June 13th-16th

Portugal - Greece

Spain - Russia

Switzerland - Croatia

France - England

Denmark - Italy

Sweden - Bulgaria

Czech Republic - Latvia

Germany - Holland

My predictions - Matchday 1.

Portugal($1.45) - Greece($6.00) [DRAW: $3.85]
Portugal will want to get off to an impressive start at EURO 2004, being the hosts. I see them winning confidently.
PREDICTION: Portugal

Spain($1.60) - Russia ($5.15) [DRAW: $3.40]
Spain, like Portugal, will be eager to do well in the competition. With a lot of quality players in their team I foresee them being easy victors. At the world cup they didn't drop a point in the group stages.
PREDICTION: Spain, comfortably.

Switzerland($3.00) - Croatia ($2.15) [DRAW: $3.20]
On paper there is no reason Croatia shouldn't beat Switzerland but the result could be a draw. Unless a major upset occurs Switzerland won't beat Croatia. I doubt this will happen.
PREDICTION: Croatia

France ($1.90) - England ($3.60) [DRAW:$3.25]
France are deservedly the favourites against an over-rated England side that lacks attacking power now that Alan Shearer is retired. The English will rely on players like Michael Owen and Heskey to provide goals and I can't see either player scoring more than 2 goals in this tournament. Whereas France have a very talented team with players like Henry, Zidane, Pires with major strengths in all areas of the pitch.
PREDICTION: France.

Denmark ($4.00) - Italy ($1.80) [DRAW: $3.25]
Italy's return has gone from $1.90 to $1.80 in the past few days. This is because bookmakers are realising that Denmark has no chance of winning and Italy should win comfortably. I see Italy starting off EURO 2004 well with a strong win.
PREDICTION: Italy

Sweden ($2.00) - Bulgaria ($3.25) [DRAW:$3.25]
I feel that bookmakers are being generous with a $2.00 return on Sweden considering they are a strong, but under-rated nation. I expect them to win but not before conceding a goal from Bulgaria.
PREDICTION: Sweden

Czech Republic ($1.40) - Latvia ($7.50) [DRAW:$3.75]
There's a reason Czech Republic has the lowest returns for matchday 1. You can figure it out.
PREDICTION: Czech Republic, easily.

Germany ($3.10) - Holland ($2.10) [DRAW:$3.20]
This is not an easy match to predict as both nations are very unpredictable when it comes to soccer. One day Germany are in the WC final, the next they are being beaten by Romania 5-1 in Munich. Holland are losing 2-1 to Scotland and then 1 week later winning 6-0. Don't hold me to it but I expect Holland to get their team together and win against an unprepared German side.
PREDICTION: Holland

Please add your thoughts/predictions to this thread.

[ This Message was edited by: primo on 2004-06-10 18:15 ]

Gee Primo I wish you were running a book on Owen or Heskey not scoring 2 goals in the tournament.I reckon at least one of them will score 2 goals in the quali rounds

[ This Message was edited by: Floydyboy on 2004-06-10 19:55 ]

I said they won't score MORE than 2 goals. We'll see at the end of the tournament.

---

Bet on this now if you want to make some money.

Saturday Double: Spain-Portugal at $2.20

Some people have put $25 000 on Spain to beat Russia and Portugal are a shoe in to win against Greece.

[ This Message was edited by: primo on 2004-06-10 20:59 ]

everybody is into the AFL, no?

Primo, at this stage I reckon the champions will probably be either France or Italy. My best outsiders are the Czech Republic.

I agree 100%

France & Italy are being tipped by everyone. Spain or Holland could surprise.

Saturday Double: Spain-Portugal at $2.20
The return has gone down to $1.88 - bookies must have finally woken up. It's still great value though.

Spain has also gone to $1.50 and Portugal down to $1.40.

[ This Message was edited by: primo on 2004-06-12 22:33 ]

Kali mera Primo I took portugal in my big
multi as well as spain
Multi stands at 6/10 with four legs still to be played
three Afl games and Wallabies
losers were Saint Kilda,Newcastle,Raiders(1/2
point)and Portugal.
Should restrict myself might get 100/1 still
good punting

Portugal 1 - 2 Greece
Spain 1 - 0 Russia

Portugal will now struggle getting into the quarter finals. They were very dissapointing. It's the first time ever in a European championship that a host nation has lost the opening match.

The value is for Croatia today. Back them to beat Switzerland and if you want to take a risk bet on France too; they should win.

England v France
I watched the first half then fell asleep Even though the Poms were 1 in front I always thought the French were going to put 3 on them .They looked very sharp but couldnt seem to finish . If they get their finishing together theyre going to be very hard to beat.Lot of talent up front and middle for them

Soccer has the same effect on me.
Maybe you've got the same virus as well.

Greece ? over Portugal, that'll do me ,i'll wait until the next world cup to have my next bet on soccer!

Moeee, try watching golf, that'll have you asleep for 4 days

Goldmember.
Golf is a leisurely type of sport so the scores change quite slowly.
It's soccer that is played at quite a frenetic pace and the scores don't change.
Nil all scores are not uncommon.
After an hour or whatever it is,and nothing has been achieved,Goodness gracious,why bother.
No wonder the fans belt each other so often.Got to get something happening somewhere.

actually moe 0-0 scores are quite rare, there will probably be fewer than three 0-0 scorelines in this competition.

Tonight I've bet on Italy. I wish I had done it last night at $1.72 instead of $1.63. It's stupid but it's still money to be made. I made a small bet on C. Vieri to score first too. It seems likely to me, if it doesn't happen I won't be annoyed though.

I've also bet on Sweden, I think they will win but if they don't it's no great loss.

i hope robert slater doesn't predict the same as me. i swear to God he never gets anything right.

e.g. last night
"Croatia-Switzerland will be a high-scoring draw"

1.80 AUD98,703
1.81 AUD48,784
1.82 AUD29,269
1.83 AUD10,492
1.84 AUD17,071
1.85 AUD68,241
1.86 AUD100,459
1.87 AUD80,706

Some big bets going on Italy there.
FORZA L'AZZURI

Hey Primo I see you got your $11 multi up .....well done....
FORZA L'AZZURI ....is that the same as
CARN THE BLUEEES

thanks bro.
and yes, forza azzurri is practically the same as 'carn the blues'

ok well this tournament has done me no favours yet. That ends now.

If Germany beats Holland you won't hear from me again regarding EURO 2004.

Please tell me what you think about today's games...

Germany-Holland
Czech Republic-Latvia

Holland by 1 or 2 goals. The Czech Republic by at least 3. Does that sound about right?

A 1-1 draw or Holland 3-1
Czech Republic 2-0

yeh all those results sound about right.

i'll be happy as long as czech wins and germany doesn't.

What does a draw mean?

This tournament is sure full of surprises. One of the sports tipping websites I use actually made Holland their best bet of the day, but I just couldn't bring myself to bet against Germany in any major soccer championship! As for Latvia, if they had won, tipsters everywhere would have just given up.

[ This Message was edited by: sportznut on 2004-06-16 07:11 ]

Very, very close sportzfan :smile:

yeah Latvia surprised everyone in the first half. I knew Czech would win though, it was only a matter of time before they made a break through.

Germany-Holland ended 1-1, everyone predicted Holland to win but Germany proved again they are not to be under-estimated.

CZECH REPUBLIC v NETHERLANDS
SPAIN v PORTUGAL
will they both be draws or will the czechs win