Euro 2012
2012-06-10 - Republic of Ireland vs Croatia
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: Euro 2012 Group C
Sunday 10 June 2012 - Kick Off 7:45pm
This game is live on TV
Preview
These two nations know they are the underdogs in a group that contains powerhouses like Spain and Italy, but both the Republic of Ireland and Croatia will feel they will have a great chance of qualifying for the Quarter Finals if they can pick up the three points in this, their opening game of the competition.
Neither team qualified for the World Cup in South Africa and that would have been a disappointment for both. Ireland were controversially beaten by France in a Play Off game which is mostly remembered for the Thierry Henry handball that set up France's winning goal. This is now their first appearance at a major tournament since the World Cup of 2002 which was overshadowed by Roy Keane's walkout after a massive argument with Mick McCarthy days before the tournament began.
Croatia will remember their last game in the European Championships when they lost on a penalty shoot out to Turkey after conceding a goal in the 123rd minute of extra time despite only taking the lead in the 119th minute. They looked like being a team that could have potentially gone all the way in that tournament, but they have struggled to hit those heights since. Failure to get to the World Cup in 2010 was one disappointment, while they didn't pull up trees to get to this one having finished behind Greece in their qualifying group and had to beat Turkey in the Play Offs.
Ireland also got through via the Play Offs when they beat Estonia having finished behind Russia in the qualifying group. However, they lost just one game in that campaign and are sure to be tough to beat with the system they use. Friendlies have not really shown a lot that we didn't already know about Ireland and I expect Giovanni Trapattoni will set his team with five hard working midfielders trying to keep things tight and support the lone forward when they can.
Head to Head
These two teams met in Ireland last August in a game that finished 0-0.
That was the third meeting between the nations since the turn of the century, all of those coming in friendlies. Ireland have won 1 game and the other 2 have both ended in draws.
All of those games took place in Dublin.
Prediction
With both teams likely targeting this as the game they need to secure a victory, the tendency is to think this could be a decent high-scoring game, but I have a feeling Ireland will be happy enough if they can avoid defeat to give themselves a chance later in the section.
For some reason, the Irish fans are absolutely confident that their team can beat the Italians in their final game of the group having never lost to them since Giovanni Trapattoni took over as manager of the national team.
Ireland are going to set their team up to be hard-working and to limit the space that their opponents get to play behind them. This should be very effective against a Croatian team that may struggle to break teams down despite having a player of the quality of Luka Modric in the line up.
The Croatian defence is also vulnerable and could be exploited from set pieces so they are likely going to need more than one goal if they are to get a win. However, I think the Irish showed enough when qualifying to think they can frustrate their opponents.
The question is then whether they can do enough to actually pick up the full complement of points or whether they will have to settle for a draw. The problem I have is that Trapattoni is of the 'old school' Italian thinking where not losing is seen as the key to a game and I am not sure he is going to want to risk a defeat in search of a win despite this being the most winnable game of the group on paper.
Therefore, I think backing the draw looks the way to go in this game.
The Pick :
Republic of Ireland 1-1 Croatia
