Istiklol vs. CSKA Pamir Odds, Prediction, and Pick – Tajikistan Higher League, April 12

The reigning champions welcome the Army club to the Central Republican Stadium for its first home league game of the new season after a predictably successful start to the year in the Super Cup and its season opener against Dushanbe-83.

With four clubs in the capital this year, this is another local derby, and everyone else will need to raise their game for Istiklol — by far the best team in Tajikistan and huge favorites to win the title for the seventh consecutive year.

You can find my pick for this match below in this Istiklol vs. CSKA Pamir betting preview.

Istiklol is unsurprisingly the big favorite to win this one. Although the odds are not attractive, there is probably little point backing CSKA Pamir to even get the draw.

Can anyone compete with Istiklol this year? Khujand took the champions close in the Super Cup, but Dushanbe-83 was the first to be utterly outclassed in the week when it lost 7-0 at home. It is probable that that won’t be the last time Istiklol runs up a high score this season.

All-time national top goal scorer Manuchehr Dzahilov has returned from a spell in Indonesia and scored a hat-trick in that first game. But there are plenty of others throughout the side who can add to the goal tally. Young striker Sheriddin Boboev got two in the same game, and last year’s Player of the Year, Alisher Dzhalilov, is always a danger.

So, it is fair to say that CSKA Pamir has a job on its hands to contain Istiklol here. The veteran striker Dilshod Vasiev will be CSKA’s main hope of goals. He was unable to score in the 3-1 loss to Khujand, but he would dearly love to find the net against the club he won so many titles with.

But it is more likely that it will be the CSKA defense that has the busiest 90 minutes. With head coach Sergey Zhitskiy probably content to look for points from other games, he would still like to see his team make Istiklol work for its three points at least.

It is very unlikely that any betting preview involving Istiklol will back anyone but the champions to win a game this season. The capital city club is just a level above anyone else in the Tajikistan Higher League. CSKA Pamir did manage to beat the champions right at the end of last season, but I can’t see a repeat of that happening so early into this campaign.

If you’re looking to take advantage of my prediction and pick for this match, take a look at our top sites for betting on soccer.

If you are looking for more soccer predictions this weekend, here’s a full list of my previews.