In real life, I am proud of the performance that the glorified Liverpool B team put forth against Real Madrid yesterday. Streak Trevor can't stand it. I picked Los Blancos to win by 2+ goals yesterday against my prized Liverpudlians and when I saw the starting XI that Brendan Rodgers made, Streak Trevor thought he had a lock. No Gerrard, Henderson, Sterling, Coutinho, or Balotelli left me both reality Trevor wanting and Streak Trevor confident that not a single goal would be scored by the Reds. Liverpool were unable to score but by some sort of dark magic sorcery were able to keep all but just one Real Madrid shot out of the back of their net. Streak Trevor is upset that a early month W3 is gone. Reality Trevor is upset because paired with Basel's win against Ludogorets, Liverpool will have to win out, and potentially win big, to advance in the Champions League. To quell my dual sorrows, I have made three picks for today that will keep my brain plenty occupied.
I go a bit off the beaten path with my first selection: the South African Premiership. Outside of the Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, the two South African teams regularly featured in the Rest of the World section of FIFA video games, I know absolutely nothing about the South African Premier League. Maybe there are a couple of fine gentlemen from South Africa's 2010 World Cup team I could recognize, but even that is a stretch. Of course this means I am going against the public opinion with Mamelodi Sundowns to win outright against the Mpumalanga Black Aces. The Sundowns are only ahead of the Black Aces in the table on goal difference with identical 4-3-2 records. I am picking the Sundowns to win because they are at home and when flying blind go home. Also in their last five meetings there hasn't been a single draw. A history of definitive winners always helps sway my decision. It helps as well when four of those five decisive wins were by the Sundowns. Don't ever say I didn't give you South African Premiership analysis again!
My next choice comes from a little more high profile competition: the UEFA Champions League. After the current title holders let me down yesterday, I look to the year prior's champion to pick me up. I speak of course of Bayern Munich. The Bundesliga giants have won all three of their Group E games outscoring their opponents 9-1. Seven of those goals for and the one against came versus their opponent today, AS Roma. Munich's 7-1 pasting of last year's Serie A runner-ups in Rome was a warning that they aren't to be trifled with after relatively unimpressive 1-0 wins against Manchester City and CSKA Moscow. They are in Germany today and the prop is Bayern by 2 or 3 goals or any other result. Now that Der FCB have their legs, I think that Roma is a lock to lose. I just don't think that they are going to let Bayern put another touchdown on them. I see a 2-0 Bayern win with the Germans calling off the dogs late in the second half after they've secured passage to the Round of 16.
There is little that needs to be said about my last pick of the night. On the outside, it looks like Northern Illinois should be the lock that 99.3% of Streakers think they should be. In truth, they are just three point favorites as they take their 6-2 record to 3-5 Ball State. Ball State hasn't been blown out in 2014 so I know this will be one to sweat out BUT they lost to Army. Yes, they lost to a team that has had one winning season in 15 years. I support our troops but I can't support a team that lost to Army. Northern Illinois for the W3 and I'm back in the high life again. Oh wait, I just have a High Life 40 oz in the fridge. False alarm. HAPPY STREAKING EVERYBODY!!
CHECK US OUT ON TWITTER AT @B3WHYC3 AND ON FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE PLUS!
Image Credits; Streak picks (espn.com)