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I don't see a reason not to go with an under here. Even since coach Sablic took over, Siroki had 6 unders in 20 league and cup games and finished the season with 11 unders in 12 games. The only over was the second leg cup game against Zeljeznicar when they had to make up for a 0-1 loss from the first leg. They lost 0-3. We can add 4 European games that were played this season, all of which were unders. They played Sloboda last season home in championship second round (2-2) but Sablic was not there yet. He was there for the Cup game which finished 2-0.

Sloboda were not recording many unders last season. They had the third best goal average in the league and an equal number of unders and overs. The offense was rather good but the defense was horrible, which is why they acquired two center backs before they started preparing for this season.

The visitors cannot count on their top two scorers from last season (20 goals combined). Krpic scored 11 goals last season but he cannot play in the first round and Zec left for Zeljeznicar. The newly-aquired Husic should be the greater threat for opponents' fgoal keepers now. He scored 11 goals for Mladost Doboj last season.

Sloboda played 4 unders in 4 preparation games (5 goals in total) if we disregard the meeting with feeble Kiseljak.

Siroki kept on playing their tough and organized game. Sloboda's coach says he wants but his team is weaker than last season at this point and I don't think they will try and outplay the opponents. Therefore, I expect another under. Details

I expect Russia to win and control the game. I think this Russian generation is perhaps ready to win the gold. Yesterday they dominated Egypt, won by 51, rotated maximally and they were probably already thinking about this game against Spain. Top position ensures that they avoid USA, this is a key game for Russia and I am sure they will give their best.
These two teams faced each other with identical lineups in two friendlies, Russia won one by 19, the other by 20 and I believe that today's handicap is too low. The only downside is the semi-final from last year, but the Russians are much better now, they have Vadeeva, who is the top player of their senior team, and I think she will, with Musina, be crucial for today's game.
The Russians dominated their preparation games, this U19 team defeated Italy's and Turkey's senior teams, Spain twice, Euskadi, a Basque senior club, while Spain struggled in the first half against Puerto Rico, defeated Italy by 14 in a friendly (Italy are very bad), barely defeated Latvia. A downside can be that 12 point difference against USA, but they covered the handicap as well, and I think that Russia are not weaker than the USA, I think they are at least even. Details

Direct clash for the top spot in the group and I expect Spain to start tough. The team that wins the top position will likely avoid France and Germany, and definitely Iceland and Croatia until the semi-final so the motivation should be high. This team is defensively very strong, at the first two competitions under Suarez they conceded over this margin in the first half only against Switzerland (13 and then 10 in the second), Germany, Iceland and France, who are offensively better than Macedonia. Martinez's arrival has not changed things, last year at the EC they conceded 12 to Russia and 15 to Iceland, less in other games, including France. The most relevant game here is the one against Brazil (9), and of the last year's, the 10 against Slovenia and 8 against Poland and Croatia.
Macedonia's biggest strength is defense and discipline, which failed against Tunisia, and they cannot look for success that way, especially not against better teams. It is no accident they scored only 21 against Portugal (9 in the 1st half) in the qualifiers, and last year, in more relevant games, in the first halves they scored 7 against Norway, 11 Denmark and Netherlands. Against Tunisia they tried to play 7-on-6 at one point but gave up on it quickly, and even though they will try that here as well, I doubt that will happen at the start.
They faced Spain at the 2014 EC, they both had different selectors then, but the styles and key players are the same. The game ended 31-16, 11-8 in the first half, Macedonia later fell apart and the final result is too rough. However, that first half is relevant, because I expect something similar today as well. Macedonia will not score over 11 goals in the first 30 minutes. Details

France have a great team at the U19 WC, the only teams who look better on paper are USA and Russia. France won the U18 EC last year dominantly, defeated Spain by over 30 points in the final. There are 9 players here from that tournament, their top scorer Charterau is out, but even without her, at the tournament in Voiron, they defeated Canada 71-59 (41-28), and even had a lead by 19 points, forced their opponents to make 28 turnovers, scored 17 points from counterattacks, Canada only 3. Canada had their complete team for that game, while France couldn't count on three players who were at the U20 EC. They will stronger today for the captain Foppossi whose average at the U20 EC was 12.3 points and 5 rebounds, and Djaldi Tabdi who was at 12 points and 12.1 rebound. They were France's top players yesterday against Latvia, and the third one from the U20 EC, Limouzin, recorded the most assists.
France's incomplete team lost in the preparations to Hungary twice in even games, won once, and at the mention tournament they defeated Canada, China and Australia (unfortunately there are no reports from that game), while Canada lost to Australia 55-69 and at one point were down by 27. Yesterday France had some problems against Latvia, but they controlled most of the game, and Latvia are not a naive team (lost the friendly to Spain by 6, to USA by 8). Canada thrashed Korea who are the complete underdogs in this group.
In case they win today, France would secure the top spot in Group C and a likely clash against Mexico in the round of 16 (avoiding Australia, Japan and Hungary). The second position in the Group C would have them face USA already in the quarter-final. Details

Italy have slipped up here. A team with Moretti, Tote, Okeke, Timperi.. should be battling for a medal here, but they are no in position that today's game decides if they will stay in the elite division. In order to achieve that, they need to defeat Slovenia who defeated them by 19 in the group stage. The difference from that game is mainly in the approach. Italy were not motivated in the group stage, and when things went downhill they couldn't stop it. They cannot afford such approach today, and based on Okeke's statement, we can conclude that they will work harder in defense, because they have seen against the Czechs yesterday that it is the only way they can play. Okeke, Oxilia and Mezzanotte have won silver with the U19 team a few weeks ago on the account of top defense, and they need to repeat that here to stay in the elite division. Italy have conceded over this margin in the five games here, but we have to exclude the games against Israel, Serbia and Spain because they play fast and are much better than Slovenia. We are left with the games against Slovenia, in which the Italy's approach was poor, and Slovenia used that with great shots and scored 82 points. That is the most they have scored here, and they went over today's margin against Latvia as well. They were at 61 against Lithuania, 57 Serbia, 59 Spain, 69 Montenegro. If we include the friendlies, they were under this margin in 5 out of 6 games.
Italy limited their opponents under the margin in friendlies five times, but they couldn't do that against the top teams (Greece, Spain, Israel and fast Ukraine as exception). I expect Italy to give their max today, the team at their disposal can handle that, especially with Okeke as the center of their defense. Slovenia missed their best chance against Montenegro and they will struggle in offense here and I am sure they will drop out of the elite division. Details

I this game I would bet on the under of 148.5 points. I think this margin is missed, especially from the Dutch point of view. Netherlands are a great defensive team, whose complete philosophy is based on strong defense. The Dutch, on average, play games at 127.9 points and their current generation never played a game at over 148.5 points (in 18 games). On the other side, Finland, against relevant opponents in this championship (Poland, Hungary, even though they are not as good defensively as Netherlands) played two big unders (129 and 134 points). The in the preparation Finland played 3 unders (139, 135 and 144 against Great Britain, Sweden and Iceland). Both teams will be motivated today, they both should have been in the quarter final so they will go for the win today to reach the 9th position. Therefore, even though I appreciate Finland's offensive power, I don't think anything but the under of 148.5 points can happen in this game. Details

The Asian championship starts today in India. Australia, China and Japan stand out in quality in Division A. Japan started preparation for this tournament 2 months ago, at the USA and Europe tour, lost to strong European teams (Serbia, Spain), easily handled weak teams like Bulgaria and Macedonia. At the end of the preparation period, they faced Netherlands at home, and first won 72-45 and then 91-42 (Netherlands were not with their best team, but most of their players were in the Eurobasket qualifications last year): Philippines were in Division B at the Asian Championship two years ago, they lost to Malaysia, defeated Kazakhstan in overtime, North Korea by 1, and with a win over India (82-76) entered the Division A.
It is hard to find any comparable Japan's games in the past years, but they also faced India at that Asian Championship and defeated them 131-31. Japan are with a weaker roster (WNBA player Tokashiki is out), but the Philippines are as good as they were before (even though they had plans, they do not have any Americans on the team), which is best seen from the fact that they faced Malaysia in preparation for this tournament and lost 53-64, and Malaysia lost to Japanese University team Tohoku 51-71 a few days after that. Malaysia are not at the Asian Championship this year.
All in all, regardless of the fact that Japan have a weaker roster than last year at the Olympics and at the last Asian Championship, because of their quality, mentality and Philippine's lack of quality, I expect them to win convincingly. Details