of problems in that game and would have gotten a result if they were more composed in front of goal. The Romanians have returned to the Europa League following a fourth placed finish in their domestic league.
The man who lifted Inverness’ first top-flight trophy has since moved clubs, and Graham Shinnie is not the only one that Hughes has been unable to keep hold of from last season’s squad. Marley Watkins and Edward Ofere have also left which means they are without their first-choice strike duo from last season. It will be some ask for the Highland club to make it to the group stage considering their inexperience at this level but their Scottish Cup success was no fluke. They reached the League Cup final the previous season and finished a clear third in last season’s Scottish Premiership.
FC Astra have already started their new campaign having played the first game of the season on Friday, which resulted in a 2-2 draw at home to Concordia. Being slightly ahead in their preparations is not the only advantage that Astra have as this will be their third straight appearance in the Europa League. Despite being relative novices themselves, continued presence on this stage will be a huge benefit for them as they try to qualify for the groups for the second consecutive season. The undoubted highlight of their participation is knocking out French club Lyon in the final qualifier last season. It was a huge shock as they went through on away goals following an impressive 2-1 win in France.
Scottish clubs have a terrible record in European competition and have done for a long time. St Johnstone have already been eliminated from this season’s Europa League having lost out to Armenian minnows Alashkert last week. Inverness know that they face an uphill task if they are to buck that trend considering they face a team who were very competitive against Celtic – whom they finished 27 points behind last season.
Inverness v FC Astra Betting Tips
The record of Scottish clubs in this competition is a real concern. The standard of the game in Scotland is clearly some way behind the majority of other leagues in Europe as only Rangers and Celtic have competed in the group stage of the Europa League. Inverness are still some way from that but if they can even manage to get a result on Thursday it would be a real achievement. Unfortunately, however, I think they will come up short at home to FC Astra. Having watched the Romanians in both matches against Celtic last season, I was impressed with how quick they are on the break and the problems they caused the Scottish champions home and away. I also think Inverness are weaker than they were in the last campaign, meaning it could be an unhappy first experience of European football for them.
FC Astra Evens @ Coral
