EURO 2008

Spain – Joined the ranks of Netherlands and Croatia to win a game with its reserves showing they too had depth and quality.

Daniel Güiza scores the winning goal, 2-1 to Spain.

Italy – Gets a reprieve with a 2-0 win over France, aided by an early red card to Abidal and having had Franck Ribery being stretchered out which totally tilted the game towards Italy.

Eric Abidal fouls Toni for Italy`s first-half penalty and was red carded.

Verdict – Italy had been inconsistent but seems to have recovered in the last game, that’s Italy. Always illusive. Buffon had done well in front of the goal post too. Spain’s trickery may well be able to knock Italy out of the competition. 3 of the 4 potential Champions of the tournament, Portugal, Netherlands and Croatia had been knocked out in the quater finals, could Spain break the jinx?
Score: Spain 2-1 Italy

Market odds: Spain (-1/4, -0.925), Italy (+0.85)

France – Thiery Henry looked like he is off his prime, scuttering an easy one-on-one with the goal keeper in the previous game. The rest of the French players also looked slow and not up to the mark.

Thiery Henry looked like he is off his prime, missing a one-on-one.

Italy – Played well against Romania only to have a goal denied by the referee for off-side. Bufon saved  a penalty from Adrian Mutu to give Italy a life line.

Bufon saved a penalty by Adrian Mutu

Verdict: Both side needed a win and depends on Netherlands to beat Romania. The results won’t matter if Romania beat a relaxed Netherlands. Both sides are evenly matched in a game that can go either way.
Score: France 0-0 Italy.

Market odds: France (+0.825), Italy (-1/4, -0.9)

Italy – The Azzurris were handled their biggest defeat in 28 years. Losing their team captain and central defender Fabio Cannavaro seems to have a greater impact then first thought. Italy thrive on defense more then attack, with their defense not up to the mark so far, it could be games over.

Italians have a lot of thinking to do.

Romania – Romania proof they are no push-over in the group of death and looked like the better half in their opener against France. They are however unable to break down the water-tight defense of France.

Chivu

Prediction – It remains to be seen if Italy can beef up their defense and whether Romania can conjure up a few trickery to get the ball pass the Bufon. It looks like a very close match, however I am going for Romania, which looks a little more pacy then Italy, to win the game. Score: Italy 1-2 Romania.

Maket odds: Italy (-3/4, -0.975), Romania (+0.9)

Netherlands – The joke is if the citizen of Poland is called Poles, why is Holland not called Holes? OK, back to business. I watched the friendlies between Netherlands and Denmark played on 29 May which ended 1-1. The Dutch, much like the Brazilians, expounded what the world refers to as ”The Beautiful Game”. They play really exciting attacking football with a lot of pace and indivdual brilliance. Somehow, they don’t score many goals to reflect their capabilities.

Italy – World champion 2006 and one of the favorites in the tournament. Topped the group in the qualifiers which included France, Scotland and Ukraine. Well known for their air-tight defence and 1-0 scoreline. Of concern, their team captain and defender Fabio Cannavaro had to be stretchered off the field after colliding with fellow defender Giorgio Chiellini and that spells the end of his Euro 2008 campaign. It remains to be seen if Italy can recover from the shock. But Italy had often thrived on adversities and came out on top.

Prediction – The Netherlands had not shown that they can score a lot of goals despite playing beautiful soccer and with Italy’s strength in defense, it will be a lot more tough. Score: Netherlands 0-1 Italy.

Market odds: Netherlands (+975), Italy (-1/4, -0.95)