Group C

[AJ]

Italy
France
Netherlands
Romania

Group of death etc etc..

[WHUPUNTER]

Definitely the group of death ..

1st Italy
2nd Netherlands
3rd France
4th Romania

[stuartyoung1989]

1. Netherlands
2. France
3. Italy
4. Romania

[Samba_SamPa]

My call here would be to lay Netherlands qualifying at the 1.88 available. They are no great shakes, and finished behind Romania in their qualifying group.

Romania to qualify at 5.60 is also tempting, as I think they will be the surprise package of the tournament.

[anothamug]

I also think you under estimate romania at your peril I would recommend a buy of their points total when the spreads get there act together. it's a tough group to get out of but there could be a lot of draws here and with mutu in fine form romania could well spring a few shocks.

[chiqo]

1st France
2nd Italy
3rd Netherlands
4th Romania

Romania with no chance in this group imo. France and Italy are old opponents. They know each other. The Netherlands aren´t a tourney-team. They´ll be close behind italy.
That´s the tightest group for me!

[SeanMac]

1st - Netherland
2nd - Italy
3rd - France
4th - Romania

[uhudazflo]

yep a very tight group

ii think the best bet here is to bet on the draw in each individual match

2draws u make a small profit

3 or 4 a nice little earner

[Marek76]

and the lottery numbers are...

Tough one. The only bet for me in this group would be to lay France to qualify from the group @1.65.

Romania could be a surprise qualifier at around 5.8.

[Carl]

Pinnacle,

Group C – Who Will Survive the Group of Death?
Ever since the draw was made back in December, Euro 2008’s Group of Death has been the subject of lengthy debate as to who will emerge from among France, Italy, Holland and Romania. The Euro 2008 betting at PinnacleSports.com has Italy as 2.700* favourites ahead of France 3.040* and Holland 3.740*, with Romania considered outsiders at 12.080*. Without a crystal, ball the best bettors can do is take the 60% better Euro 2008 betting odds available at PinnacleSports.com, then wait for the first Group C games on June 9th. The Azzurri have experienced a transitionary phase since winning the 2006 World Cup, as have Les Bleus’ ageing squad, while the Dutch have flattered to deceive once too often to be relied on. Romania shouldn’t be forgotten in all this, especially with Fiorentina’s form striker, Adrian Mutu; they showed in a recent 3-0 win over Russia that they are a dark horse that could easily sneak up the rails.

[Riku888]

Without a doubt the group of death as afore mentioned. The dutch to flop again with italy 1st and france 2nd.

[Ljava]

Hard to predict. I will watch by side and will not comment haha.

[malcolmas]

Originally Posted by uhudazflo

yep a very tight group

ii think the best bet here is to bet on the draw in each individual match

2draws u make a small profit

3 or 4 a nice little earner

Agree with you there - I think the first 4 matches of group C will be draws.
With the first two rounds being very cagey affairs.
And then the final group matches having the teams risk more for a win.

Recent H2H competitive matches
24 Mar 07 Netherlands : Romania 0 - 0
13 Oct 07 Romania : Netherlands 1 - 0

6 Sep 06 France : Italy 3 - 1
8 Sep 07 Italy : France 0 - 0

Last 4 competitive matches
Italy WWWW
Netherlands WWWL
Romania WWLW
France LWWD

[archaeus]

99% of you underestimate Romania. The toughest match imo is vs France. We havent been to a final tourney for 8 years and this generation is now at its best with most of the players playing in good leagues, having earned enough experience and self confidence. Note that Holland havent scored against us in 2 games and we won the qualifiers in our group. I tend to bet on the draw against France as their generation is coming to an end. We havent beaten Italy since '83 .... that makes ..err..25 years and unfortunately believe can't do it this time either. I'm going with draw vs France and Italy and win vs Holland and also with Romania to qualify @ 5.80, a price too good to refuse.

[fintron]

France finished runners up to Italy during qualifying, winning 8, drawing 2 and losing to Scotland twice (both 1-0). They scored 25 and conceded just 5 in a group that also contained Ukraine, Lithuania, Georgia and the Faroe Islands. They kept 7 clean sheets, including away in Milan against Italy when they held out for a 0-0 draw. Thierry Henry finished their top scorer during qualifying with 6 goals (19 in 39 for Barcelona this season). Nicholas Anelka was their second highest scorer with 4. France have won the European Championships in 1984 and 2000, however, they were eliminated by Greece in the quarter finals of 2004 after winning their group containing England, Croatia and Switzerland. Henry is guaranteed a starting slot with Franck Ribery and Florent Malouda on the wings. Nicholas Anelka and Lyon's Karim Benzema will fight it out for the second striker slot. However, the French have an experienced backline, keeper Gregory Coupet, now 35, has replaced Fabian Barthez and their defence of Willy Sagnol, Lillian Thuram, William Gallas and Eric Abidal, not forgetting Claude Makalele and Patrick Viera in midfield, has a solid look about it.

Italy qualified as champions of the same group as France during the current qualifying campaign, winning 9 and drawing two of their 12 games. They only suffered 1 defeat (3-1 to France in Paris), scored 22 and conceded just 9. As you would expect from a tactically defensive side, the Azzurri only scored more than two goals on two occasions during qualifying, against minnows Faroe Islands (3-1) and Georgia (3-1). Luca Toni was their top scorer in qualifying with 5 goals (39 goals from 46 matches for Bayern). Filipo Inzaghi netted 3. They managed five clean sheets during qualifying. Italy did win the championship in 1968 and they were runners up to France in 2000. However, in 1996 and 2004 they have surprisingly failed to qualify from their group. Sweden and Denmark prevented them from progressing in 2004, with Bulgaria finishing bottom of their group. Alessandro Nesta and Francesco Totti have now retired, but the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Marco Matterazi, Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo and Luca Toni still remain. Alessandro Del Piero is still going strong upfront too and with 21 goals finished top scorer in Serie A this season.

With the inclusion of Holland, some mouth watering fixtures look set to be on the cards in this group. The Dutch finished 2nd during qualification and are matched up against group winners Romania again here. They finished three points off the group winners, winning 8, drawing 2 and losing 2 matches during qualification, scoring a meagre 15 but conceding just 5. Only once did Holland score more than three goals during qualification (3-0 at home to Belarus) although they did keep an impressive 8 clean sheets. Their two defeats came against Romania (0-1 in Bucharest) and Belarus (1-2 in Minsk). With 4 goals, Robin Van Persie (9 goals in 23 games for Arsenal this year) was their leading marksman during qualification. Real Madrid's Ruud Van Nistelrooy managed two goals. At Euro 2004 Holland finished runners up to the Czech Republic in a group that also contained Germany and Latvia. Although they beat Sweden on penalties in the quarter-finals, they were knocked out of the competition by Portugal. Historically, from their last five appearances at the finals, Holland have been champions, been beaten semi finalists three times and beaten quarter finalists once so it would be no surprise to see them progress from the group stage. Clarence Seedorf will not be joining the squad for the finals. Their defence is strong but a good number of players are competing to line up alongside Edwin van der Saar and Joris Mathijsen at the back. Ruud van Nistelrooy is looking to break Patrick Kluivert's record of 40 Dutch goals, with British based duo Dirk Kuyt and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink also likely to be involved.

Romania won Group G during qualifying, finishing ahead of Holland and Bulgaria. Victor Piturca's side won 9, drew 2 and lost 1 (0-1 in Bulgaria) of their qualifiers, scoring 26 and conceding just 7. They held out for a 0-0 draw with Holland in Rotterdam and won 1-0 in Bucharest. They kept 6 clean sheets during qualifying, with Fiorentina frontman Adrian Mutu (23 in 35 games for this season) their top scorer with 6 goals. Romania make their fourth appearance at the finals here. They failed to qualify for Euro 2004 but they did reach the quarter-finals in 2000. Piturca likes to rotate his squad and used 39 players during qualification. The likes of Christan Chivu, and Adrian Mutu are likely starters though.

Verdict: This looks by far the toughest group to sort and one of the big three nations will be sent home early after the group stage. Its hard to separate between the big three nations and even Romania, considered the lesser force of the four, had a pleasing qualification campaign and will reluctantly roll over to be group whipping boys. However, one would imagine that France, facing Romania in their opener, will be happier than the Italians, who face Holland in their first game. Holland had a watertight defence during qualification but they struggled for goals. Italy are renowned for their patient approach and you could easily see that game ending goalless. Holland then face France in the second fixture, and this fixture could be the key fixture in the group. If that game were to end in a draw and Italy beat Romania as you would expect then Holland would probably have to beat Romania handsomely to ensure qualification - which may be decided by goal difference. If Italy were to pick up 4 points from their first two fixtures then they may be able to get away with a point against France if they had outscored Holland against Romania. However, the French would be full of confidence going into that game given their head-to-head form during qualifying - a 0-0 draw in Milan and a 3-1 victory in Paris. Although Italy have been huge disappointments in failing to get beyond the group stage in two recent tournaments, they must be respected given they are World Champions and if it comes down to goal difference between them and Holland then they should take second spot as the Dutch struggled for goals during qualification. So, France appear to have the strength going forward to win the group, with Italy probably the best bet to fill the second spot.

[Manbehind]

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[AK1979]

Euro 2008 Group C - Romania to Finish Bottom (Lay) Betfair @ 1.86

Whilst they will do well to qualify I think Romania have been underrated by the layers here and a bet like this is the best way i can find of capitalising on that. There's every chance that the "big 3" could cancel eachother out with a couple of draws, meaning that Romania can take advantage with one win - probably at the expense of the dutch, whom they coped with comfortably enough in qualifying, topping the group. They have options up front with the rejuvinated Mutu and Stuttgart's Cipran Narica. They will be complemented by attacking midfielder Nicolae Dica, who scored a hattrick last night. They are tight enough at the back, conceding 7 in 12 games including 2 clean sheets vs Holland.

[SaberBlade83]

Will not get involved in this group, it could go any way possible. They are all teams of high quality and Romania looks a interesting side to shake things up maybe. I think we could possibly see a few suprises here. I quite like this Romanian side and while the group is wide open, if I were to have a bet it would be on them going through @ 4,25. I don't see it as impossible that we will get Romania and Netherlands to the next round...

Like I said, I won't get involved here. It's way to open for my liking, but will make for someinteresting games to watch!

[Mikeyred]

A lot of people underestimating a very good and in form Romanian team..at 7/2 to qualify I'm definitely gonna have a punt on that. Bear in mind they won their qualifying group ahead of Holland, and have, in Adrian Mutu a quality striker (think he was voted best foreign player from Serie A this season)

[Djslutmonkey]

I've taken the 9/2 on Romania qualifying at Betfair. Sure, its a punt. But terrific value imho, there is no way they should be so long while Holland are odds on, Cannavaro as apparently just been ruled out of the tournament, France don't look too sharp (or at least didn't against Paraguay)...

Its a long shot, but 9/2 is just too big when you consider they are ranked 12th in the world and took 4 points of Holland in winning their qualifying group, and just recently tonked Russia 3-0.