Cardiff Met Uni vs Progres Niederkorn Predictions

Cardiff Met made history last week, as they became the first ever university team to play in the Europa League qualifiers, though they were unable to mark the occasion with a win, losing by a goal to nil in Luxembourg. Fortunately, Christian Edwards’ men are still in with a shout of going through, but to overturn the deficit they’ll certainly have to perform somewhat better than they did a week ago.

Given that they’re playing in a league where each of their opponents have far greater financial strength, Cardiff Met have done immensely well to be in a position where they’re trying to qualify for the Europa League, though their inferiority came to the fore a week ago. They may have lost by just a goal to nil, which means that the tie is far from over, but they failed miserably in their attempts to get involved in the contest.

From a defensive point of view, the Welsh side were resolute, while they didn’t give away too many clear-cut opportunities, though their defensive approach came at a price. As an attacking force, Cardiff met simply weren’t involved at Stade Jos Haupert, as they mustered just a single shot in 95 minutes of football, a shot which didn’t hit the target. In contrast, they surrendered 12 shots, three of which hit the target.

However, while Cardiff Met didn’t get involved offensively, they certainly weren’t battered, so they may fancy themselves to do a better job back on their own patch. After all, if the aim was to return from the away leg still in the tie, then they essentially achieved their goal.

The fact that Niederkorn won the first leg without ever really being tested means that they come into this fixture as red-hot favourites, though it’s easy to feel that they’re too short.

To get the desired result, Cardiff Met will need to adopt a more cavalier approach, though they don’t really have much to fear. For all they dominated both possession and the shot count, the side from Luxembourg weren’t all that threatening a week ago, as they mustered a rather disappointing 0.81 expected goals for. The hosts will need to improve to turn the tie around, but unless their opponents do considerably better, then the amount of improvement required will be minimal.

Frankly, despite winning Niederkorn didn’t create the most positive impression in front of their own fans, so we can conclude that there’s less between the pair than the current odds suggest. Therefore, a small punt on ‘Cardiff Met +1 Handicap’ offers punters some value.