EURO 2008

Netherlands – Despite fielding a largely reserve team, Netherlands demolished a Romania side that did not show much urgency. The Dutch showed that they had the depth and quality to go all the way.

Robin Van Persie delivered.

Russia – The Russians totally dominated the game against the Swedes better then what Portugal did against Sweden. They were quick offensively and strong defensively, living up to their name as a dark horse. They could have score 5 or 6 goals instead of 2. They will give the Dutch a good fight here.

Andrei Arshavin in the thick of every action.

Verdict – Netherlands may be the favourite but Russia sure looked like champion material themselves with the Russia player of the year, Andrei Arshavin, and Roman Pavlyuchenko, providing the threats.
Score: Netherlands 2-1 Russia

Market odds: Netherlands (-3/4, +0.9), Russia (+1.0)

Netherlands - The Dutch delivered with flamboyance and entertained once again in the last outing. Already topped the group with one game to play, the Dutch will be resting players and give the reserves a go.

Celebrating Dirk Kuyt’s opener against Germany

Romania – The Italians had a lot of trouble taming the Romanians. Romania needs a win to go through. A draw may suffice if France and Italy draw in their last game.

Adrian Mutu … moment of ecstasy scoring a goal and later despair for missing a penalty.

Verdict – Netherlands looked likely to give their reserves a run out as any result for them will do. The Romanians are the beneficiary of a relaxed and weak line up of the Netherlands, they may well get the win they want. Netherlands will also prefer Romania to go through rather than France and italy, being touted as the weaker of the three.
Score: Netherlands 1 – 2 Romania

Market odds: Netherlands (-0.975), Romania (-1/4, +0.9)

Netherlands – The Dutch lived up to their expectation playing the beautiful game in a most beautiful way, by demolishing Italy 3-0. Looks likely to top Group C.

Sneijda scoring the most beautiful goal of the tournament thus far.

France – Still plague with injury problems, the French looked like they have lose their killer punch, looking tired and lacking pace. Thiery Henry and Patrick Viera look set to come off the bench.

Claude Makelele

Prediction – The flamboyance of the Dutch to outclass France. Score: 2-0.

Market odds: Netherlands (0, +0.85), France (-0.925)

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)