Euro Cup 2008--

[Sammy Meatballs]

Soccer Gurus lets get in here and get some early first round wins.

I think Italy, Netherlands are very good, along with Portugal should be scoring with Ronaldo.

 

[evalagoal]

Soccer Gurus lets get in here and get some early first round wins.

I think Italy, Netherlands are very good, along with Portugal should be scoring with Ronaldo.

Don't let Portugal sucker you into any wagering.... They are not as strong as people think they are...

Ronaldo will be closed down by other National team players and he'll be limited to what he's going to do.. It won't be as an open game for him as it is in the EPL.

GL

 

[Greencastle]

Portugal will be fine. They have a bunch of offensive talent besides Cristiano, despite not having a superstar centre forward. Defensively they are solid with Carvalho, Pepe and Bosingwa/Ferreria at the back. They also have experience at this stage, going pretty far in recent tournaments.

They tend to play like bitches sometimes which turns people off them, but you can't deny that they are a strong side, with tons of potential.

I expect them to go far this year as they've been handed a pretty favourable draw.

 

[Greencastle]

And it always helps when you have the best player in the world on your team.

Portugal -125 against Turkey is a nice bet in my opinion.

 

[CapTwo]

Was scouring the card last night again and think I finally found my favorite live big dog of the first round....

anyone else interested in Romania over france at +243 pk?
not sure if i have the balls to play them -1/2 but at +355 its enticing

looking at greece as well but its at +108 pk...not a big dog.

 

[CapTwo]

Portugal up a dime since its opening....at least at two books im looking at, green.

(-135) at the moment, and probably will continue to rise a bit with all the hype and how the public has fallen in love with them

 

[evalagoal]

Was scouring the card last night again and think I finally found my favorite live big dog of the first round....

anyone else interested in Romania over france at +243 pk?
not sure if i have the balls to play them -1/2 but at +355 its enticing

looking at greece as well but its at +108 pk...not a big dog.

LOVE both of them

:cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:

 

[Zecco]

France will miss captain Vieira for the 1st game against Romania.

Flamini of Arsenal has been added to the squad in case Vieira wont be playing for the whole tournament.


Italian GK Gigi Buffon has said that he will be satisfied when his team reaches the Final.

Turkeys Hamit Altintop, who is an important piece, has been cleared fit to go to the tournament, although he is doubtfull for the 1st game against Portugal.

Van Persie (Holland) has been cleared fit to practice. He will be ready to go.

 

[emet15]

Carefull with Portugal......

Turkey is such a tough team.......... They arent too talented, and being this the first match in a group series against one of the favs, they will surelly take the draw anyday..........

Turkey has the size and toughness to make this game a sluugfest......

Plus, Felipaos teams have allways had problems defending air balls..... thay have the personell to form a great Defense (Pepe, Carvallo, etc) but the sistem they play with, I dont think is the best for this team........

I wouldnt be too sure about Portugals chances in this game.....

 

[Zecco]

ITALIA will miss Fabio CANNAVARO for the entire tournament after he got injured badly today.
BIG BIG blow for the Squadra Azzuri!

 

[Greencastle]

cannavaro's injury is a huge blow for the Italians.

it's a tough task replacing your best defender. they'll prob bring zambrota to the middle and play grosso on the right.

 

[evalagoal]

Carefull with Portugal......

Turkey is such a tough team.......... They arent too talented, and being this the first match in a group series against one of the favs, they will surelly take the draw anyday..........

Turkey has the size and toughness to make this game a sluugfest......

Plus, Felipaos teams have allways had problems defending air balls..... thay have the personell to form a great Defense (Pepe, Carvallo, etc) but the sistem they play with, I dont think is the best for this team........

I wouldnt be too sure about Portugals chances in this game.....

AGREE AGREE AGREE~ :cheers:

 

[Toronto_Mike]

Portugal will be fine. They have a bunch of offensive talent besides Cristiano, despite not having a superstar centre forward. Defensively they are solid with Carvalho, Pepe and Bosingwa/Ferreria at the back. They also have experience at this stage, going pretty far in recent tournaments.

They tend to play like bitches sometimes which turns people off them, but you can't deny that they are a strong side, with tons of potential.

I expect them to go far this year as they've been handed a pretty favourable draw.

I'd like to know what other "bunch of offensive talent" does Portugal have?
Quaresma and Simao yes....but they are wingers so who else?

Pepe has looked like absolute garbage this year. If one of them gets into a suspension I am not impressed with Portugals bench.

 

[Toronto_Mike]

Underdogs that I will look into playing quite abit

Greece, Turkey, Romania and Russia

 

[Greencastle]

They'll probably go with Almeida on top, and its not ideal but you can play Ronaldo or Quaresma there as well, with players like Nani, Sabrosa, Deco and Veloso behind them. Maniche is also decent offensively and usually plays well at the international level.

 

[Toronto_Mike]

They'll probably go with Almeida on top, and its not ideal but you can play Ronaldo or Quaresma there as well, with players like Nani, Sabrosa, Deco and Veloso behind them. Maniche is also decent offensively and usually plays well at the international level.

Maniche is not in the squad my friend

 

[Greencastle]

damn i didnt even notice that.

 

[Zecco]

cannavaro's injury is a huge blow for the Italians.

it's a tough task replacing your best defender. they'll prob bring zambrota to the middle and play grosso on the right.

NO mate!!!
Donadoni will never and never do what you are saying.
It means your both sides will be weakened since GRosso looks stupid when even controlls the ball with his right foot, let stand when he will PLAY on the right side.
Also moving Zambrotta from the right side isnt very smart.

He will likely start with Barzagli-Materazzi as the central defenders.

btw; Cannavaro will stay with the team till the end.

 

[Ripped71]

cannavaro's injury is a huge blow for the Italians.

it's a tough task replacing your best defender. they'll prob bring zambrota to the middle and play grosso on the right.

Zambro isn't a CB and Grosso plays primarily on the left. It's obvious that either Matrix/Chiellini/Panucci slides over to CB. I highly doubt Grosso starts at all.

As for the Portugal discussion, their lack of a true Striker has always hurt them. Anytime they face a team that knows how to defend, all you see is crosses into the box with no success.

 

[hauntEd]

Cannavaro missing is going to be huge for the Italians, have to agree with you guys, more from a psychological standpoint than anything else. He's the leader, the captain and the motivator, and of course a great great player.
And I'm still not so confident in Barzagli.. and in Materazzi neither..
the first one still trying to prove himself at highest levels, the latter going through a period of bad shape. Anyway i think that Materazzi will play for sure, for the simple fact that he's the only experienced one, he's a big challenging guy and this may represent an opportunity to get back what he's left behind.
Point is, who's going help him in the middle? i guess its going to be Barzagli, against Holland at least (Donadoni has tested them together during one of the latest workouts), with Grosso and Zambrotta on the sides, but im not so confident with this lineup.. bringing Panucci in the middle could be another solution, lets see how Donadoni will sort things out.

 

[Joe Public]

I'm sad to see Cannavarro out, too. I worry this might give the team the excuse to quit that they sometimes take.

 

[evalagoal]

BAD NEWS from the Dutch Camp....


Babel, Sneider & Van Persie are all hurt.... I like the Italians more and more in this group

 

[Zecco]

Is not like things are going well for Italy.

Materazzi will most likely miss the 1st game with an injury, which means the problems get even bigger for Donadoni for who to choose as CB.
Chiellini maybe....or Panucci??

Also, Cassano made some troubles on the training session today.
He exchanged words with Chiellini after he made a tackle on him and few moments later Cassa went again in a discussion with Barzagli when he also made tackle on him.
Donadoni and some players had to get between them...

 

[Ripped71]

BAD NEWS from the Dutch Camp....


Babel, Sneider & Van Persie are all hurt.... I like the Italians more and more in this group

Babel was ruled out of the tournament a couple of weeks ago. VP practiced and should be fine and Snejder injury isn't serious.

 

[Ripped71]

Is not like things are going well for Italy.

Materazzi will most likely miss the 1st game with an injury, which means the problems get even bigger for Donadoni for who to choose as CB.
Chiellini maybe....or Panucci??

Also, Cassano made some troubles on the training session today.
He exchanged words with Chiellini after he made a tackle on him and few moments later Cassa went again in a discussion with Barzagli when he also made tackle on him.
Donadoni and some players had to get between them...

Matrix isn't hurt. The cassano incident was 2 days ago and he never went after Chiellini, he just cursed at him. It was overblown.

 

[Toronto_Mike]

I wouldn't miss Matrix...he's a cancer hit or miss really. The Italians have faced a lot of adversity before i'm sure they'll find a way to nick the games 1-0 but for me I see the Netherlands and French Qualifying although I do hope the Romanians make some noise