Antwerp vs Oostende prediction and betting tips on February 29, 2024
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Oostende
Game Prediction
Belgium, like neighbouring Netherlands, will have only 1 match on its Thursday evening football schedule. Moreover, it is also in the form of a semi-final, where the champion and a club from the second division of the country will play on the field of the grandee: Antwerp will host Oostende. Still, it will be a return match after a draw on the underdog’s field. Is there room for intrigue here? The website contains the author’s prediction for the decisive confrontation on February 29, 2024.
Antwerp is losing ground after a fabulous previous season
“The Great Old” was led to success by a couple of Dutch specialists, Overmars as sporting director and Van Bommel, who had been invited to the coaching position, and as a result they achieved the so-called “golden double” last spring. Still, now Marcus has also been forced to be removed from his duties due to a scandal that forced him to leave his homeland, and the mentor no longer looks like such an idol. The team won the Super Cup in the autumn, but that was in the battle against modest Mechelen and on penalties. The debut in the Champions League brought an unopposed last place in the group; as for the Jupiler League, even 3rd place is by no means guaranteed, and the club can forget about anything higher, which was confirmed by the draw with Gent in the previous round. Well, there are at least good chances to retain the trophy in the cup tournament.
Oostende is now failing even at a weaker level
“De Kustboys”, considering their modest standards, remained in the top division of Belgium for quite a long time. And they even reached the cup final once. Still, it was not possible to get enough points again to retain the so-called “registration” in the previous season. On the contrary, now a newcomer to the second division, who had been initially perceived as a potential favourite, is at the bottom of the table, and it is too early to say that the club has guaranteed another relegation. Speaking about the previous round, it lost to Brugge U21 in a short-handed game. At the same time, there is a chance to repeat the best result of seven years ago in the cup confrontation – the only way is to appear in the final. Still, it managed to draw the match with the giants at the home arena, and now it needs to somehow win on the away arena.
Previous head-to-head matches
Taking into account the Jupiler League, all 4 previous matches remained successful for “the Great Old”. This time, the team was limited to the draws in the cup confrontation.
Free prediction for the match Antwerp vs Oostende on February 29:
The hosts are not doing well, but they must cope in the second semi-final. We are expecting a victory for Van Bommel’s wards with “a -1.5 goal handicap” (odd: 1.65).