The European Championships are well under way, with half of the group stage matches finished, and there have been some interesting highlights already. Nice goals, generally exciting matches (Sweden - Greece jumps to mind ... not!), controversial decisions etc, etc. And surely there is more to come. Here's just a quick update on the betting front. The outright picks can be found here.
Tournament favourites Germany have just been beaten by Croatia and although still favourites to qualify from the group, will now have to face in-form Portugal in the quarterfinal stage, should they progress. This reduces their chances of winning the trophy, while at the same time Croatia has proven their track record and should be favourites to reach the semi-final stage. So I guess, at least one out of Croatia and Germany will probably reach the semi-final, hopefully (in a betting sense) both!
Group C is tougher (as expected) to call, and is thrown open by the first set of matches. With four matches to go, my gut-feeling is that, should Italy qualify, they would probably do so in second place thus having to most probably face Spain who were magnificent against Russia. However, Italy have it all to do, with both France and Romania being very hard teams to beat. Safer predictions will probably be feasible tonight after the second set of matches.
Spain have started as if they were playing in the final itself and will probably secure first place tomorrow by beating Sweden. But further progress in the tournament would depend on which Spanish team turns up in the quarterfinals: the one which tore apart the Russian back line, or the one which laboured to a 1-0 win against the USA in their previous match. If it is the former then Spain will probably reach the semi-final stage at least, if not they'l probably crash out ... again!
In other news, "Big Phil" Scolari has been appointed as the next Chelsea boss, taking over once Euro 2008 finishes. Interesting times ahead at the Bridge! More on that later.
Tournament favourites Germany have just been beaten by Croatia and although still favourites to qualify from the group, will now have to face in-form Portugal in the quarterfinal stage, should they progress. This reduces their chances of winning the trophy, while at the same time Croatia has proven their track record and should be favourites to reach the semi-final stage. So I guess, at least one out of Croatia and Germany will probably reach the semi-final, hopefully (in a betting sense) both!
Group C is tougher (as expected) to call, and is thrown open by the first set of matches. With four matches to go, my gut-feeling is that, should Italy qualify, they would probably do so in second place thus having to most probably face Spain who were magnificent against Russia. However, Italy have it all to do, with both France and Romania being very hard teams to beat. Safer predictions will probably be feasible tonight after the second set of matches.
Spain have started as if they were playing in the final itself and will probably secure first place tomorrow by beating Sweden. But further progress in the tournament would depend on which Spanish team turns up in the quarterfinals: the one which tore apart the Russian back line, or the one which laboured to a 1-0 win against the USA in their previous match. If it is the former then Spain will probably reach the semi-final stage at least, if not they'l probably crash out ... again!
In other news, "Big Phil" Scolari has been appointed as the next Chelsea boss, taking over once Euro 2008 finishes. Interesting times ahead at the Bridge! More on that later.
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