23rd June 2012
Spain vs France Betting: France could have been written off in this tournament a bit prematurely
When the quarter finals of Euro 2012 were decided one tie stood out a mile and that is the match between Spain and France which will be played in Donetsk on Saturday night. Spain made it into this quarter final by topping Group C while the French were runners up to England in Group D. Portugal await the winners in the semi final with Spain the 5/6 favourites in the 90 minutes with Stan James.
Spain cruised into this stage in terms of not being beaten in the group but in reality they made real hard work of topping a group many expected them to have few troubles in. In fact, such was a mess they almost made of it, had Croatia taken a golden chance they had against the Spanish in the second half of their final group game against them Spain could be out by now. Despite that Vicente del Bosque is expected to name an unchanged side with Fernando Torres up front.
France looked laboured against England in their opening group match but breezed past Ukraine in their second match. That meant that they only needed a point to guarantee being in this stage when they took on Sweden in their final group game. They failed to get that, losing 2-0 but England’s win over Ukraine meant the French qualified. Philippe Mexes picked up his second yellow card in that match so is suspended so Laurent Koscielny will replace him while Yohan Cabaye is set to return to the side.
Franck Ribery and Samir Nasri missed training earlier in the week but both are expected to play for France in this match and I think they may have been written off too soon. We will really find out about the Spanish in this match but my gut feeling is they look incredibly light going forward without Villa and their seeming necessity to walk the ball into the net may catch up with them at some point. That time may be here. I think the French have the quality to really trouble Spain defensively and I can see them at least forcing extra time here but if they really show the belief to win the game that’s not beyond them.
Back France (+0.75AH) to beat Spain for a 4/10 stake at 1.87 with Bet365
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Author: 'Arry Allsports
