EURO 2008: Holland vs Italy

It is time to register the first draw at EURO 2008 as two football giants meet each other tonight hoping to stay in contention after this one and find an easy exit of the group without unnecessary confrontation. Bet365 fairly prices the draw at 2/1 (3.00) and I will go for it as having no idea how one of the teams will manage to score one more.

Holland have the talent, the players and the experience to bring the European title back after a long period of time. The bad news are that they have opponents such as France and the world champion Italy early in the group and this will make team's life a nightmare if they don't prove to be competitive to those giants. And sometimes it can be a tough task to complete, specially when you miss for the opening of this group action players such as Robben, Babel, Melchiot and van Persie. On the other hand Italy demonstrated they are a different team now leaving lots of space for the opponent and a chance for playing some football but not a boring tactical battle during the whole 90 minutes. That does not mean we should expect plenty of goals tonight but there should be some chances for the Dutch strikers.

1:1 looks like most likely end for this one and a value bet - you can try it at bet-at-home for a tasty prize of 5.00.

EURO 2008: Romania vs France

Tough decisions should be made on Monday when it comes to the "group of death" clashes. In the first fixture of that day Romania will face France looking for a miracle that will boost their hopes for living another stage at that tournament. The team made it to the finals in the company of Holland and Bulgaria but did not convinced us they really deserve the place. Romania have a couple of high quality players such as Chivu and Mutu who will lead the team on the pitch but are they enough to believe our money are safe on Romania, specially when players as Henry and Anelka are on the opposite side? I don't think so and my advice is to take France in the opening of this group action as more experienced, balanced in every line and dangerous up front team. Bet365 gives 1.83 for that choice and it seems fair to me. Alternatively you can pick bet-at-home as your host for that game where you can still find France at 1.80.

Take France, because of the:
- robust defense
- genius players as Benzema, Henry, Anelka, Ribery
- experience
- must win before meeting the giants

EURO 2008: Group B Sunday Action

Betting tips on:
Germany - Poland
Austria - Croatia

Take The Favorites In An Accumulator Bet
My advice on Sunday Euro 2008 action is to focus on the heavy favorites and even not to lose any time considering surprising outs. You can nearly treble your stakes if you go with Germany and Croatia at the same time - accumulated odds of both in bet365 point at 2.90.

Germany vs Poland Preview
Germany are always considered as one of the top favorites for any football title. And we can bet on the fact that this team will chase the trophy in any single minute play on the pitch. And it is more likely to succeed as being one of the bookies favorites for title here.
Balack looks in tremendous form and his support to Klose and Kuranyi can be crutial. Germany needs easy 3 points here and against the home side of Austria to be sure for the next round avoiding confrontation with Croatia. Germany has a massive advantage over Poland when you look back in the history of this football competition.
Poland will probably be happy with 3 points against Austria and desperately hope to achieve something against the other favorite in this group - Croatia. This team did not convince me in its confidence and consistency in order to upset the big teams at EURO 2008, specially when we are talking about real winning machine like Germany.

Austria vs Croatia Preview
Nothing much to be said about this one as Austria looking already dead before the start of the tournament. I have watched a couple of friendly games of the home side and it was a real disaster performance; have no idea how they will manage to improve on that. Austria just lacks some quality and even they will receive some hot support from the stadium the result will probably be more than 1:0 for Croatia.

You can combine this two also in bet-at-home at hot accumulated price of 2.70.
Good luck!

EURO 2008: Portugal vs Turkey

Portugal look like heavy favorites to grab all the points here holding the best cards but, if i can use this comparison with poker, show down time is still to come with all the cruelty of the random flop.
They have probably the best player in the world at the moment, experienced coach and plenty of talented young players ready to fight for a piece of European glory. Portugal have all to prove after losing the last European final at home against the defending champion Greece.

But the point is that you never know what to expect from the exotic team of Turkey - they are always somewhere between the shocking 3rd world place and awkward performances against football dwarfs. Are they going to produce something extraordinary again? Nobody can tell now but Turkey have the Emperor as coach and a skillful squad of mixed talents and experienced players such as Emre, Altintop, etc. who can explode any minute on the pitch. It seems the team is back on track after beating Finland 2:0 in the last frienldy game before the start of the tournament.

I want just to make you think on a scenario affected by two very possible factors - underestimation by the Portuguese stars and ultra defending play by Turkey with solid press on the whole pitch leaving the jugglers without their balls.

I will go for a very careful play by both teams with Ronaldo and Nani squeezed by the opposite defense that will result in a possible goalless draw.

You can find the draw at 3.40 on bet365 site (or take the risk with 0:0 at tasty 7.50)
Alternatively pick the draw on bet-at-home at 3.35.

EURO 2008: Switzerland vs Czech Republic

If you can avoid betting on this one, will be great - have a beer and enjoy the opening from your chair. But if you are a kind of a guy, like me, who can not sleep waiting for some crashing betting action, just go for it from the same beginning.

I will dare to consider a serious upset for the home hopes to leave a track in this tournament even at that pretty early stage. You think Switzerland will fly high with the frantic support of the fans? I don't think so. The team had a long losing series in the preparation period with Germany crashing them 4:0 in the last serious game. The Swiss produced some nice pieces but still need to gather them and improve as a team, specially when they meet experienced teams like Czech we have here.

3 points can be vital for Czech Republic here and they will go for them on full power leaded by their tremendous goal keeper Petr Czech. If the team managed to stop the star Swiss striker Frei everything will be of their control and probably after a close defending battle they will grab the full points here.

I will take Czech republic at tasty 2.62 at bet365 (2.50 in bet-at-home for comparison) and bet on the old dogs to flash for one last time at this tournament.

Photo: euro2008.uefa.com

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