Euro 2012
2012-06-09 - Netherlands vs Denmark
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football : Euro 2012 Group B
Venue: Metalist Stadium — Kharkiv
Saturday 9th June – Kickoff time: 19:00 GMT+2
Netherlands
Netherlands and Denmark will meet in their opening game for the second time in a row in a major tournament after the Dutch side achieved a 2-0 victory at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Bert van Marwijk’s side had no troubles reaching the final stage of the competition, despite losing their last match in the qualifying group E to Sweden, with their place at the finals already certain.
The Dutch last attained continental glory back in the 1988 edition in Germany and it seems like they now have a good chance to repeat that performance, after just missing the title in the 2010 World Cup when they’ve lost the final to Spain.
Netherlands have surprisingly lost to Bulgaria in a friendly game two weeks ago, but then recorded two victories against Slovakia (2-0) and Northern Ireland (6-0). I won’t insist too much on these games as they are often irrelevant.
Joris Mathijsen is a serious doubt for this match with a hamstring strain sustained last week, while Wilfred Bouma was forced off following a clash of heads with John Heitinga against Slovakia.
Probable Netherlands line-up :
Wiel, Heitinga, Vlaar, Bouma
Jong, Bommel
Robben, Sneijder, Afellay
Persie
Denmark
Denmark topped qualifying group H on their way to the Euro 2012 despite having Portugal in the group, but they’ve been drawn in probably the most difficult group from the Euro 2012 which means that they’ll need to come up with something special to stand a chance.
Losing this match will make their task almost impossible, but the stats are against them, they have not beaten Netherlands in eight games (five draws and three defeats) since a 3-2 European championships qualifying success in Copenhagen back in 1967.
Denmark ended 2011 with five successive wins, but they’ve lost two in a row this year before beating Australia last week. The two defeats came against powerful opponents such as Russia and Brazil, so we have to give them credit for choosing to face top teams instead of just building up morale with victories against modest opponents like others did.
Denmark has no fresh injury concerns, it’s only a question of choosing the right starting line-up for the longest serving manager at the Euro’s, Morten Olsen.
Nicklas Bendtner and the eternal Dennis Rommedahl were Denmark’s leading scorers in the qualifiers with three goals each, so we’ll certainly see them leading Denmark’s attacks.
Midfielder Christian Eriksen is Denmark’s big hope for this competition, the 22 year old was one of Ajax’s best players helping them to regain the Dutch title and he is considered the best Danish prospect since Brian Laudrup.
Probable Denmark line-up :
Wass, Kjaer, Agger, Poulsen
Kvist, Poulsen
Rommedahl, Eriksen, Krohn-Dehli
Bendtner
The Betting Verdict
I was saying that the Netherlands have a good chance to win the competition because their team is packed with a lot of players at the peak of their career like Robben who just played the UCL final, Van Persie (top scorer in England), Huntelaar (top scorer in Germany), De Jong (champion in England), etc.
However, their defense may not be at the same level with the rest of the team which may cause some problems against offensive sides like Germany or Portugal, it remains to be seen if they can outscore those teams.
I’m not sure what Denmark can do in this group, yes they have beaten Portugal at home in the qualifiers, but they’ll also face Netherlands and Germany so I’d say there’s a good chance they’ll finish 4th in the group.
Denmark has Agger in the center of their defense, but Kjaer who will partner him made some poor games for AS Roma this season, he is known to make a lot of mistakes.
Morten Olsen will be focused to hold this offensive Dutch side which means that he can’t afford to bring to many players in front which can leave Bendtner isolated in front. I am not a big fan of Bendtner, he does have some qualities but I find him easy to read, I can’t see him making too much damage.
I’ll go for the Netherlands to repeat the result from their opening match at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, I think they’ll have a great impact at this EURO and why not reach another major competition final after the one lost in South Africa.
The Pick :
Netherlands 2-0 Denmark
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Netherlands to score 2 or more goals 1.80 at Bet365Confidence: 8/10 (Main bet)
Try Robin van Persie to score anytime 2.00 at Bet365
Confidence: 7/10
Try Robin van Persie to score first 6.00 at Betsson
Confidence: 4/10
