[allthethings]

OK, here goes nothing:

Soccer - Genk - spread -1½ (+102)
for the regulation time held on Jul 31 at 1:30pm [pending]

Soccer - Debreceni - spread -½ (+108)
for the regulation time held on Jul 31 at 1:45pm [pending]

Knowing nothing about these teams' preparation or motivation, but knowing how poorly first-round qualifiers have done on the road in the first leg of the second round, I'd say Debreceni is worth taking, with the handicap, at better than evens. Nine of the 11 games over the past three years have been losses, two draws. Add to that that Elfsborg is a) from Sweden, and b) is underperforming on the road, with 1-1-4 over their past six (four league, one CL game and one Svenska Cup), and this looks pretty good, even if Debrecen is a Hungarian team. For what it's worth, they're 3-1-0 in the young Hungarian season, and their last non-Cup loss at home was Nov. 6.

Genk is a tougher call with the 1.5 handicap: just five of the 11 games in my tiny sample have been losses by 2+ goals. Their past eight home league games (granting that their season ended in May) ended with a 6-1-1 record. Sarajevo, moreover, are not good travelers. Before they beat their first-round CL opponent 6-0 on the road, they'd gone 14 games away without winning, though they drew some. Their last road win was last October.

BOL all