betting
Crunch time for the Favourites
By Joe, BettingExpert.com | Edited
Google+: Joe Bexpert
The time has come for the international games to go into the final stages for qualifying for next year's Euro 2012. England will be travelling to the Balkans to meet Bulgaria while the Germans are staying tight at home hosting their frienldly neighbours, Austria, on Friday. The only game on Saturday will see Scoltand taking on Czech Republic.
Germany vs. Austria
The Germans are ready to book their spot into the Euro 2012 by securing three points and clinching hte first place in their Group. Habouring 21 points and holding a 100 % winning record, their group should be dead and buried this Friday evening when Austria visits the Veltins Arena. Coach Jurgen Low shouldn’t be worried with his squad selection even though Sami Khedira, Marco Reus and Mario Gomez are not available for this match. Although they are replaced with Cacau and Ron-Robert Zieler, and with the return of Mesut Ozil and Marcel Schmelzer should aid Low quest to get the three points. Remember they also beat Brazil 3-2 in their latest friendly and with Dortmund’s Mario Gotze and Andrew Schurrle from Bayer Leverkusen, the dynamic duo could be the European champion in a space of a few months.
Austria might provide the firepower to stop the good form that Germany is enduring and with defeats in sessions, things aren’t going well for the little neighbours. Coach Dietmar Constantin is ever so experimenting with his squad and that certainly has given bad effects when it comes to collecting points for the Euro 2012. They have successfully acquired only 7 points and needing to get over the fact they were beaten 2-1 at home just two months ago to Germany. This time Austria will be happy to know that they will avoid Mario Gomez, who scored the two goals on that faithful defeat and with sight that they will not have a lot of chances on Friday evening, Constanini has picked Marko Arnautovic to replace Roman Kienast in the attack. Arnautovic might be the lonely striker on the night but if they are to be more adventurous then maybe Martin Harnik will get also the nod.
Verdict: Austria is on the experimenting ground, Germany on the verge to qualify and bet on over. 2.5 too.
Bulgaria vs. England
Not much hope is for Bulgaria to make the Euro 2012 under Lother Mattaus and with 5 points in this campaign, building towards a new squad for the World Cup 2014 is more important at this stage. Mattaus has decided to pick up two debutants from club PSFC Chernomorets Burgs, both Georgi Bozhilov and Tsvetomir Tsonkov, also a return for Alexander Tunchev as he is on loan to Crystal Palace, getting his fitness back to win his first cap after two years absent. Bulguria won’t have much to do but playing for their pride in this case.
England is a transitional period with their squad and with many of the old guards are either not selected or injured. The absentee are injuried Steven Gerrard, Robert Green followed by Peter Crouch, Emilie Heskey and Aaron Lennon not being picked for the two upcoming matches in their group. In comes the fresh blood mostly from Manchester United trio, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Tom Cleverley, also joined by team mates Ashley Young and Wayne Rooney while striker Danny Welheck injury leaves him out of the England squad. They are also boosted with in form defender Micah Richards and Ashley Cole which sure should be in a commanding force with John Terry in the central of things. Midfield is again a mix bag, Lampard will be there along with either Gareth Barry or Scot Parker while the wings is anyone’s guess, as Theo Walcott, Stewart Downing and also Adam Johnson are all knocking on Coach Fabio Capello’s door. Upfront will surely be Wayne Rooney and partnering him will be tactical decision whether Capello will go with height or speed, in other words, Dafoe, Bent or Andy Carroll. A 4-4-2 formation will be adopted but that’s not the issue, it’s the three points as both England and Montenegro shares the top spot with 11 points, so goal difference will surely count as we go into the latter stages of the Euro 2012 qualifying tournament.
With no hesitation, England will be going over to Sofia with only one thing in sight, win or their Euro 2012 spot could well be in danger. They face a tough task on Friday evening against a team that doesn’t have anything to play for and likewise when they meet Wales next Tuesday. They are favourites to get all three points and with the kind of players Capello have in his disposal, it shouldn’t that hard but England has failed before and at this instance, England in the qualifying stages under Capello has been solid.
Verdict: England to take group stages to the final playing day and three in Sofia looks certain.
Scotland vs. Czech Republic
A chance to get themselves into the Euro 2012 for Scotland will hang onto what they will do in the next two games at Hampden Park. Firstly, they will face the group second place chaser, Czech Republic and then three days later, they will face Lithuania. It will be crucial for Scotland to gain all six points as they are five behind second place Czech Republic and if they hope to finish runners-up to Spain, the Coach Levein will need all the commitments from the squad he has picked for these next two matches. Levein will be happy to see Alan Hutton, Steven Naismith and Darren Fletcher are set to be back in the starting eleven. Their 2-1 win over Denmark last month must have set a presence for the positive optimism for the upcoming games. Sadly, striker Steven Fletcher is still without sight of being called up due to his fall out with Levein but Kenny Miller and David Goodwillie will have to do the job while Charlie Adam will surely hold down the fortress in the midfield.
The Czech Republic could simply rap things up with a win over Scotland at Hampden Park to book and secure the second spot in Group I. Coach Michal Bilet is in no illusion that it will be a tough trip to Scotland knowing that anything but a defeat is a good result to preserve that they go into the final stages of the Euro 2012. The success of FC Vikoria Plzen making the champions league has also found four members of the team picked Bilet, defender Petr Jiracek, midfielders Daniel Kolar Milan Petzela and Vaclav Pilar. With nine point in the bag, this should be comfortable for Czech Republic but without their star goal keeper, Petr Cech and both Hamburg Jaroslav and Jan Lastuvka from FC Dnipro have been recruited.
Verdict: The only Saturday Euro 2012 fixture will see a hard fought draw at Hampden Park.
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