Euro 2012
2012-06-22 - Germany vs Greece
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football : Euro 2012 QF
Venue: Arena Gdansk, Gdansk
Friday 22th June – Kickoff time: 20:45 GMT+1
Germany
Germany will be looking to continue their flawless progress at this EURO, they are the only team with a 100% winning record in the group stages, despite being in probably the toughest group from Poland and Ukraine.
Joachim Low’s side has won every game since the qualifying began this being the first time when Germany have completed an European Championship group stage with a 100% record.
The general impression was that they have won the group without playing at 100% of their potential, which means there is still room for improvement in Germany’s game.
I guess that it’s ideal to gradually increase the level of your game in a competition like this, it remains to be seen if Germany will change gears now that they’ve reached the quarter finals.
Joachim Low should make no important decisions in the starting line-up for this match, there is a question mark regarding the right-back position, with Bender and Boateng being in contention for that spot.
Ozil and Schweinsteiger missed some training sessions early in the week, but they should be fit to face Greece on Friday.
Probable Germany line-up :
Neuer
Boateng, Badstuber, Mertesacker, Lahm
Khedira, Schweinsteiger
Ozil, Muller, Podolski
Gomez
Greece
Greece doesn’t stop to surprise football fans, they somehow managed to progress from group A after only picking up a point in their first two games against Poland and the Czech Republic.
A hard working performance and an opportunistic goal from Giorgios Karagounis against Russia saw Fernando Santos’ side progress in the quarter finals and send the group A favorites home.
Pulling off excellent defensive performances and somehow scoring decisive goals became like a Greece trademark at European Championships and that’s what they will be looking to do again against Germany.
Fernando Santos will be forced to make some changes in his starting eleven, as captain Giorgos Karagounis and German-born Jose Holebas are both suspended.
Probable Greece line-up :
Sifakis
Torosidis, Papastathopoulos, Papadopoulos, Tzavellas
Salpingidis, Makos, Maniatis, Katsouranis, Samaras
Gekas
The Betting Verdict
Germany is the overwhelming favorite in this game in everyone’s eyes, including the bookies who are offering such a poor price for a German victory. I’m saying it because after all, these are the best eight teams in Europe and the difference between the odds on the two teams to win is huge.
Portugal vs Germany is the match the Greeks should learn from, I think they are at least as good as Portugal when it comes to absorbing pressure, after all they’ve managed to keep a clean sheet against Russia despite only having 30% possession.
Greece will need to avoid mistakes like the ones against Czech Republic when they’ve conceded twice in the opening 6 minutes, I can’t imagine them coming back into the game if they concede an early goal, that would make Germany’s job so much easier.
Germany will dominate the game, but I don’t think they’ll take unnecessary risks, they just have to play their game and the goal will eventually come. The Germans will have to avoid giving away corners or free-kicks, that would be Greece’s best chance to get a goal in this match.
Greece is an ambitious side, it’s difficult to play against them, but Germany should prove to be too strong here. I can’t see Greece holding on for the entire 90 minutes, but this match should be tighter than the bookies suggest.
The Pick :
Germany 1-0 Greece
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Under 2.5 goals at 2.00 at LadbrokesConfidence: 7/10
