Group A

[WoodyTHFC]

Switzerland to qualify 11/10 7.5 pts portugal are the favs for this group and I have no problem with that and despite my concern over their lack of a quality striker for today, Nuno gomes is too old for me, they should get through. that would leave one from three between the Swiss, Czechs and Turkey and whilst the bookies may favour the Czechs, Im not coninvced by their ageing team and the loss of rosicky could be crucial. Turkey remain unpredictable and given how a home team normally does pretty well and that i cant see that being Austria, Switzerland can just get through. They were miserly at the last world cup and I expect they will be tough to beat again, Behrami adds some wuality down the right side and Frei might just get enough goals to see the Swiss sneak through.

[blackcrow]

[B][U]DAY 1[/U][/B]

[B]Switzerland - Czech under 1.5[/B]
Switzerland have not conceded a goal in competitive matches since 16 November 2005, when they lost a World Cup qualifier against Turkey 4-2. They have not won any of their previous six matches at the European Championship.
The Czech Republic, along with France and Netherlands conceded the fewest goals (five) in qualifying for Euro 2008. They are missing quite a few players from their team that lost in the final to Greece four years ago.

Should be a pretty tight game to kick the tournament off

[B]Portugal -1 (EH)[/B]
Portugal have won 5 of the last 6 games between each other , winning all four competitive fixtures between the two countries. This will be their third meeting at a European Championship - Portugal won a group phase match 1-0 in 1996 and a quarter-final match 2-0 in 2000.
Portugal are unbeaten in their last 11 competitive matches since losing 2-1 to Poland in October 2006. They have a fully fit squad and have probably the best player in the world right now (Ronaldo) to lead them

[ScottishBhoy87]

Just put Portugal to win tonight on Betfair. As has been said before I think they have a decent arsenal of talent, especially with Cristiano Ronaldo in there team I think on their night they can cause damage to most teams. Turkey I do not know a whole lot about except they are a decent unit with good defensive abilities, however I think the Portugeese will be able to break them down at some point


GL ALL

[Thommo85]

For me today I'm so delighted this tourney is finally starting, going to be a great few weeks of top quality football.

The opening match has ended in a draw 50% of the time when the host nation has been involved. Couple this with the fact that both sides more than equaly measure up to each other then I think the draw at 9/4 with most firms seems a decent bet. I also think it will be a tight game with both sides going out not to lose rather than looking for the win which makes me think this match will also probably be under 2.5 goals which is currently trading at 1.55 with betfair.

In tonights game I think the bookies have overpriced Portugal quite badly here. Portugal are rightly regarded as one of the tournamnet favourites, this years squad has managed to maintain many key players from the euro 04 tournament where they made the final and have the quality all through the squad to go far in this tournament. I think Turkey are not the force in european football that they once were and questions have been asked of the centre half pairings. With attacking players such as Ronaldo and Quaresma looking to exploit those defensive weaknesses I cant see past a comfortable portugal win at 4/5.

Good luck to all

[Crazy North]

[B]SportFootball (Internationals)[/B]
[B] EventSwitzerland-Czech Republic [/B]
[B]SelectionUnder 2.5[/B]
[B] Strength10/10[/B]
[B] Date07/06/2008 [/B]
[B]Bookmaker/Price[/B][URL="http://www.sports-punter.com/link.php?p=interwetten"][COLOR=#0000ff]Interwetten [/COLOR][/URL][B]@ 1.60 (Back)[/B]

[B]Reasoning[/B]

Start of Euro 2008 and this game which will be very boring to watch as both teams wont rush to score and will loke more to defend themselves at early stage.Also almost every game on start on every big tournament are played with few goals and i expect here same.Switzerland improved a lot last couple oy years and their style is defensive what they proved in WC 2006.Czech are little bit better squad as they have bigger names in team but i dont believe they will rush here in first minute to score.First game nervous is expected here i give slight adventage to Switzerland here but my bet is under 2.5 goals as i just cant see this teams scoring more than one goal here.

[blackcrow]

[quote=blackcrow;1105047]
[B][U]DAY 1[/U][/B]

[B]Switzerland - Czech under 1.5 [/B]
[B]Portugal -1 (EH) [/B]
[/quote]


Great day to start off the tournament

[JCtips]

[quote=JCtips;1104169]My bets for Saturday games:

Switzerland-Czech Republic
Usually the hosts go far in this sort of tournaments but if things go according to what should be normal neither Austria or Switzerland will advance further than the group stage.
Switzerland has played in both the 1996 and 2004 Euro's drawing two games and losing 4 scoring a total of 2 goals and allowing 10.
Home crowd will not make a difference for them IMO as, in general, Swiss people are quiet and football doesn't have a tradition in the country.
Their current FIFA rank is 44th overall which is a sign of them not being a top team.
The Czech will be missing two world class players: Pavel Nedved and Tomas Rosicky and that is a big blow for them but they're still the better team, are far more experienced at this level (played the last three "Euro" Competitions and reached at least the semi-finals twice during those three competitions) and have the best keeper in the world at the moment and IMO: Petr Chech.
[B]My pick: Czech Republic 0 AH (Asian Handicap); [COLOR=green]won[/COLOR][/B]


Portugal-Turkey
There are huge expectations regarding the Portuguese team but IMO there are a few "weak points" (I'll get into that as the tournament goes on...) when I compare the Portuguese team with, for example, France or Italy...on the other hand, Portugal will be playing at home in the group stage (all group games are in Switzerland where there's a HUGE Portuguese population which is looking forward to throw a party in the Swiss's backyard ...they just had 12K people attending practice this week!!!) and they have the best player in the World: Cristiano Ronaldo.
Portugal is very experienced at this level (took part in all of the last three "Euro" competitions and reached the semi-final in 2000 and the final in 2004) and I know Scolari will have the team concentrating on winning the 1st game (he already said it is the most important game of this stage as a victory gives you "peace of mind" to face the rest of the group stage...and he's correct) without taking many risks.
Turkey is a good team and has some great players in their squad so they cannot surely be underestimated but their record at this competition is far from impressive (were not present in Euro 2004, in Euro 2000 lost in the Quarter-Finals 2-0 to Portugal and in Euro 1996 didn't make it after the group stage).
Their strongest aspect is the group spirit and ability to fight for the result with some experienced players.
Their weakest aspect is IMO the defence as they're are physically strong but slow.
Portugal should win with more or less difficulty.
[B]My pick: Portugal -0.5 AH (Asian Handicap); [COLOR=#008000]won [/COLOR][/B]

Good luck!

JC[/quote]

[JCtips]

[quote=blackcrow;1105956]Great day to start off the tournament [/quote]

Well done as well blackcrow, congratulations !



JC

[JCtips]

My bets for Wednesday:

Czech Republic-Portugal
The Czech Republic was far from impressive in the 1st match against the hosts Switzerland. They defended very well which is not a surprise as they have a great keeper and great defenders but in midfield they surely lacked class and quality with the absence of Nedved and Rosicky and were never dangerous upfront.
Tomorrow it is obvious to predict that they will play for the draw as that would almost guarantee them the qualification to the quarter-finals.
Portugal played very well against Turkey and they will be looking at keeping the momentum going. Also, I'm sure they'll play to win as they want to finish top of the group, keep the pressure off the 3rd game and also avoid Germany for as long as possible in the next stages of the tournament and by finishing 1st in the group, most likely, they will only meet in the semi-finals.
[B]My pick: Portugal to win;[/B]

Switzerland-Turkey
This should be an interesting and maybe even very tense game after what happened in the qualification for the last World Cup between these two nations/teams.
The tournament hosts played with their hearts in their 1st group game but IMO they lack class and the injury of top striker Frei also didn't help.
They will give it another shot tomorrow but their issues remain the same (lack of class and Frei is missing due to injury).
Turkey had a bad game against Portugal and were completly overplayed.
They are a better and more experienced team than the hosts and will try to get something from this game.
Home advantage on one side, better quality (on paper) on the other...it looks like a draw to me and at 3.42 I see it as a value bet.
[B]My pick: draw;[/B]

Good luck!

JC

[boyd]

[quote=Marek76;1082649]After the pandemonium in the play offs for the World Cup 2006, I'm looking forward to the Switzerland vs Turkey game. Keep an eye on the bookings. But bookies will probably be aware of that and will set the lines high.

The Swiss could make it to the next stage. My personal theory says that one of the hosts will definitely progress and Switzerland look much stronger than Austria.[/quote]

For those of you that feel the Switzerland and Turkey game will be a dirty game and that there will be a lot of bookings due to past events between the teams William Hill are doing a specials bet for bookings as follows in a match up against Portugal v Czech Rep.

Most bookings: -

Switzerland V Turkey

11/10




Czech Republic V Portugal

15/8




Tie

23/10


I feel the Swiss v Turkey game will probably end up with more bookings as long as the Portuguese don't start diving for get booked. The Switzerland game is likely to be more physical as they battle to get some points on the board and if there is a losing team in the last half hour, then they may get frustrated and start kicking their opponents.

[nicko]

I am looking at 2 draws today, both pairs might just cancel each other. The Czechs looked a bit fragile early in the first game, no wonder Portugal are favourites. On the other hand there were moments when Portugal didn't look so convincing at the back vs Turkey, and the Czechs could be far more clinical than the Turks. For sure there won't be that much room for those one-two Portugal loves in front of the goal, and another Romania-France is what I expect, as well as CS 2-1 Portugal.
Nothing separates Turkey and Switzerland imo, though I am really tempted to go Over 3,5 goals, on top of the draw.
Good luck

[boyd]

Portugal have won the group but who goes through if Czech Rep and Turkey draw? They are both on the same points and both scored two and conceded three. I have found a tie breaker rules for the competition and think that it may go down to coefficients where Czech Rep would go through. Am i right that it would go down to point f )?

[B]TIE-BREAKER RULES :[/B]
If two or more teams finish equal on points after all the group matches have been played, the following criteria will be applied to determine the ranking :

[I] (a) Greater number of points obtained in the matches between the teams in question. [/I]
[I] (b) Goal difference resulting from the matches between the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal). [/I]
[I] (c) Greater number of goals scored in the matches between the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal). [/I]
[I] (d) Goal difference in all the group matches. [/I]
[I] (e) Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches. [/I]
[I] (f) Coefficient of points from the last two qualifying competitions for the final rounds of the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008 (points gained and divided by the number of matches played). [/I]
[I] (g) Fair Play conduct of the teams (final tournament). [/I]
[I] (h) A drawing of lots by the Organising Committee. [/I]
There is no need to apply criteria (g) & (h) at this year’s championship because the only teams with equal coefficient under criteria (f) are teams of Romania & Germany (ranked 5.), Greece & Poland (ranked 10.) and then Russia & Turkey (ranked 13.) - teams that were drawn into different groups anyway.

[Broken]

[quote=boyd;1109944]Portugal have won the group but who goes through if Czech Rep and Turkey draw? They are both on the same points and both scored two and conceded three. I have found a tie breaker rules for the competition and think that it may go down to coefficients where Czech Rep would go through. Am i right that it would go down to point f )?

[B]TIE-BREAKER RULES :[/B]
If two or more teams finish equal on points after all the group matches have been played, the following criteria will be applied to determine the ranking :

[I](a) Greater number of points obtained in the matches between the teams in question. [/I]
[I](b) Goal difference resulting from the matches between the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal). [/I]
[I](c) Greater number of goals scored in the matches between the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal). [/I]
[I](d) Goal difference in all the group matches. [/I]
[I](e) Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches. [/I]
[I](f) Coefficient of points from the last two qualifying competitions for the final rounds of the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008 (points gained and divided by the number of matches played). [/I]
[I](g) Fair Play conduct of the teams (final tournament). [/I]
[I](h) A drawing of lots by the Organising Committee. [/I]
There is no need to apply criteria (g) & (h) at this year’s championship because the only teams with equal coefficient under criteria (f) are teams of Romania & Germany (ranked 5.), Greece & Poland (ranked 10.) and then Russia & Turkey (ranked 13.) - teams that were drawn into different groups anyway.[/quote]

I hope you are right, I have the Czechs to finish second in the group!

I guess if you follow those rules to the letter then point (f) has to give it to the Czechs in the event of a draw.

[Broken]

Just checked and the co-efficient is massively in the Czech's favour so a draw will take them through. whether thats a good thing remains to be seen!

[Tulenos]

And either CR (more likely) or Turkey will most probably play Germany in the quarters...

[boyd]

[quote=Broken;1109959]Just checked and the co-efficient is massively in the Czech's favour so a draw will take them through. whether thats a good thing remains to be seen![/quote]

Yeah sorry forgot to put the coefficient list to show that Czech Rep are above Turkey. As soon as the game was over i went checking because i have the straight forecast with Czech Rep to come second behind Portugal.

[El NihiL]

[QUOTE=boyd;1109944]Portugal have won the group but who goes through if Czech Rep and Turkey draw? They are both on the same points and both scored two and conceded three. I have found a tie breaker rules for the competition and think that it may go down to coefficients where Czech Rep would go through. Am i right that it would go down to point f )?

[B]TIE-BREAKER RULES :[/B]
If two or more teams finish equal on points after all the group matches have been played, the following criteria will be applied to determine the ranking :

[I] (a) Greater number of points obtained in the matches between the teams in question. [/I]
[I] (b) Goal difference resulting from the matches between the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal). [/I]
[I] (c) Greater number of goals scored in the matches between the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal). [/I]
[I] (d) Goal difference in all the group matches. [/I]
[I] (e) Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches. [/I]
[I] (f) Coefficient of points from the last two qualifying competitions for the final rounds of the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008 (points gained and divided by the number of matches played). [/I]
[I] (g) Fair Play conduct of the teams (final tournament). [/I]
[I] (h) A drawing of lots by the Organising Committee. [/I]
There is no need to apply criteria (g) & (h) at this year’s championship because the only teams with equal coefficient under criteria (f) are teams of Romania & Germany (ranked 5.), Greece & Poland (ranked 10.) and then Russia & Turkey (ranked 13.) - teams that were drawn into different groups anyway.[/QUOTE]

That was what I'd known but Turkish tvs seems to be confident about it would go to penalties in case of draw...(Turkish player Mehmet Topal was just saying the same thing on Tv two minutes ago)
Trying to get the details...

[Broken]

[quote=boyd;1109974]Yeah sorry forgot to put the coefficient list to show that Czech Rep are above Turkey. As soon as the game was over i went checking because i have the straight forecast with Czech Rep to come second behind Portugal. [/quote]

You and me both mate- except mine is in a treble with: 1st Ger 2nd Cro; 1st Spa 2nd Swe; £8.50 @ 69-1 so its very, very, very, very important to me that the Czechs go through lol!

For what its worth, the co-efficients:

Turkey: 3.91
Czechs: 5

[Broken]

[quote=El NihiL;1109977]That was what I'd known but Turkish tvs seems to be confident about it would go to penalties in case of draw...(Turkish player Mehmet Topal was just saying the same thing on Tv two minutes ago)
Trying to get the details...[/quote]

Ive never heard of anything ever going to penalties in a group game! Its always decided off the pitch, even if it comes down to naff things like fair play.

Those rules explain it clearly so either those rules are not from UEFA or someones having a laugh and winding the Turks up.

[boyd]

[quote=Broken;1109986]Ive never heard of anything ever going to penalties in a group game! Its always decided off the pitch, even if it comes down to naff things like fair play.

Those rules explain it clearly so either those rules are not from UEFA or someones having a laugh and winding the Turks up.[/quote]

It definitely wont go to penalties after the group game if it is a joke. Someone is having a laugh with the Turkish public if that is what was said.