Euro 2008
2007-11-21 - Hungary vs Greece
A Sports Betting Pick by Dimitris
The last group match between the two sides seems indifferent, but is it really? Greece want the win for a not so obvious reasonHUNGARY
Hungary are currently sitting right above the bottom of the group, ahead only of lowly Malta. With a 4-0-7 record in their group games they can't be very proud of themselves. In their home ground they have beaten the weaker teams of the group, namely Malta, Moldova and Bosnia but they have lost both to Turkey and Norway. In their last game they lost 3-0 to Moldova at Chisinau without putting up much of a fight.
At the moment i am not fully informed on possible injuries or missing players from Hungary side, but i will update on that tomorrow. I believe that they do have a motive to beat defending Euro champions and the most successful team in the group stage (until the present moment at least) but i am not sure they have the quality to do so.
GREECE
After the surprise of lifting the Euro Cup at Portugal, Greece have failed to qualify for the World Cup in Germany, falling victim to a much common shock of teams winning a large competition (see Italy for example that were almost eliminated from 2008 Euro after winning the World Cup). But coach Rehagel, began bringing new players in the squad and it is a general belief that most of the voids left by the players that departed (like Zagorakis, Tsiartas and Nikolaidis) were covered by equally good players.
Thus Greece managed a point record in the group stage with 28 points with one more game to go. For this match, quite a lot of players are missing. Seitaridis and Goumas that weren't fielded against Malta will not play again, and Malta game starters Torosidis, Dellas and possibly Katsouranis and Karagounis (late fitness tests) will not play.
VERDICT
The key in this match will be only one : motivation. Hungary will certainly want to beat the Euro champions but Greece with a win in this match and if Croatia doesn't beat England, they climb one spot in the FIFA rankings. If they do so, they are moved in the first pot in the World Cup Qualifiers draw, to be held in South Africa on Sunday. In that way, they will void facing all the strong teams of the continent, like Italy, Germany, Spain and will also ensure an easier draw.
Even though Greece will field some not regularly playing members of the squad, all of them are good quality players, and they play in top level teams. I believe the price of about 2.4 that can easily be found at the moment (centrebet, bet365) is more than i would offer for the match, so i have already placed a bet on that.
The Pick :
Greece win, @2.38
