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Steffen Schmidt - August 2, 2023
Tobol vs FC Basel
UEFA Conference League Qualification
Date: 3 August 2023, Thursday
Kick-off at 15:00 UK / 16:00 CET
Venue: Ortaliq Stadion (Kostanay).
Basel will face a difficult task on Thursday afternoon when they visit Kostanay for the second leg of the UEFA Conference League second qualifying round against Tobol at Ortaliq Stadion.
The Kazakhs carry a two-goal advantage from the first game as they took advantage of Basel’s shocking individual errors to complete a second-half comeback.
It was a match of two halves indeed seven days ago in Switzerland. Basel completely controlled the happenings on the pitch in the first half, gaining an early lead through Thierno Barry and allowing the rivals just a single attempt (zero on target) in the first 45 minutes of play.
However, things changed drastically after the break, following the red card from the same player (Barry) eleven minutes into the second half.
Tobol then scored two quickfire goals before Riccardo Calafiori received a second red card for Basel, allowing the counterparts to find their third goal shortly after.
Since then, Basel managed to lift the team spirits in the dressing room via a 5-2 thumping of newly-promoted Winterthur in the second round of the Swiss Super League 2023/24 campaign.
Basel have a strong firepower on display and they will certainly have something to say in the reverse tie.
As much as Kazakh’s football is in huge expansion (remember the country’s start to the new EURO qualifying campaign and the win over Denmark), Tobol still have very limited European experience.
Basel, on the other side, played the UEFA Conference League semifinal last year, falling to Fiorentina only after extra-time on the occasion.
We can never underestimate Basel and the experience they have in European competitions. If anyone is capable of turning the tough European tie around, it’s them. We will be brave enough and back the Swiss heavyweights to advance to the next round at the sky-high 5.00 odds.
Each of the last six games Based played in all competitions produced three or more goals. You can back the Over 2.5 goals FT pick at the odds of 1.85 here.
