[batistuta9]

what's BTS, both teams to score?

[eh i dunno]

Originally Posted by batistuta9

what's BTS, both teams to score?

Yep

[keith16]

Originally Posted by Kerrydude1981

With Rooney not playing for the first two games,what do you reckon the odds are on England not scoring in the first two games.

Very hard to know what to make of England....

They play France first and could well draw a blank...Sweden after that who they also traditionally struggle against.

They were very lucky to get out of their group in the world cup and were badly shown up against Germany, and have a slightly worse squad this time around IMO.

You would also expect them to beat Ukraine most of the time, but Ukraine being the hosts, you just don't know

[Dietsquirt]

Ibrahimivic (sweden 50-1) or jelavic (croatia 50-1) for cheeky top scorer. Could be worth a euro or 2. I'm putting money on france or england to win. The media has laid off the english team for the moment; almost like they are expecting them to fail. This could work in their favour and i reckon they'll score few against ukraine and sweden. I'm not going near Spain, they have great players but they play boring soccer. Fair enough, they won the world cup but they only scored 8 goals in doing so.

You can't right off the germans

[power2012]

A few months ago I would have fancied Croatia however after the draw Im gone off them as I think Italy and Ireland will qualify. Yes I think Spain might have a hangover and from reading and listening to some spanish media sources all is not that well in the camp. They will miss Puyol and Villa and Torres is unpredictable.

I fancy France to do well and fill your boots on them to qualify from group at 8/15 and have a bet on them to win at around 11/1

A nice treble is Poland , Germany and France to qualify from groups treble at 5/2

[MoscowFlyer]

I always do a winner/top gs double in a major tournament and I think im gonna go with

spain/ronaldo @ 80s!

[inforfun]

Top GS is so hard to pick in the Euro's.
Some guy scoring a hat trick in one of the the group games is always going to be in the top straight on.

Top scorers since 1980:


And now look at who scored hat tricks during these tournaments.



So the trick is,imo, to find the match/player, most likely to get a hat trick


I am looking at one of the forwards in group A and C.
Too bad Dick Advocaat, Russia's manager, is such a coward otherwise i would certainly give Pogrebnyak a go.

Huntelaar, if starting for Holland could be a outsider but for that to happen Holland would need to spank Denmark.

[razor425]

Originally Posted by inforfun

So the trick is,imo, to find the match/player, most likely to get a hat trick


I am looking at one of the forwards in group A and C.
Too bad Dick Advocaat, Russia's manager, is such a coward otherwise i would certainly give Pogrebnyak a go.

Huntelaar, if starting for Holland could be a outsider but for that to happen Holland would need to spank Denmark.

I think you might be looking at the wrong groups here. I see group A as a very low scoring group with group C similar.

Taking Group A goals scored in qualifying:
Russia - 17 goals(8 v Andorra and 9 in other 8 games)
Greece - 14 goals(4 v Malta and 10 in other 8 games)
Czech Republic - 12 goals(4 v Lithuania, 4 v Lichtenstein and 4 in other 4 games)
Poland obviously didn't have to qualify.
So excluding games against bottom team(bottom 2 teams) each side only scored on average 1 goal a game. Thus can't really see any player getting a hat-trick in this group.

Bear in mind also that Russia conceded only 4 in qualifying, Greece 5 and Czech Republic 8.

Group C while I see a hat-trick more likely I don't like either as I can see both Ireland and Italy just trying to win 1-0 if possible. The stats do look a bit better however:
Spain -26 goals scored(10 v Lichtenstein, 5 v Lithuania and 11 in other 4 games)
Ireland - 15 goals scored(5 v Andorra and 10 in other 8 games)
Italy -20 goals scored(6 v Faroe's and 14 in other 8 games)
Croatia - 18 goals scored(6 v Malta and 12 in other 8 games)

Here excluding games against the bottom team Spain and Italy average almost 2 a game, Croatia average 1.5 and Ireland average 1.

Spain conceded 6, Croatia 7, Italy just 2 and Ireland 7.

Group B looks to be the group for me, finding the player however might be more difficult.
Germany scored 34(9 v Azerbaijan, 7 v Kazakhstan and 18 in other 6 games)
Holland scored 37(16 v San Marino and 21 in other 8 games)
Portugal scored 21(8 v Cyprus and 13 in other 6 games)
Denmark scored 15(6 v Cyprus and 9 in other 6 games)

Excluding games against the bottom side Germany and Holland average almost 3 a game, Portugal 2 a game and Denmark 1.5 a game.

Germany conceded 7, Holland 8, Portugal 12 and Denmark 6.

I can see each of the Germany, Holland and Portugal all scoring against one another as all have much better attackers than defenders. I won't comment on Denmark as I know nothing about them.

For completeness here is Group D also:
France scored 15(4 v Luxembourg and 11 in other 8 games)
England scored 17(7 v Bulgaria and 10 in other 6 games)
Sweden scored 21(11 v San Marino and 10 in other 8 games)
Ukraine didn't have to qualify

Thus England average almost 2 a game while Sweden and France average just over 1 a game.

France conceded 4, Sweden 11 and England 5.

So in summary if following inforuns tactic of finding someone who will score a hat-trick I suggest the most likely group is Group B.

[alfalion]

Originally Posted by MoscowFlyer

I always do a winner/top gs double in a major tournament and I think im gonna go with

spain/ronaldo @ 80s!

Ronaldo plays for portugal

[seanhynes]

it doesnt matter, u could combine Mario Gomez with Ireland winning the Euro's if u so wished.. He meant Spain win and Ronaldo top scorer there

[IncognitoMan]

Originally Posted by MoscowFlyer

I always do a winner/top gs double in a major tournament and I think im gonna go with

spain/ronaldo @ 80s!

At this price its worth a shout. Stranger things have happened. Might stick a cheeky €2 on it

[YayaBanana]

Anyone who did the card betting throughout the year will probably know this better than me, some good odds to be had. Any opinions?

[stingerro]

Pronca was a refereeing CL final, IMO there is no chance he will get Euro final as well.

[DB74]

Howard Webb got the Champions League final and the World Cup final in 2010

[inforfun]

Kuipers was in contention for the CL final according to Dutch media. But the fact he gave his opinion on tv about the 2 penalties in the Barca - Ac Milan match he did not get the CL final.

I dont think UEFA will say, now to make it up to you, we give you the Euro final. Quite the opposite even, vindictive bastards over there.
He already had the Super cup between Barca and Porto already at the start of the season

And then again, Holland will be playing that match so he is without a chance anyway

That is something else to watch out for, referees whose country go far in the Euro's will be sent home, no matter how good they are doing.