Rexy's 2015-16 EPL and UEFA plays...
- Thread starter CollegeKingRex
- Start date
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
3-0 and +6.5 ayer. Thanks fellas and good work Dwight; strong call outright and a good price you got as well on the Potheads. Now 117-103-10 and up 46.86 on the season.
Sheffield Wednesday is the rightful dog today at Wembley but the price is too high. Pressure is probably more on Hull and they sure looked skittish last weekend when losing 2-0 at home after winning the first leg 3-0. I'll take a stab on Sheffield to join the Premiershlp in three months' time.
The play: Sheffield +0.25 -106 for 1.3u
Real Madrid hasn't beaten Atletico Madrid but one time in the last 10 meetings and yet they want to make them some sort of favorite. This has all the makings of 0-0, 1-1 or 1-0. I lean UNDER but wanted 2.25 -105 or better. Not happening. Still, an easy take.
The play: Atletico Madrid +0.25 -118 for 1.3u
Beaners tonight real cheap vs. Paraguay. Would like to see lineups first but can't see there being anything that changes my mind about a play.
The play: Mejico -135 for 2u
GL!
Sheffield Wednesday is the rightful dog today at Wembley but the price is too high. Pressure is probably more on Hull and they sure looked skittish last weekend when losing 2-0 at home after winning the first leg 3-0. I'll take a stab on Sheffield to join the Premiershlp in three months' time.
The play: Sheffield +0.25 -106 for 1.3u
Real Madrid hasn't beaten Atletico Madrid but one time in the last 10 meetings and yet they want to make them some sort of favorite. This has all the makings of 0-0, 1-1 or 1-0. I lean UNDER but wanted 2.25 -105 or better. Not happening. Still, an easy take.
The play: Atletico Madrid +0.25 -118 for 1.3u
Beaners tonight real cheap vs. Paraguay. Would like to see lineups first but can't see there being anything that changes my mind about a play.
The play: Mejico -135 for 2u
GL!
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
1-2 and +1.92 last week.
Now 118-105-10 and up 48.78 on the season.
Copa America preview:
In recent international competitions, it seems that the United States always seems to find itself in the most difficult group to progress. The Copa America Centenario, to be played on American soil this month, is no different.
The USA will open the competition with a battle against the third-ranked team in the world when Colombia takes the pitch against the red, white and blue at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on June 3. Costa Rica plays Paraguay in the other opening Group A match the next afternoon in Orlando. The top two teams in the group advance to the tournament's quarterfinals.
The US has been impressive in its lead up to the tourney; it won three friendlies to wrap up May, including 1-0 against Ecuador and 4-0 against Bolivia. The 4-0 thrashing last Saturday marked the largest margin of victory for the USA against any South American team in history.
Christian Pulisic will be the talk of many American soccer fans throughout this tournament; the 17-year old scored his first international goal with the senior team in the Bolivia trouncing. He's largely expected to play on the first team for Borussia Dortmund in Germany next season and could get ample time to introduce himself to the western hemisphere in this event.
The Colombians enter this event in middling form, currently in fifth place after a third of their 2018 World Cup qualifying cycle in South America. They beat Haiti 3-1 in a friendly Sunday in Miami as their only warmup to prepare for this event. Colombia will also be participating in the summer Olympics in Rio next month, so it will be important for wily coach Jose Pekerman to bolster the depth of his teams for both competitions.
Colombia had perhaps their best international team ever at the 1994 World Cup but lost on a shocking own-goal by Andres Escobar to the hosts in a key group stage match at the Rose Bowl, 2-1. Ten days later, the defender was murdered outside a Medellin night club.
James Rodriguez led an electric Colombian team in the 2014 World Cup and was the recipient of the Golden Boot. He just finished his club season at Real Madrid as a UEFA Champions League winner, so it will be interesting to see how he fits in among his countrymen at the Copa America.
His teammate at Real Madrid was supposed to be one of his foes in Group A, but goaltender Keylor Navas has injury concerns and will miss the tournament. Still, Costa Rica figures to be a threat. The Ticos progressed farther than anyone else in this group at the last World Cup and Navas was a big reason why. The Ticos are in the middle of a golden era and those in their country expect them to progress out of the group. Several Ticos ply their trade in the USA's Major Soccer League and in Europe, which has lifted the level of their international play.
Paraguay sits seventh in the current World Cup qualifying cycle but are just one point away a top-four qualifying spot. They lost the lone preparation game for this tournament to Mexico 1-0 in Atlanta on Saturday. It could hardly be classified as a neutral venue, as Mexico had overwhelming crowd support at the Georgia Dome. Paraguay also were missing numerous starters in that game.
The Paraguayans have not shown much creativity in the attacking third at the international level for several years now. This will make things very problematic on them trying to progress as the lowest-ranked team in the most difficult group.
Group B:
Big things could be in store for Brazil this summer, but it will be the one team playing in Copa America with its eyes elsewhere. That's because the Brazilians host the Olympics this summer and the soccer team faces immense pressure to win that title.
The Brazilians still should be the class of perhaps the worst group of the tournament, so progression shouldn't be a concern. They will field a much younger team in this tournament; only nine of the 20 most capped players for Brazil since coach Dunga was re-appointed to this post in July 2014 will be in the USA. With the Olympics being the big focus and Barcelona adamant about Neymar not playing in both summer tournaments, he'll be absent from the USA as well.
Brazil played just one friendly with this team to prepare for this tournament, winning 2-0 against Panama Friday in Denver. As of earlier in the week, Dunga had already made four changes to his initial 23-man roster. Benfica's Jonas was one of the players called in before the trip to Denver and he scored less than two minutes in to celebrate his inclusion. Willian is another key player; the Chelsea man wasn't at his best for club this season but could assert himself at the international level with Neymar out.
Ranked 12th in the world in most recent FIFA rankings, Ecuador figures to be the biggest threat to pip the Brazilians. They controlled large parts of their only preparation for this event, a 1-0 friendly defeat to the United States. Alexander Dominguez was injured shortly before the intermission, and the goalkeeper's status is unknown as of the middle of the week. Also missing was Manchester United's Antonio Valencia. Still, "Los Amarillos" fielded a strong lineup and should look to stay in good form; they are tied atop the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying for Russia 2018 with 13 points through six fixtures.
Ecuador got perhaps the most fortuitous draw of all in what looks to be the weakest group; they will be solid favorites against Haiti and Peru. The talent is there for a deep run and the draw is conducive to one as well. But Ecuador have advanced out of the group stage just one time in the last major eight competitions dating back to the 2002 World Cup and this group have not played well in these rapid-fire format tournaments.
Peru coach Ricardo Gareca showed just how sick he is of his side's efforts thus far in World Cup qualifying that he decided to leave many of his veteran stalwarts off his side. "La Blanquirroja" have dusted two lesser CONCACAF sides in friendlies (4-0 over Trinidad & Tobago in Lima and 3-1 over El Salvador in Washington D.C.) and are set to face Haiti in the opener.
Gareca's got almost half (11 of his 23) his roster that have not participated in any of the qualifiers and seven of them haven't even been in the squad. Peru sit eighth with just four points through six rounds. The Peruvians are easily the greenest side of this tournament, but does sport some young talent that has shown they can score goals.
Haiti enters this tournament with just one win in its last six matches and lost its only preparation friendly on Sunday in Miami to Colombia, 3-1. The Haitians had to play the last 50-plus minutes of the match a man down as Max Hilaire picked up two yellow cards in a nine-minute stretch sandwiched around the tying goal.
The Haitians will play with plenty of vigor, but in a group with three South American teams, it looks outmatched here and at No. 71 in the world, only ranks ahead of Venezuela in this field of 16.
Group C:
It seems like Mexico has gotten some very fortuitous breaks since Oct. 15, 2013. That was the final night of hexagonal qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. The Mexicans changed coaches (as the demanding federation is wont to do) several times but could never get much continuity. They were in the process of losing 2-1 at Costa Rica and bowing out with just two wins in 10 games. Two United States goals scored in Panama after the 90th minute ultimately bailed out Mexico, which thrashed New Zealand in the playoff in November to advance to Brazil.
Once there, Mexico advanced out of a fairly easy group before almost beating Holland in the round of 16. From there, the Mexicans decided to use their next dosage of luck at the 2015 Gold Cup. They finished second in their group to Trinidad & Tobago to get to the quarterfinals. It took a 124th minute goal on a questionable penalty for them to sneak by Costa Rica, 1-0. Then it took yet another controversial penalty after more than nine minutes of stoppage time for them just to tie shorthanded Panama at 1 and eventually beat them in penalties.
Mexico is the cash cow of CONCACAF and will have the biggest crowds of the tournament, yet have certainly gotten some suspect breaks in some of these tournaments (or even to get INTO some of these tournaments). But the form of the Mexicans cannot be argued coming into this tourney. Heading into the tourney, they have not lost in 19 games since losing to Ecuador in their group stage finale of last year's Copa America. That's the longest current unbeaten streak in the world.
The other favorite to get out of the group is Uruguay, who have won more Copa America tournaments than anyone else. La Celeste certainly wasn't done any favors by the tournament draw. They have to face Mexico in Arizona in what amounts to a road game. Then they go to Philadelphia to play Venezuela four days later before wrapping up group stage four days after that in northern California to meet Jamaica. All of that travel certainly wasn't welcome news to coach Oscar Tabarez, nor was the possibility for extreme heat.
Tabarez added in a pre-tourney news conference that the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in September are more of a priority for his team, which currently lead the CONMEBOL qualifying one-third of the way through. All the more reason why I fired on Mexico back in mid-May in the lidlifter. Atletico Madrid defenders Diego Godin and Jose Maria Gimenez have had a long campaign but both should be expected to play major roles if Uruguay are to get out of the group and perhaps do any more damage. Luis Suarez injured himself in Barcelona's victory in the Copa del Rey final and won't likely be available for the group stages of this event, at least.
That will leave the onus of the goal-scoring to PSG forward Edinson Cavani, who has scored 81 goals in 148 appearances for his French club. The Uruguayans got off to a slow start in Montevideo against Trinidad & Tobago last weekend before pulling away for a 3-1 victory in their only friendly before this event starts.
While Tabarez says he knows more about Venezuela than Jamaica, it's likely the "Reggae Boyz" to be the chief threat to progress at Uruguay's expense.
Jamaica enters the event off a shock win in Chile last weekend, scoring eight minutes before and after halftime to take a 2-0 lead. Jamaica held on for the 2-1 win against the world's No. 3 team. The Reggae Boyz turned in solid performances at last year's Copa America and Gold Cup and won't be intimidated against any of these foes. Goaltender Andre Blake could be the X-factor. His performance for Philadelphia in MLS has helped turn the Union from a bottom-of-the-barrel Eastern Conference team into one that leads the East heading into June.
Venezuela sat poised to qualify for the World Cup in 2014 - then it got just five out of a possible 15 points in the final five games to see Uruguay slide ahead of the Venezuelans for the fifth and final qualifying spot. Since then, Venezuela has won just five of its last 24 games.
"La Vinotinto" sits in last place of CONMEBOL qualifying and have just one draw in six games. The Venezuelans have scored more than one goal in a game just twice in the last 15 games going back to last year. They played a trio of friendlies within the last week in central America, drawing Panama 0-0 before losing to Costa Rica, 2-1 and drawing Gustamela, 1-1. Venezuela is rated ahead of only Bolivia in this field of 16, so a third-place group finish seems the ceiling. Anything better than that would be a major shock.
Group D:
Any short-list discussion about the best soccer player in the world for the last decade would include Lionel Messi. The Argentine striker has been a standout for Barcelona since joining their senior side in 2004-05, yet is still just 28 years old. He's scored over 50 goals in all competitions three times in five years for his club.
Yet for country, Messi and his fellow gang of supremely talented offensive players have not hoisted a trophy at the senior level since 1993. He has netted 52 goals in all national team games since his Argentina debut in 2006, but the team has only been runner up at Copa America in 2007 and 2015. They were also runners up in an agonizing loss to Germany in the 2014 final in Brazil.
This represents the best chance yet "La Albiceleste" has to capture some first-place silverware during the Messi era. Chile is off a win last year at home over the Argentines and is likely to suffer a bit of a hangover (as evidenced by a 2-1 home loss to Jamaica in a recent friendly). Brazil and Colombia are focusing on the Olympic Games and Uruguay and Ecuador will want to keep their places at the top of the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers for Russia in 2018. No other teams in the tournament have ever won it before, so Argentina will be keen in putting its best foot forward for three weeks in the States.
It won't come without a struggle. Messi is fighting a tax evasion case in Spain before he flies to California to meet up with his teammates, and he got dinged up against Honduras in a friendly last week. Lucas Biglia is injured and likely won't play, Javier Pastore and Ezequiel Lavezzi are likely to miss the group opener against Chile and Erik Lamela is doubtful at well, decimating the deep midfield. Paulo Dybala will be slotted onto the Olympic team and not participate in this event. Maybe the wait will have to continue for the Argentines, who haven't seemed to get much of a break these last few weeks.
Chile is the common sense choice to win the group should Argentina falter; the defending champions won on home soil last year and are actually fielding close to a full squad. New coach Juan Antonio Pizzi has only been with the squad since February and brought an “A-team” because he presumably will want to spend more time with his best players. "La Roja" opens against the Argentines in what is the most anticipated game of the group stage, apologizes to Uruguay and Mexico aside. Can the Chileans shake off some rust that was obviously apparent in the friendly loss to Jamaica last week? They did outplay Mexico pretty badly for most of the game Wednesday in San Diego, outshooting the beaners 13-0 in the first half before giving up a late Chicharrito header to lose 1-0.
Panama is the one side capable of throwing a wrench at the top two sides, especially if "Los Canaleros" can pull an upset against one of them. Panama had an impressive Gold Cup in both 2013 and 2015 but are running out of time for an impressive tournament run. A golden age of players is on the wrong side of 30, but Felipe Baloy (35), Blas Perez (35) and Luis Tejada (34) have extensive experience in international play at this stage of their careers. Goalie Jaime Penedo has shown in spurts that he can be one of the better netminders in this event.
Don't count out crafty manager Hernan Dario Gomez's abilities on the bench, either. He turned down the Chile job in February in hopes of leading Panama to its first-ever World Cup when qualifying resumes later this year.
Bolivia is likely the worst team in the tournament. Its most talented player, Marcelo Martins, has a philosophical difference with current coach and national team legend Baldivieso. No player has more than the 54 international caps or the 14 goals than Martins, who was included in the preliminary roster but vowed to stay retired until a new regime is in charge. No other player for "La Verde" has more than eight goals and only six on the roster have ever scored in international play.
Now 118-105-10 and up 48.78 on the season.
Copa America preview:
In recent international competitions, it seems that the United States always seems to find itself in the most difficult group to progress. The Copa America Centenario, to be played on American soil this month, is no different.
The USA will open the competition with a battle against the third-ranked team in the world when Colombia takes the pitch against the red, white and blue at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on June 3. Costa Rica plays Paraguay in the other opening Group A match the next afternoon in Orlando. The top two teams in the group advance to the tournament's quarterfinals.
The US has been impressive in its lead up to the tourney; it won three friendlies to wrap up May, including 1-0 against Ecuador and 4-0 against Bolivia. The 4-0 thrashing last Saturday marked the largest margin of victory for the USA against any South American team in history.
Christian Pulisic will be the talk of many American soccer fans throughout this tournament; the 17-year old scored his first international goal with the senior team in the Bolivia trouncing. He's largely expected to play on the first team for Borussia Dortmund in Germany next season and could get ample time to introduce himself to the western hemisphere in this event.
The Colombians enter this event in middling form, currently in fifth place after a third of their 2018 World Cup qualifying cycle in South America. They beat Haiti 3-1 in a friendly Sunday in Miami as their only warmup to prepare for this event. Colombia will also be participating in the summer Olympics in Rio next month, so it will be important for wily coach Jose Pekerman to bolster the depth of his teams for both competitions.
Colombia had perhaps their best international team ever at the 1994 World Cup but lost on a shocking own-goal by Andres Escobar to the hosts in a key group stage match at the Rose Bowl, 2-1. Ten days later, the defender was murdered outside a Medellin night club.
James Rodriguez led an electric Colombian team in the 2014 World Cup and was the recipient of the Golden Boot. He just finished his club season at Real Madrid as a UEFA Champions League winner, so it will be interesting to see how he fits in among his countrymen at the Copa America.
His teammate at Real Madrid was supposed to be one of his foes in Group A, but goaltender Keylor Navas has injury concerns and will miss the tournament. Still, Costa Rica figures to be a threat. The Ticos progressed farther than anyone else in this group at the last World Cup and Navas was a big reason why. The Ticos are in the middle of a golden era and those in their country expect them to progress out of the group. Several Ticos ply their trade in the USA's Major Soccer League and in Europe, which has lifted the level of their international play.
Paraguay sits seventh in the current World Cup qualifying cycle but are just one point away a top-four qualifying spot. They lost the lone preparation game for this tournament to Mexico 1-0 in Atlanta on Saturday. It could hardly be classified as a neutral venue, as Mexico had overwhelming crowd support at the Georgia Dome. Paraguay also were missing numerous starters in that game.
The Paraguayans have not shown much creativity in the attacking third at the international level for several years now. This will make things very problematic on them trying to progress as the lowest-ranked team in the most difficult group.
Group B:
Big things could be in store for Brazil this summer, but it will be the one team playing in Copa America with its eyes elsewhere. That's because the Brazilians host the Olympics this summer and the soccer team faces immense pressure to win that title.
The Brazilians still should be the class of perhaps the worst group of the tournament, so progression shouldn't be a concern. They will field a much younger team in this tournament; only nine of the 20 most capped players for Brazil since coach Dunga was re-appointed to this post in July 2014 will be in the USA. With the Olympics being the big focus and Barcelona adamant about Neymar not playing in both summer tournaments, he'll be absent from the USA as well.
Brazil played just one friendly with this team to prepare for this tournament, winning 2-0 against Panama Friday in Denver. As of earlier in the week, Dunga had already made four changes to his initial 23-man roster. Benfica's Jonas was one of the players called in before the trip to Denver and he scored less than two minutes in to celebrate his inclusion. Willian is another key player; the Chelsea man wasn't at his best for club this season but could assert himself at the international level with Neymar out.
Ranked 12th in the world in most recent FIFA rankings, Ecuador figures to be the biggest threat to pip the Brazilians. They controlled large parts of their only preparation for this event, a 1-0 friendly defeat to the United States. Alexander Dominguez was injured shortly before the intermission, and the goalkeeper's status is unknown as of the middle of the week. Also missing was Manchester United's Antonio Valencia. Still, "Los Amarillos" fielded a strong lineup and should look to stay in good form; they are tied atop the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying for Russia 2018 with 13 points through six fixtures.
Ecuador got perhaps the most fortuitous draw of all in what looks to be the weakest group; they will be solid favorites against Haiti and Peru. The talent is there for a deep run and the draw is conducive to one as well. But Ecuador have advanced out of the group stage just one time in the last major eight competitions dating back to the 2002 World Cup and this group have not played well in these rapid-fire format tournaments.
Peru coach Ricardo Gareca showed just how sick he is of his side's efforts thus far in World Cup qualifying that he decided to leave many of his veteran stalwarts off his side. "La Blanquirroja" have dusted two lesser CONCACAF sides in friendlies (4-0 over Trinidad & Tobago in Lima and 3-1 over El Salvador in Washington D.C.) and are set to face Haiti in the opener.
Gareca's got almost half (11 of his 23) his roster that have not participated in any of the qualifiers and seven of them haven't even been in the squad. Peru sit eighth with just four points through six rounds. The Peruvians are easily the greenest side of this tournament, but does sport some young talent that has shown they can score goals.
Haiti enters this tournament with just one win in its last six matches and lost its only preparation friendly on Sunday in Miami to Colombia, 3-1. The Haitians had to play the last 50-plus minutes of the match a man down as Max Hilaire picked up two yellow cards in a nine-minute stretch sandwiched around the tying goal.
The Haitians will play with plenty of vigor, but in a group with three South American teams, it looks outmatched here and at No. 71 in the world, only ranks ahead of Venezuela in this field of 16.
Group C:
It seems like Mexico has gotten some very fortuitous breaks since Oct. 15, 2013. That was the final night of hexagonal qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. The Mexicans changed coaches (as the demanding federation is wont to do) several times but could never get much continuity. They were in the process of losing 2-1 at Costa Rica and bowing out with just two wins in 10 games. Two United States goals scored in Panama after the 90th minute ultimately bailed out Mexico, which thrashed New Zealand in the playoff in November to advance to Brazil.
Once there, Mexico advanced out of a fairly easy group before almost beating Holland in the round of 16. From there, the Mexicans decided to use their next dosage of luck at the 2015 Gold Cup. They finished second in their group to Trinidad & Tobago to get to the quarterfinals. It took a 124th minute goal on a questionable penalty for them to sneak by Costa Rica, 1-0. Then it took yet another controversial penalty after more than nine minutes of stoppage time for them just to tie shorthanded Panama at 1 and eventually beat them in penalties.
Mexico is the cash cow of CONCACAF and will have the biggest crowds of the tournament, yet have certainly gotten some suspect breaks in some of these tournaments (or even to get INTO some of these tournaments). But the form of the Mexicans cannot be argued coming into this tourney. Heading into the tourney, they have not lost in 19 games since losing to Ecuador in their group stage finale of last year's Copa America. That's the longest current unbeaten streak in the world.
The other favorite to get out of the group is Uruguay, who have won more Copa America tournaments than anyone else. La Celeste certainly wasn't done any favors by the tournament draw. They have to face Mexico in Arizona in what amounts to a road game. Then they go to Philadelphia to play Venezuela four days later before wrapping up group stage four days after that in northern California to meet Jamaica. All of that travel certainly wasn't welcome news to coach Oscar Tabarez, nor was the possibility for extreme heat.
Tabarez added in a pre-tourney news conference that the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in September are more of a priority for his team, which currently lead the CONMEBOL qualifying one-third of the way through. All the more reason why I fired on Mexico back in mid-May in the lidlifter. Atletico Madrid defenders Diego Godin and Jose Maria Gimenez have had a long campaign but both should be expected to play major roles if Uruguay are to get out of the group and perhaps do any more damage. Luis Suarez injured himself in Barcelona's victory in the Copa del Rey final and won't likely be available for the group stages of this event, at least.
That will leave the onus of the goal-scoring to PSG forward Edinson Cavani, who has scored 81 goals in 148 appearances for his French club. The Uruguayans got off to a slow start in Montevideo against Trinidad & Tobago last weekend before pulling away for a 3-1 victory in their only friendly before this event starts.
While Tabarez says he knows more about Venezuela than Jamaica, it's likely the "Reggae Boyz" to be the chief threat to progress at Uruguay's expense.
Jamaica enters the event off a shock win in Chile last weekend, scoring eight minutes before and after halftime to take a 2-0 lead. Jamaica held on for the 2-1 win against the world's No. 3 team. The Reggae Boyz turned in solid performances at last year's Copa America and Gold Cup and won't be intimidated against any of these foes. Goaltender Andre Blake could be the X-factor. His performance for Philadelphia in MLS has helped turn the Union from a bottom-of-the-barrel Eastern Conference team into one that leads the East heading into June.
Venezuela sat poised to qualify for the World Cup in 2014 - then it got just five out of a possible 15 points in the final five games to see Uruguay slide ahead of the Venezuelans for the fifth and final qualifying spot. Since then, Venezuela has won just five of its last 24 games.
"La Vinotinto" sits in last place of CONMEBOL qualifying and have just one draw in six games. The Venezuelans have scored more than one goal in a game just twice in the last 15 games going back to last year. They played a trio of friendlies within the last week in central America, drawing Panama 0-0 before losing to Costa Rica, 2-1 and drawing Gustamela, 1-1. Venezuela is rated ahead of only Bolivia in this field of 16, so a third-place group finish seems the ceiling. Anything better than that would be a major shock.
Group D:
Any short-list discussion about the best soccer player in the world for the last decade would include Lionel Messi. The Argentine striker has been a standout for Barcelona since joining their senior side in 2004-05, yet is still just 28 years old. He's scored over 50 goals in all competitions three times in five years for his club.
Yet for country, Messi and his fellow gang of supremely talented offensive players have not hoisted a trophy at the senior level since 1993. He has netted 52 goals in all national team games since his Argentina debut in 2006, but the team has only been runner up at Copa America in 2007 and 2015. They were also runners up in an agonizing loss to Germany in the 2014 final in Brazil.
This represents the best chance yet "La Albiceleste" has to capture some first-place silverware during the Messi era. Chile is off a win last year at home over the Argentines and is likely to suffer a bit of a hangover (as evidenced by a 2-1 home loss to Jamaica in a recent friendly). Brazil and Colombia are focusing on the Olympic Games and Uruguay and Ecuador will want to keep their places at the top of the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers for Russia in 2018. No other teams in the tournament have ever won it before, so Argentina will be keen in putting its best foot forward for three weeks in the States.
It won't come without a struggle. Messi is fighting a tax evasion case in Spain before he flies to California to meet up with his teammates, and he got dinged up against Honduras in a friendly last week. Lucas Biglia is injured and likely won't play, Javier Pastore and Ezequiel Lavezzi are likely to miss the group opener against Chile and Erik Lamela is doubtful at well, decimating the deep midfield. Paulo Dybala will be slotted onto the Olympic team and not participate in this event. Maybe the wait will have to continue for the Argentines, who haven't seemed to get much of a break these last few weeks.
Chile is the common sense choice to win the group should Argentina falter; the defending champions won on home soil last year and are actually fielding close to a full squad. New coach Juan Antonio Pizzi has only been with the squad since February and brought an “A-team” because he presumably will want to spend more time with his best players. "La Roja" opens against the Argentines in what is the most anticipated game of the group stage, apologizes to Uruguay and Mexico aside. Can the Chileans shake off some rust that was obviously apparent in the friendly loss to Jamaica last week? They did outplay Mexico pretty badly for most of the game Wednesday in San Diego, outshooting the beaners 13-0 in the first half before giving up a late Chicharrito header to lose 1-0.
Panama is the one side capable of throwing a wrench at the top two sides, especially if "Los Canaleros" can pull an upset against one of them. Panama had an impressive Gold Cup in both 2013 and 2015 but are running out of time for an impressive tournament run. A golden age of players is on the wrong side of 30, but Felipe Baloy (35), Blas Perez (35) and Luis Tejada (34) have extensive experience in international play at this stage of their careers. Goalie Jaime Penedo has shown in spurts that he can be one of the better netminders in this event.
Don't count out crafty manager Hernan Dario Gomez's abilities on the bench, either. He turned down the Chile job in February in hopes of leading Panama to its first-ever World Cup when qualifying resumes later this year.
Bolivia is likely the worst team in the tournament. Its most talented player, Marcelo Martins, has a philosophical difference with current coach and national team legend Baldivieso. No player has more than the 54 international caps or the 14 goals than Martins, who was included in the preliminary roster but vowed to stay retired until a new regime is in charge. No other player for "La Verde" has more than eight goals and only six on the roster have ever scored in international play.
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
So, without further adieu, here are first round plays:
The linesmakers are giving virtually zero respect to CONCACAF with the exception to the US in the games where they are lined against CONMEBOL teams.
Nothing on Colombia/USA but astonished to see the US opened the favorite and were still favored as late as this morning. If I were a scalper or middler, I would have bet Colombia PICK + money and waited to chime back in on the US sometime before kickoff at an auto earn.
Nothing in CR/Paraguay. Lean OVER 2 even but Paraguay's pedestrian offense worries me. Even without Navas, CR can't be a dog to this team, but I pass for now.
Ecuador should get some sort of result against a weakened Brazil.
PLAYS: Ecuador +1/2 +102 for 1.5u. Would bet all the way to -105. Also add DRAW +256 (good down to 240) for 1u.
No clue Peru/Haiti but who is this young Peru side to lay a goal to anyone? I am leaning Haiti, but they can't keep 11 on the pitch; bunch of hotheads and poor tacklers.
Jamaica line is flipped. No shot that Venezuela can be favored over anyone except Bolivia or maybe Haiti.
PLAY: Jamaica PICK +115 for 1.5u and ML +220 for 1.5u
PLAY: Mexico PICK +120 and +210 outright each for 2u.
This bet was made a month ago, as soon as the Uruguay coach started crying at his pre-camp press conference. I would not touch it at the current levels; the market has corrected a mistake. I might get out of some of it before kickoff.
Nothing in Chile/Argentina, but I will enjoy watching. Could see anything happening.
Best bet of the first round is Panama. They should have their way with Bolivia, perhaps 2-0 or 3-0. Anything other than a win would surprise me.
The play: Panama +115 for 3.5u
GL!
The linesmakers are giving virtually zero respect to CONCACAF with the exception to the US in the games where they are lined against CONMEBOL teams.
Nothing on Colombia/USA but astonished to see the US opened the favorite and were still favored as late as this morning. If I were a scalper or middler, I would have bet Colombia PICK + money and waited to chime back in on the US sometime before kickoff at an auto earn.
Nothing in CR/Paraguay. Lean OVER 2 even but Paraguay's pedestrian offense worries me. Even without Navas, CR can't be a dog to this team, but I pass for now.
Ecuador should get some sort of result against a weakened Brazil.
PLAYS: Ecuador +1/2 +102 for 1.5u. Would bet all the way to -105. Also add DRAW +256 (good down to 240) for 1u.
No clue Peru/Haiti but who is this young Peru side to lay a goal to anyone? I am leaning Haiti, but they can't keep 11 on the pitch; bunch of hotheads and poor tacklers.
Jamaica line is flipped. No shot that Venezuela can be favored over anyone except Bolivia or maybe Haiti.
PLAY: Jamaica PICK +115 for 1.5u and ML +220 for 1.5u
PLAY: Mexico PICK +120 and +210 outright each for 2u.
This bet was made a month ago, as soon as the Uruguay coach started crying at his pre-camp press conference. I would not touch it at the current levels; the market has corrected a mistake. I might get out of some of it before kickoff.
Nothing in Chile/Argentina, but I will enjoy watching. Could see anything happening.
Best bet of the first round is Panama. They should have their way with Bolivia, perhaps 2-0 or 3-0. Anything other than a win would surprise me.
The play: Panama +115 for 3.5u
GL!
guaranteeed
Pretty much a regular
GL rexy, like the picks and a ton of great info
I am with Braves, I think thats just JK setting low expectations
just look at the group they are in in WCQ, its cupcake
I am with Braves, I think thats just JK setting low expectations
just look at the group they are in in WCQ, its cupcake
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
I added more Jamaica +335 for 1.5 units.
No Morgan? Who cares.
This line is a joke and an insult. No CONCACAF team has scored, but then again none of them have played Venezuela.
No Morgan? Who cares.
This line is a joke and an insult. No CONCACAF team has scored, but then again none of them have played Venezuela.
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
I found a buddy to bet Jamaica live outright. Wes Morgan out first 39 mins. Totally BS red card for studs up when the Rasta got to the ball first. Could have been up 1-0, now down 1-0 but with Morgan in the game, Jamaica looks CLEARLY superior to me.
I took two shots.
1u on DRAW +800 or so
1u on Jamaica LIVE +3300
GL to me. Go Weed.
I took two shots.
1u on DRAW +800 or so
1u on Jamaica LIVE +3300
GL to me. Go Weed.
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
we are the better part of four games in and no CONCACAF side has scored yet, for better or worse, I am getting all the way out of Mexico bets. Will be a total scalp.
The plays: Uruguay PICK +131 risking 1.9 units
Uruguay +1/2 -170 to win 2.29 units
THis is just to keep transparent record keeping and I do apologize for not posting my original Uruguay play earlier. Obviously I would not fuck around with these things and i certainly can't recommend these plays here. Ignore them. I don't even want to sweat one penny on this game the way I am running.
The plays: Uruguay PICK +131 risking 1.9 units
Uruguay +1/2 -170 to win 2.29 units
THis is just to keep transparent record keeping and I do apologize for not posting my original Uruguay play earlier. Obviously I would not fuck around with these things and i certainly can't recommend these plays here. Ignore them. I don't even want to sweat one penny on this game the way I am running.
D
dudleysdad
Guest
Weather for Panama game change anything?
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
funny you say that... in reality, I would have bet some OVER but live only after it got to 1-0.
Let's hope the Canaleros put this to bed. The Citrus Bowl turf is in great shape.
Let's hope the Canaleros put this to bed. The Citrus Bowl turf is in great shape.
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
Shoulda held my Mexico position. Sigh. Still not an awful first matchday, 4-2 and +2.42 heading into the next round. Now 122-107-10 and +51.20 on the season.
Think CR/USA will be a fairly wide open game. The Americans need three points here and I expect an early goal from someone to expedite things. Pemberton is very shaky in net for the Ticos, Waston is suspended with a red to weaken the central defense and the US did look good for long stretches of the first half against Colombia. That level tonight will be good enough to get the three points. I think both teams will score and the US is as weak in goal as I can ever remember it in my lifetime, so the Ticos should light the lamp at least once against Guzan.
The play: CR/US OVER 2 -125 for 2u
Colombia cannot be plus money against Paraguay. I see little to no chance of Paraguay ever scoring; if they couldn't ding the Tico backline, how are they going to infiltrate these guys? Looks like 1-0 or 2-0 to me. Even without James, the Colombians won't lose much; he is not nearly in the same form he was two summers ago because he simply didn't see the pitch enough for Real Madrid this season. Here's hoping he gets healthy for the quarters; Colombia qualifies with a win tonight.
The play: Colombia +103 for 1.6u. Good at even money or better.
Nothing with Haiti/Brazil.
Peru getting too much respect for my money. They should have shipped one at the death against Haiti and I think Ecuador, still the best team in the group, will run them ragged.
The play: Ecuador -112 for 3u.
Mexico line to Jamaica is an insult, regardless of how well beaners are playing now. Rastas got stone cheated the other day on a 23rd minute studs-up red that should have been a play on. Jamaican guy got to the ball first, clearly, just a terrible miscarriage of justice to gift the game to Venezuela. Nothing changes in terms of my thoughts of those teams. Beaners looked good but Rastas won't be rattled by the crowd and have last year's Gold Cup final as a bit of revenge in one of the only good games Mexico played in all of the first half of 2015.
The play: Jamaica +1.5 -110 for 2u
Venezuela still sucks. I bet Uruguay at open and would blast it at the current price if I had to. I am a bit concerned about their mental - as I said before the tourney started, they have every excuse to quit here. But I doubt they fail to beat these stiffs, under whatever circumstances.
The play: Uruguay -150 for 1.6u
Back later with some more, and some UEFA Euro Cup thoughts...
Think CR/USA will be a fairly wide open game. The Americans need three points here and I expect an early goal from someone to expedite things. Pemberton is very shaky in net for the Ticos, Waston is suspended with a red to weaken the central defense and the US did look good for long stretches of the first half against Colombia. That level tonight will be good enough to get the three points. I think both teams will score and the US is as weak in goal as I can ever remember it in my lifetime, so the Ticos should light the lamp at least once against Guzan.
The play: CR/US OVER 2 -125 for 2u
Colombia cannot be plus money against Paraguay. I see little to no chance of Paraguay ever scoring; if they couldn't ding the Tico backline, how are they going to infiltrate these guys? Looks like 1-0 or 2-0 to me. Even without James, the Colombians won't lose much; he is not nearly in the same form he was two summers ago because he simply didn't see the pitch enough for Real Madrid this season. Here's hoping he gets healthy for the quarters; Colombia qualifies with a win tonight.
The play: Colombia +103 for 1.6u. Good at even money or better.
Nothing with Haiti/Brazil.
Peru getting too much respect for my money. They should have shipped one at the death against Haiti and I think Ecuador, still the best team in the group, will run them ragged.
The play: Ecuador -112 for 3u.
Mexico line to Jamaica is an insult, regardless of how well beaners are playing now. Rastas got stone cheated the other day on a 23rd minute studs-up red that should have been a play on. Jamaican guy got to the ball first, clearly, just a terrible miscarriage of justice to gift the game to Venezuela. Nothing changes in terms of my thoughts of those teams. Beaners looked good but Rastas won't be rattled by the crowd and have last year's Gold Cup final as a bit of revenge in one of the only good games Mexico played in all of the first half of 2015.
The play: Jamaica +1.5 -110 for 2u
Venezuela still sucks. I bet Uruguay at open and would blast it at the current price if I had to. I am a bit concerned about their mental - as I said before the tourney started, they have every excuse to quit here. But I doubt they fail to beat these stiffs, under whatever circumstances.
The play: Uruguay -150 for 1.6u
Back later with some more, and some UEFA Euro Cup thoughts...
D
dudleysdad
Guest
Just saw on Twitter Georgia ML over Spain $100 paid over $7000
any lucky bettors down your way have that?
any lucky bettors down your way have that?
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
no but one of my sharpest friends had Spain -1.5 +130 first half. Prolly could have been 2-0 or 3-1 at half, possession was like 82-18 at one point.
that payout was at matchbook. I don't think any regular -110 books had better than +6600 or so
that payout was at matchbook. I don't think any regular -110 books had better than +6600 or so
D
dudleysdad
Guest
ok thanks for the info
Joe Public
Gabibbo's Finest
Thanks for the two winners tonight, Rex. Much appreciated, my friend.
=)
=)
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
Thanks fellers...
Go Equator.
Onto a quick Euro preview. Will have C&D later, and E&F maybe tomorrow...
France will welcome in three other countries into its group A and 23 other countries in all for the 2016 UEFA European Championships. The French are overwhelming favorites to win a group that also contains Romania, Switzerland and shock qualifier Albania.
The hosts are favored to win the tournament before opening play Friday against the drab Romanians. France have won two of the three post-war major tournaments held on French soil (1984 Euro and 1998 World Cup) and are in as fine a form as they have been in years.
The French are the most offensively gifted team in the tournament at this point and have many scoring options in fine form. The backline on defense is a bit of a mess so there could be some high-scoring games involving the hosts.
The Albanians were beaten 3-1 in Italy last Friday in their last friendly before beginning play in France on Saturday against the Swiss. Experienced Italian manager Gianni De Biasi's deep-sitting 4-3-3 paved the way to a surprise second-place finish in Group I. This will be the first participation in a major international tournament ever for the Albanians and it probably won't last long, though three points could send them into the round of 16. No individual scored more than one goal total in the seven qualifiers, but the team did not concede on the road in qualifying.
Romania have no big names, just one win in tournament history and will probably be the most boring team in the event. The Romanians most closely resemble the shock 2004 champions Greece in terms of showing no interest in attacking whatsoever. Like Albania, they remarkably did not concede on the road in Euro qualifiers. Five wins and five draws saw them finish behind only Northern Ireland. The recent 4-3 loss in a friendly to Ukraine has to be looked at as a blip on the radar and nothing else. The Romanians scored just 11 goals in their 10 qualifiers, which ranked at the bottom in average of all teams playing in this event.
Contrast the struggles of the other two visiting teams in scoring to that of the Swiss, which had 14 different players find the back of the net in their qualifying matches. Switzerland's regulars play mostly in top tier leagues in England, Germany or Italy; that experience could go a long way in leading the Swiss to second in the group. They will have to overcome some demons in this event; Switzerland never qualified for this event until 1996 and in that year, 2004 and 2008 they never got out of the group stage and have only scored a total of five goals in those nine matches. The Swiss are struggling heading into the tournament. They fell behind Slovakia by three goals in a November friendly, then lost recent friendlies 1-0 in Dublin to Ireland and then 2-0 at home to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Many people favor England to win Group B, and with good reason. The Three Lions are in fine form, winning all 10 qualifiers and promoting some young and exciting talent. The English have several capable forwards that manager Roy Hodgson can deploy, but a lack of good central defenders mean that their matches are probably going to be both high-scoring and exciting.
England traditionally does more when less is expected of it and they are coming to France with the youngest team of the tournament. Expectations are generally tempered, and that's when England are most threatening.
Russia is at the other end of the spectrum, with six players still on the roster from the 2008 squad that made the semifinals of this event. The Russians don't allow many of its players out of the country to play abroad. This leads to some of the best players having no desire to better themselves, but it also means there is serious anonymous talent that will be exposed to the world in this event. The Russian futsal team ran second to Spain in this year's European Championship of that event, so most of them have excellent technical ability.
Good luck in trying to figure out Slovakia. They have beaten Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine under veteran coach Jan Kozak - and have lost at home to lowly Belarus. The Slovaks have never played in the Euros, but they did get out of a group in their only major championship tournament to date - the 2010 World Cup - by beating defending champion Italy 3-2 in the last game. Many of those players will lace up their cleats in France, and the Slovaks just beat powerful Germany 3-1 in a recent friendly on the road; they are unbeaten in eight straight heading into their opener against Wales.
As for Wales, a citizen of that country could be forgiven for just being happy that Wales qualified. It's the first tournament appearance for principality of England in 58 years - since they appeared in the 1958 World Cup. Gareth Bale was the most expensive player in the world when Real Madrid signed him in a transfer from Tottenham before the 2013-14 season, but Aaron Ramsey is another key offensive player and the squad is filled with second-division English league (the Championship) players who excel in Welshmen colors.
One concern is goal scoring, as Wales just got 11 in its qualifiers and no one was worse except Albania, who played fewer matches. Depth is also an issue but the defense is good enough to keep them close, so look for lots of low-scoring struggles involving Wales.
Go Equator.
Onto a quick Euro preview. Will have C&D later, and E&F maybe tomorrow...
France will welcome in three other countries into its group A and 23 other countries in all for the 2016 UEFA European Championships. The French are overwhelming favorites to win a group that also contains Romania, Switzerland and shock qualifier Albania.
The hosts are favored to win the tournament before opening play Friday against the drab Romanians. France have won two of the three post-war major tournaments held on French soil (1984 Euro and 1998 World Cup) and are in as fine a form as they have been in years.
The French are the most offensively gifted team in the tournament at this point and have many scoring options in fine form. The backline on defense is a bit of a mess so there could be some high-scoring games involving the hosts.
The Albanians were beaten 3-1 in Italy last Friday in their last friendly before beginning play in France on Saturday against the Swiss. Experienced Italian manager Gianni De Biasi's deep-sitting 4-3-3 paved the way to a surprise second-place finish in Group I. This will be the first participation in a major international tournament ever for the Albanians and it probably won't last long, though three points could send them into the round of 16. No individual scored more than one goal total in the seven qualifiers, but the team did not concede on the road in qualifying.
Romania have no big names, just one win in tournament history and will probably be the most boring team in the event. The Romanians most closely resemble the shock 2004 champions Greece in terms of showing no interest in attacking whatsoever. Like Albania, they remarkably did not concede on the road in Euro qualifiers. Five wins and five draws saw them finish behind only Northern Ireland. The recent 4-3 loss in a friendly to Ukraine has to be looked at as a blip on the radar and nothing else. The Romanians scored just 11 goals in their 10 qualifiers, which ranked at the bottom in average of all teams playing in this event.
Contrast the struggles of the other two visiting teams in scoring to that of the Swiss, which had 14 different players find the back of the net in their qualifying matches. Switzerland's regulars play mostly in top tier leagues in England, Germany or Italy; that experience could go a long way in leading the Swiss to second in the group. They will have to overcome some demons in this event; Switzerland never qualified for this event until 1996 and in that year, 2004 and 2008 they never got out of the group stage and have only scored a total of five goals in those nine matches. The Swiss are struggling heading into the tournament. They fell behind Slovakia by three goals in a November friendly, then lost recent friendlies 1-0 in Dublin to Ireland and then 2-0 at home to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Many people favor England to win Group B, and with good reason. The Three Lions are in fine form, winning all 10 qualifiers and promoting some young and exciting talent. The English have several capable forwards that manager Roy Hodgson can deploy, but a lack of good central defenders mean that their matches are probably going to be both high-scoring and exciting.
England traditionally does more when less is expected of it and they are coming to France with the youngest team of the tournament. Expectations are generally tempered, and that's when England are most threatening.
Russia is at the other end of the spectrum, with six players still on the roster from the 2008 squad that made the semifinals of this event. The Russians don't allow many of its players out of the country to play abroad. This leads to some of the best players having no desire to better themselves, but it also means there is serious anonymous talent that will be exposed to the world in this event. The Russian futsal team ran second to Spain in this year's European Championship of that event, so most of them have excellent technical ability.
Good luck in trying to figure out Slovakia. They have beaten Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine under veteran coach Jan Kozak - and have lost at home to lowly Belarus. The Slovaks have never played in the Euros, but they did get out of a group in their only major championship tournament to date - the 2010 World Cup - by beating defending champion Italy 3-2 in the last game. Many of those players will lace up their cleats in France, and the Slovaks just beat powerful Germany 3-1 in a recent friendly on the road; they are unbeaten in eight straight heading into their opener against Wales.
As for Wales, a citizen of that country could be forgiven for just being happy that Wales qualified. It's the first tournament appearance for principality of England in 58 years - since they appeared in the 1958 World Cup. Gareth Bale was the most expensive player in the world when Real Madrid signed him in a transfer from Tottenham before the 2013-14 season, but Aaron Ramsey is another key offensive player and the squad is filled with second-division English league (the Championship) players who excel in Welshmen colors.
One concern is goal scoring, as Wales just got 11 in its qualifiers and no one was worse except Albania, who played fewer matches. Depth is also an issue but the defense is good enough to keep them close, so look for lots of low-scoring struggles involving Wales.
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
Enough is enough. There is no chance Brazil can lay this price to Haiti, win or lose.
The play: Haiti +2.5 -128 for 1.6 units.
GL to me.
The play: Haiti +2.5 -128 for 1.6 units.
GL to me.
Sorry I respect your opinion, but what are you talking about? Russia doesn't have the talent for many of its players to go outside of Russia. If you are somehow insituating that the Russian government is preventing players from leaving Russia that is absolutely absurd. I would challenge you to find any information that even suggests that. This isn't the USSR my friend, Russian players can play with whoever will take them. You'll notice that the entire team is almost made up of Spartak, Zenit or CSKA players. This is because Russian teams will pay higher then any other team in Europe will ever pay them, and those 3 are the richest clubs in Rusia, especially Zenit and CSKA. Second, they have to pay much lower taxes than in any of the top European leagues. When Arshavin begged his way out of Zenit to go to Arsenal he insantly realized that the money he was getting in England was not much more after taxes. In a lot of cases in Eastern Europe these contracts end up being tax free (though recent economic times may have prevented that). This would NEVER happen in an England or Germany. Third, these players almost never succeed in Western Europe, they are not good enough. Arshavin is already one player I brought up, he never turned out to be as good as expected. Kerzhakov is another player who tore up Russia but could do little in Spain (though he is going to Switzerland next season). Your point about anonymous Russian players is interesting, I guess it depends on what kind of soccer fans people are but Zenit and CSKA are in the CL just about every year and they don't necessarily advance, but they usually are competitive (Zenit had the most points in the group stages in all of Europe this year).
My last and final point would be that Russians don't want to leave Russia. They don't even want foreigners to come to Russia. Kerzkahov and Dzyuba bitched about Hulk's and Witsel's salaries, and said that Russian teams should pay Russia more then foreigners, and enough of this foreign influence. These are two of the best players in Russia, they are certainly not keen to move elsewhere given that type of thinking.
D
dudleysdad
Guest
The little Russian on the forum is angry
L
Lareux
Guest
Good thing they don't live in the US. They'd be labeled as racist/discriminatory/nationalistic/etc/etc.
Probably not the right thread for this but they don't need to live in the US, all three of those things are commonly said about Russian people throughout Europe. Throwing banana's at black players, making official fan club statements (Zenit) such as "we have nothing against black or Yag people, however we don't want them playing on our team", and other clubs refusing to sign foreigners are easy and quick ways to be labeled racist/discriminatory/nationalistic.
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
Thanks for the counter-points about Russia, Alex.
Germany have qualified for at least the semifinals of each of the last five tournaments and has cemented its place at the top of the world's international soccer hierarchy. The rubber stamp to make it official was the win over Argentina in the World Cup final in 2014.
Yet the Germans are not the same team now as they were then, despite many of the same players still on the roster in France for Group C play. They have lost four of their last seven games and went eight straight games without keeping a clean sheet until the 2-0 win over Hungary in their last friendly before this event on June 4. The embarrassment of depth and talent in the middle and up front is countered by a lack of experienced defenders - in fact, after captain Phillip Lahm retired from international duty, the Germans have yet to find a right back to replace him.
Northern Ireland have played in three World Cups, but this is the first time they've ever qualified for the European Championship. They actually won their group and became the first team from Pot 5 to ever do so. Northern Ireland is considered a longshot to do much here, but the recent results have been solid. They've now gone 12 straight without a loss, but none of their players have ever competed in a major tournament before. The class jump could be too much for them to overcome.
Poland missed out on the World Cup in 2014, but will play in the Euros for the third straight time and now hope to progress out of the group stage of a major tournament for the first time in 30 years. The Poles enter off a sluggish 0-0 draw to Lithuania after losing 2-1 to Holland in their friendlies to prep for this event. The Poles scored 33 goals in their 10 qualifying games, which topped the continent. Robert Lewandowski is one of the most lethal goal scorers in the world, though the Poles also allowed 10 goals, second-most of all qualifying teams. There could well be fireworks involving these guys.
Ukraine hosted this event alongside Poland in 2012, so it's only natural that they draw into a group with their neighbors while playing in the event for the first time ever as a qualifying team. The Ukrainians face a few obstacles here. The war-torn country has suffered political and financial problems. The Ukrainian league is much weaker than it was during the last Euro and the low level of competition will make it tough for the Ukrainians to step up in class. Dynamo Kiev and Shakhtar Donetsk are fierce rivals and Andriy Yarmolenko tried to injure Shakhtar's Taras Stepanenko last month in a game, though the two had a press conference declaration that things are healthy between them. The forwards for Ukraine are perhaps the least potent of any country in the tournament.
The defending European Champions are certainly limping into the event, shock 1-0 losers of a friendly in Getafe to minnows (70-to-1 dog) Georgia on Tuesday in their final prep. Coach Vincente del Bosque will likely step aside after this event after a sterling career that included a World Cup and a Euro title; Spain held both crowns at once from 2010-14.
The Spaniards did beat Bosnia 3-1 and South Korea 6-1 in two other friendlies, so it's not hard to throw out Tuesday's result as an outlier. The two-time champions will still be among the favorites to lift the trophy, with Germany and France.
Croatia is probably the biggest threat to top Spain in Group D; the Croats got all the way to the semifinals of the World Cup that was also held in France in 1998. This is perhaps their best team since then but the corruption inside of the national federation has frustrated fans to the point where they'll struggle to support the Croats. There were racist incidents and crowd bans during the qualifying campaign. Unproven manager Ante Cacic was a controversial call to take the job less than a year ago and he's been tinkering so much that it's hard to know what lineup or formation the Croats will use in France. That said, any team with Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic as their playmakers are going to be a plausible danger to win games.
The Czech Republic are no longer an elite continental power and feature just two stars (Petr Cech and Tomas Rosicky), both of which are in their mid-30s. But the Czechs do qualify for this event - six for six since their independence and have been to the semifinals twice. They finished atop a tough group that featured Holland, Turkey and Iceland despite tempered expectations. The Czechs will be considered an underdog in this tough group but they don't fit the "sit back and wait to counter" stereotype, which should make their games fun to watch. Despite winning their group, the Czech Republic did not keep any clean sheets in their 10 qualifiers! The 14 goals conceded were by far more than any other team to qualify let in.
Turkey qualified as the top third-place team in a group that the Czechs won, so those two will get re-acquainted in the last group game. Each team won on the road in qualifying against the other. There is a history between those two going back to 2008 as well - the Turks were down 2-0 after 75 minutes and came back to win the last group game. They eventually reached the semifinals that year. The Turks have a couple of really creative players but scoring could be an issue. There are few dependable forwards and not much in central defense so they could trot out several midfielders and plug them elsewhere. Set pieces could be an issue on both ends. Turkey lacks tall players and won't likely score on a header (just two of the 14 goals in the qualifiers came from headers), and could struggle against them on the other end.
Germany have qualified for at least the semifinals of each of the last five tournaments and has cemented its place at the top of the world's international soccer hierarchy. The rubber stamp to make it official was the win over Argentina in the World Cup final in 2014.
Yet the Germans are not the same team now as they were then, despite many of the same players still on the roster in France for Group C play. They have lost four of their last seven games and went eight straight games without keeping a clean sheet until the 2-0 win over Hungary in their last friendly before this event on June 4. The embarrassment of depth and talent in the middle and up front is countered by a lack of experienced defenders - in fact, after captain Phillip Lahm retired from international duty, the Germans have yet to find a right back to replace him.
Northern Ireland have played in three World Cups, but this is the first time they've ever qualified for the European Championship. They actually won their group and became the first team from Pot 5 to ever do so. Northern Ireland is considered a longshot to do much here, but the recent results have been solid. They've now gone 12 straight without a loss, but none of their players have ever competed in a major tournament before. The class jump could be too much for them to overcome.
Poland missed out on the World Cup in 2014, but will play in the Euros for the third straight time and now hope to progress out of the group stage of a major tournament for the first time in 30 years. The Poles enter off a sluggish 0-0 draw to Lithuania after losing 2-1 to Holland in their friendlies to prep for this event. The Poles scored 33 goals in their 10 qualifying games, which topped the continent. Robert Lewandowski is one of the most lethal goal scorers in the world, though the Poles also allowed 10 goals, second-most of all qualifying teams. There could well be fireworks involving these guys.
Ukraine hosted this event alongside Poland in 2012, so it's only natural that they draw into a group with their neighbors while playing in the event for the first time ever as a qualifying team. The Ukrainians face a few obstacles here. The war-torn country has suffered political and financial problems. The Ukrainian league is much weaker than it was during the last Euro and the low level of competition will make it tough for the Ukrainians to step up in class. Dynamo Kiev and Shakhtar Donetsk are fierce rivals and Andriy Yarmolenko tried to injure Shakhtar's Taras Stepanenko last month in a game, though the two had a press conference declaration that things are healthy between them. The forwards for Ukraine are perhaps the least potent of any country in the tournament.
The defending European Champions are certainly limping into the event, shock 1-0 losers of a friendly in Getafe to minnows (70-to-1 dog) Georgia on Tuesday in their final prep. Coach Vincente del Bosque will likely step aside after this event after a sterling career that included a World Cup and a Euro title; Spain held both crowns at once from 2010-14.
The Spaniards did beat Bosnia 3-1 and South Korea 6-1 in two other friendlies, so it's not hard to throw out Tuesday's result as an outlier. The two-time champions will still be among the favorites to lift the trophy, with Germany and France.
Croatia is probably the biggest threat to top Spain in Group D; the Croats got all the way to the semifinals of the World Cup that was also held in France in 1998. This is perhaps their best team since then but the corruption inside of the national federation has frustrated fans to the point where they'll struggle to support the Croats. There were racist incidents and crowd bans during the qualifying campaign. Unproven manager Ante Cacic was a controversial call to take the job less than a year ago and he's been tinkering so much that it's hard to know what lineup or formation the Croats will use in France. That said, any team with Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic as their playmakers are going to be a plausible danger to win games.
The Czech Republic are no longer an elite continental power and feature just two stars (Petr Cech and Tomas Rosicky), both of which are in their mid-30s. But the Czechs do qualify for this event - six for six since their independence and have been to the semifinals twice. They finished atop a tough group that featured Holland, Turkey and Iceland despite tempered expectations. The Czechs will be considered an underdog in this tough group but they don't fit the "sit back and wait to counter" stereotype, which should make their games fun to watch. Despite winning their group, the Czech Republic did not keep any clean sheets in their 10 qualifiers! The 14 goals conceded were by far more than any other team to qualify let in.
Turkey qualified as the top third-place team in a group that the Czechs won, so those two will get re-acquainted in the last group game. Each team won on the road in qualifying against the other. There is a history between those two going back to 2008 as well - the Turks were down 2-0 after 75 minutes and came back to win the last group game. They eventually reached the semifinals that year. The Turks have a couple of really creative players but scoring could be an issue. There are few dependable forwards and not much in central defense so they could trot out several midfielders and plug them elsewhere. Set pieces could be an issue on both ends. Turkey lacks tall players and won't likely score on a header (just two of the 14 goals in the qualifiers came from headers), and could struggle against them on the other end.
KJ
Bump. Set. Shuma!
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
Group E and F play begins in France at the European Championships on June 13 and 14, and many things will quickly become evident after the opening set of fixtures in each group.
Belgium made an appearance in the quarterfinals of the 2014 World Cup, succumbing to Argentina there, but the Red Devils never let their foot off the gas. The ensuing result near the end of the 2015 calendar year was a No. 1 FIFA world ranking. Things have been a bit less settled since then, as injuries to key players threaten to zap some of the Belgian power. Still, the Red Devils are favored to win Group E and will be justifiably disappointed in anything less than a trip to the finals of this event. They haven't been to the championship since 1980 and have never won an international trophy.
That said, the Belgians have lost exactly two games since the European Championship four years ago - and they scored two wins and a draw in three friendlies heading into the competition.
Italy is the biggest threat to Belgium on paper to win the group and face off with the Belgians to open the event. This is the least amount of star-power that the Italians have fielded on paper in quite some time - not counting the manager. Star Antonio Conte is headed for Chelsea after this event, but in France he figures to field one of the best defensive teams in the tournament.
The Republic of Ireland have not been given many breaks along their way to this event, and were once again drawn into probably the toughest group after the same thing happened in 2012 and for their 2016 qualification group (Germany, Poland and Scotland were all in their group, easily the toughest of the nine qualifying groups). The 2012 nightmare was one the Irish will never want to relive - they dropped all 3 games to Croatia, Italy and Spain and were thoroughly demoralized enough that they didn't qualify for the 2014 World Cup. The Irish were able to navigate their way into the playoff and beat Bosnia & Herzegovina there based mostly on a strong defense. They yielded just seven goals in group play and boast several impact players who play in the English Premier League.
Sweden rounds out Group E, and will try to get out of the group stage of a major tournament for the first time since the 2006 World Cup. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is now 34 and this could be his last tournament wearing the yellow and blue; he's scored 19 goals in his previous 21 competitive international games. He also scored 11 of the Swedes' 19 goals in qualifiers, including three in the two-legged playoff with Denmark to qualify for this event. Youthful talent is in the pipeline as the Swedes won the 2015 Euro Under-21 title.
Group F is fairly wide open on paper, with Austria being touted by many pundits as a possible surprise darkhorse in this event. Many of the Austrian players participate in the German Bundesliga, and the team won its last nine qualifiers to earn its way to this event for the first time. The team reached an all-time high of 10th in the FIFA rankings in March. The defense is solid and there are no glaring weaknesses, other than a lack of depth and experience.
Hungary qualified for a major tournament for the first time since 1986, and the first Euro appearance in 44 years. It is likely that this is one of the worst three or four teams in France and even making it to the last 16 would be a major accomplishment. There is the lack of any star power and the Hungarians scored fewer goals per game than any of the other teams in France in their qualifiers. No players on this roster have competed in the knockout stages of recent Champions League or Europa League campaigns.
Iceland's defense was a big reason that they're heading to an international tournament for the first time as the smallest country to ever qualify for the Euros. The Icelanders allowed in just six goals in 10 games and beat Holland twice to pip them and advance to the finals with two games to spare. Obviously they don't have much depth, but this group is well-coached (they have two head managers!) and has a cohesion that they hope will carry them to the knockout stages.
Portugal has won a record seven matches in a row heading into this event and will look to blend an exciting new batch of youthful talent with its veteran group. The Portuguese have been to the semifinals four times and gotten out of the group stage in all six of its previous appearances in this event. They did only score 11 times in their eight qualifying games and all seven wins in those matches were by exactly one goal. Coach Fernando Santos has guided all three of Portugal's top clubs and also had success with Greece in the 2012 Euro and 2014 World Cup, guiding the Greeks to the knockout stages of both events before coming home and taking charge of his own national team.
Belgium made an appearance in the quarterfinals of the 2014 World Cup, succumbing to Argentina there, but the Red Devils never let their foot off the gas. The ensuing result near the end of the 2015 calendar year was a No. 1 FIFA world ranking. Things have been a bit less settled since then, as injuries to key players threaten to zap some of the Belgian power. Still, the Red Devils are favored to win Group E and will be justifiably disappointed in anything less than a trip to the finals of this event. They haven't been to the championship since 1980 and have never won an international trophy.
That said, the Belgians have lost exactly two games since the European Championship four years ago - and they scored two wins and a draw in three friendlies heading into the competition.
Italy is the biggest threat to Belgium on paper to win the group and face off with the Belgians to open the event. This is the least amount of star-power that the Italians have fielded on paper in quite some time - not counting the manager. Star Antonio Conte is headed for Chelsea after this event, but in France he figures to field one of the best defensive teams in the tournament.
The Republic of Ireland have not been given many breaks along their way to this event, and were once again drawn into probably the toughest group after the same thing happened in 2012 and for their 2016 qualification group (Germany, Poland and Scotland were all in their group, easily the toughest of the nine qualifying groups). The 2012 nightmare was one the Irish will never want to relive - they dropped all 3 games to Croatia, Italy and Spain and were thoroughly demoralized enough that they didn't qualify for the 2014 World Cup. The Irish were able to navigate their way into the playoff and beat Bosnia & Herzegovina there based mostly on a strong defense. They yielded just seven goals in group play and boast several impact players who play in the English Premier League.
Sweden rounds out Group E, and will try to get out of the group stage of a major tournament for the first time since the 2006 World Cup. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is now 34 and this could be his last tournament wearing the yellow and blue; he's scored 19 goals in his previous 21 competitive international games. He also scored 11 of the Swedes' 19 goals in qualifiers, including three in the two-legged playoff with Denmark to qualify for this event. Youthful talent is in the pipeline as the Swedes won the 2015 Euro Under-21 title.
Group F is fairly wide open on paper, with Austria being touted by many pundits as a possible surprise darkhorse in this event. Many of the Austrian players participate in the German Bundesliga, and the team won its last nine qualifiers to earn its way to this event for the first time. The team reached an all-time high of 10th in the FIFA rankings in March. The defense is solid and there are no glaring weaknesses, other than a lack of depth and experience.
Hungary qualified for a major tournament for the first time since 1986, and the first Euro appearance in 44 years. It is likely that this is one of the worst three or four teams in France and even making it to the last 16 would be a major accomplishment. There is the lack of any star power and the Hungarians scored fewer goals per game than any of the other teams in France in their qualifiers. No players on this roster have competed in the knockout stages of recent Champions League or Europa League campaigns.
Iceland's defense was a big reason that they're heading to an international tournament for the first time as the smallest country to ever qualify for the Euros. The Icelanders allowed in just six goals in 10 games and beat Holland twice to pip them and advance to the finals with two games to spare. Obviously they don't have much depth, but this group is well-coached (they have two head managers!) and has a cohesion that they hope will carry them to the knockout stages.
Portugal has won a record seven matches in a row heading into this event and will look to blend an exciting new batch of youthful talent with its veteran group. The Portuguese have been to the semifinals four times and gotten out of the group stage in all six of its previous appearances in this event. They did only score 11 times in their eight qualifying games and all seven wins in those matches were by exactly one goal. Coach Fernando Santos has guided all three of Portugal's top clubs and also had success with Greece in the 2012 Euro and 2014 World Cup, guiding the Greeks to the knockout stages of both events before coming home and taking charge of his own national team.
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
Will update record later.
Do not think Swiss line can go any higher.
Albania +1/2 +107 for 1.3u
GL tomorrow...
Do not think Swiss line can go any higher.
Albania +1/2 +107 for 1.3u
GL tomorrow...
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
what a fucking frustrating loss that was. Even with 10 Albania were the better side and deserved a result. Penalty not called and a missed sitter in the last 7 mins doomed me.
Done for the day. Back at it tomorrow.
Plays:
Peru/Brazil OV 2.5 -112 for 1.5u. After Ecuador beats Haiti, Peru knows it will need a result and should play another open, exciting game.
Germany -1 +107 for 2u. I am anti-Ukraine as I said above, moreso than being pro-Germany.
Croatia +118 for 1.5u. I'm nervous about the Croats but they are the superior side.
Done for the day. Back at it tomorrow.
Plays:
Peru/Brazil OV 2.5 -112 for 1.5u. After Ecuador beats Haiti, Peru knows it will need a result and should play another open, exciting game.
Germany -1 +107 for 2u. I am anti-Ukraine as I said above, moreso than being pro-Germany.
Croatia +118 for 1.5u. I'm nervous about the Croats but they are the superior side.
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
Read writeups of group previews for this one. On the fuckin tee....
The play: Austria -130 for 4.5u
The play: Austria -130 for 4.5u
guaranteeed
Pretty much a regular
like it too, think Hungary get shown badly tomorrow
GL rexy
GL rexy
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
Time for a little maintenance. Lost the last five plays on American soil, so 2-5 and -8.04 in that stretch. Am 2-1 and +2.61 in Euros so far.
Current season record 126-113-10 and +45.77
Current season record 126-113-10 and +45.77
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
Good work, Austria. 126-114-10 and +39.92 on the season
I have been so shellshocked the last few days and am stuck a decent fig this week that I am a bit gunshy.
GW, today i would have had OVER there. Look what happens when I pass. I liked Northern Ireland a bit on the handicap going in but they crushed the line and NIR looked like shit the other day. As I said, I am anti-Ukraine. Womp womp womp.
And would have liked Polacks vs Germans but when you miss the first two it seems like you're missing the wedding to go the funeral when betting the third especially when you have lost a lot of feel and confidence like I have after that Austria-Hungary fiasco. I guess I should have left the second-most played fixture in world international history alone.
Tonight I like USA DRAW. Can see game going to penalties after the 90. Ecuador the better side and the three EPL regulars (Montero down the left flank and the two Valencias) will cause headaches, USA extra rest and Seattle is the only true homefield they'll enjoy in this event. They balance out and DRAW the best price on the 3-way. Rooting for US in penals; hail Brad Guzan!
I have been so shellshocked the last few days and am stuck a decent fig this week that I am a bit gunshy.
GW, today i would have had OVER there. Look what happens when I pass. I liked Northern Ireland a bit on the handicap going in but they crushed the line and NIR looked like shit the other day. As I said, I am anti-Ukraine. Womp womp womp.
And would have liked Polacks vs Germans but when you miss the first two it seems like you're missing the wedding to go the funeral when betting the third especially when you have lost a lot of feel and confidence like I have after that Austria-Hungary fiasco. I guess I should have left the second-most played fixture in world international history alone.
Tonight I like USA DRAW. Can see game going to penalties after the 90. Ecuador the better side and the three EPL regulars (Montero down the left flank and the two Valencias) will cause headaches, USA extra rest and Seattle is the only true homefield they'll enjoy in this event. They balance out and DRAW the best price on the 3-way. Rooting for US in penals; hail Brad Guzan!
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
Sorry forgot price. I took +225 on Tuesday night. At current, looks like most places have +215 or 210 as best available; would go for the same on that, whereas down to +200 or so would be for a bit less.
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
Bet some Argentina UNDER 3 -130 on Thursday morning but would recommend the play at 2.75 flat or up to 3u -45, which is available if you have a few outs. Can't see Venezuela scoring and they'll park the bus for long periods so rooting 0-0 for as long as possible and just hope the dam doesn't break when Argentina breaks through for their first. It's for 1.5u.
Also on DRAW tonight in the other quarter. Simply put, Chile might be a tad better offensive but the Beaners are playing a home game and have been solid, and Chile has had issues at the back. The last meeting was high-scoring and I will consider going OVER there later on. Nothing yet. But 2-2 seems the most likely result. DRAW +225 for me for 2.3 units.
GL...
Also on DRAW tonight in the other quarter. Simply put, Chile might be a tad better offensive but the Beaners are playing a home game and have been solid, and Chile has had issues at the back. The last meeting was high-scoring and I will consider going OVER there later on. Nothing yet. But 2-2 seems the most likely result. DRAW +225 for me for 2.3 units.
GL...
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
Beaner/Chile OVER 2 -120 for 3u
Each team almost a cinch to score. SUrprised of the steam. Has to go back up. Win or lose, I'll take my shot.
Each team almost a cinch to score. SUrprised of the steam. Has to go back up. Win or lose, I'll take my shot.
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
USMNT: Guzan; Yedlin, Cameron, Brooks, Johnson; Zusi, Beckerman, Bradley; Zardes, Dempsey. Wondolowski
puke, what a shit ass lineup, a total bus park jobber
Nagbe needs to be in this lineup how frustrating; i could even live with Besler at left back and Fabian Johnson up on the wing instead of Wondo.
UNDER 2.5 even if you can find is a good play. I can't find - no credit left with the one place I can bet that. Pass, GL...
puke, what a shit ass lineup, a total bus park jobber
Nagbe needs to be in this lineup how frustrating; i could even live with Besler at left back and Fabian Johnson up on the wing instead of Wondo.
UNDER 2.5 even if you can find is a good play. I can't find - no credit left with the one place I can bet that. Pass, GL...
CollegeKingRex
CTG Regular
Line is a total insult to Croatia, and it's a joke. Portugal sputtered around the park to three draws in a group that Hungary (!) won. Croatia meanwhile used five different players against Spain than from their Matchday 2 game and yet still rallied from a goal down. This is perhaps the best team in the tournament right now, federation BS aside. If the fans don't set the pitch on fire this is an easy win. The line should be about Croatia -0.6 and to get them at basically a pick is stealing.
The play: Croatia +195 for 2.5u
Croatia PICK -108 for 1.5u
Croatia 1st half +290 for 1.5u
Big bet, GL to me...
:shake:
The play: Croatia +195 for 2.5u
Croatia PICK -108 for 1.5u
Croatia 1st half +290 for 1.5u
Big bet, GL to me...
:shake:
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