Euro 2008
2008-06-21 - Holland vs Russia
A Sports Betting Pick by chappers
EURO 2008 QF
Basel, June 21 1945 BST
Holland
Now before these finals I sat down and wondered what bets to put on, was it going to be teams to make it out of the groups in order to give me interest in the groups games or was it going to be singles. Now this group C of course had me worried as I did not have clue what was going to happen and to be honest it was this reason why I just stayed with singles as this group then started giving me doubts with all the other groups. Holland to make it out of the group stages was not all that much of a shock as after all this is not a bad football team but I think the way they did it has pretty much shocked everyone.
In the first game for me the score line of 3-0 flattered the Dutch in their win over Italy as it was much closer than that and to be honest it was one of the reasons why I went on to back Italy in both their other group games as Holland maybe deserved to win the game but not by 3-0. So then it was the turn of France and this was totally different and France were blown away by the Dutch as they lost 4-1 but again I had my doubts over Holland as for me France have been truly awful in these finals. In the last game I fully expected Holland to lose as after all they had already gone through and Romania needed the win but the Dutch won again to make it three out of three in a 2-0 victory.
Russia
Along with Croatia "Dark Horses" Russia where fancied by many to do well in these finals and have made to the knockout stages even if it did go down to the last game of the group stages but now that they are though it will be interesting to see how they play as I did fancy them to make it out of the group but thought it would be touch and go with Sweden which it proved to be.
The first game saw Russia lose 4-1 to Spain but for me they did not play all that bad and created some decent chances that they did not put away and a bit like the Dutch when they beat Italy, I felt that 4-1 flattered the Spanish. Russia moved on to Greece and won 1-0 in a game that wont last long in peoples memories and to be honest anything with Greece in it, wont impress me for a long time.
So the last game of the group saw them play Sweden in a game that they had to win and on the night I couldn’t make my mind up so went for overs and have to say even now I don’t understand how this game finished 2-0 to Russia. I was very impressed with them and they should have really won this game by four or even five goals for me but while they did score twice the failings in the Spain seemed to come back and they did miss some chances, even if they did hit the woodwork twice.
Verdict
It would be easy in this game to pick Holland to win and the bookies agree and have the Dutch priced at 1.73 and Russia at a massive 5.00. So which way to go, I have to be honest I may just go with two bets in this game and Russia to make the next stage which is priced at 3.00 is well worth a shot but the one that of course sticks out is the over 2.5 goals as these are two teams who create a lot.
In the six games that these two teams have played in there has been eighteen goals in total which works out at three goals a game so by using that logic this game could well be a one where we see goals. As I’ve said both teams do seem to create a lot and as such, I’ll be hoping that they have their goal scoring boots on for this game.
So I’m going for Over 2.5 goals @ 1.90 and Russia to make it though to the next round @ 3.00
The Pick :
Over 2.5 goals and Russia to make it though
