Euro 2008 Betting - Group A Preview

Euro 2008 Betting Preview - Group A Betting Preview

Punters are now within touching distance of three weeks of top Euro 2008 soccer betting action. The coaches of the 16 teams qualified for the 2008 UEFA European Championships have named their final squads for the event starting June 7th, and leading online sportsbook, PinnacleSports.com, have for some time posted outright prices and odds for the winners of each Group. PinnacleSports.com are also offering a host of other Euro 2008 bets including Asian Handicap betting and total goals markets for the opening fixtures, priced to just 102% - which gives punters 60% better Euro 2008 betting odds than traditional bookmakers.



Weak Section Could Be Portugal’s For the Taking

Portugal lead the Group A winner’s betting market at PinnacleSports.com priced 2.350* to top the pool phase. The Portuguese possess an enviable pair of wing wizards in Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Nani, but cannot match that quality in the striker department. Though the Portuguese lost just once during Group A qualification, they finished second, having drawn six of their 14 games. Ronaldo was their top-scorer with eight goals, but an unhealthy amount of expectation rests on his young shoulders, and if the opposition can neutralize his threat, coach, Felipe Scolari may struggle with a plan B.

As hosts in 2004, Portugal progressed to the final, and despite being strong favourites, lost out to a single Greek goal. The Portuguese may however, have been flattered in reaching the final, as England had a perfectly good goal ruled out against them in the semi-final. They were also left sweating on qualification for Euro 2008 right up to the final game and key playmaker Deco has had a poor season with Barcelona. Nevertheless PinnacleSports.com make Portugal one of the favourites on their Euro 2008 betting market at 8.600*.


Czech’s Dealt Blow By Rosicky Injury

After topping Group D at the finals of Euro 2004, with three wins, including over Germany and Holland, the Czech Republic became many punters’ favourites to go all the way. In the event they were beaten by a dogged Greek side in an extra time semi-final. Much of their success was the product of the creativity of Tomas Rosicky and Pavel Nedved, and goals of Milan Baros. However, Rosicky is out of the Euro 2008 through injury, Nedved is retired while Baros has struggled to emulate the form he showed in Portugal.

35year old striker Jan Koller is one of several Czech players reaching their sell-by date, so coach, Karel Bruckner, has tried to mix youth with experience. Euro 2008 will be the Czech Republic’s fourth straight European Championship stretching back to Euro 1996 in England when they were surprise finalists, losing to Germany. They qualified this time round ahead of tournament favourites Germany who they beat 3-0 in Munich, but are nevertheless considered unlikely winners priced 20.00* on PinnacleSports.com’s Euro 2008 betting market, but just 3.330* to top Group A.


Turkey Seeking Stability & Composure

Turkey’s third place finish at the 2002 World Cup was an immense achievement that catapulted those players involved to national heroes. Unfortunately, the story since then has failed to match that magic, with failed qualification to the 2006 World Cup marred by violent scenes against Switzerland that ended with several lengthy bans, which will make the rematch potentially fiery. Though some of that volatility remains, coach, Fatih Terim has been able to guide the national side through a tricky qualifying group to the finals in Austria and Switzerland.

A 2-1 victory in Norway was the pivotal result in their penultimate qualifier and if Turkey can show the same resolution at the Euro 2008 finals, they could easily negotiate a path out of an open group. Injury problems have abated leaving Turkey without any major obstacles in preparation. Emre hasn’t had a great season at Newcastle, but the left-footed midfielder is capable of match-winning skill, playing alongside Hamit Altintop who has enjoyed a steady season at Bayern Munich while Tuncay Sanli has steadily improved at Middlesbrough. Volatility is the Turk’s main weakness, part of the reason why PinnacleSports.com price them 58.00* in their outright Euro 2008 betting markets, with odds of 8.440* to top Group A.


Swiss Host Hampered By Injuries

Of the two hosts of Euro 2008, the Swiss are certainly considered the likelier to make a real impact on the event. Their chances have however, been dealt a severe blow by a spate of injuries that has ruled out several key players and placed doubts of many more. Tranquillo Barnetta, Christoph Spycher and Philipp Degan all missed the 2-0 friendly win over Slovakia on May 24th, though hopes are high that they will participate in the tournament.

On the plus side, striker, Alexander Frei has returned to form after long-term injury, and much is expected over 19 year old Eren Derdiyok. The 6ft 2” striker, scored within minutes of a substitute appearance at Wembley against England, only his second appearance for the Swiss national side. In common with Austria, Switzerland have lacked competitive football, qualifying as hosts, but their showing at the 2006 World Cup, where they didn’t conceded in open play in four games, shows they are defensively tough, if lacking creativity. PinnacleSports.com price Switzerland 33.00* outsiders on their Euro 2008 betting market, with odds of 4.780* to win Group A.

Best Euro 2008 Odds at PinnacleSports.com

Turkey takes on Finland in its last friendly match

WATCH TURKEY V FINLAND LIVE HERE....

The Turkish national team will play its last warm-up match against Finland in Germany today before heading to Switzerland to prepare for next month’s UEFA Euro 2008 proper. Fatih Terim’s side has played two friendlies so far, winning one and losing one. Fatih Terim boys beat Slovakia 1-0 in their first match and lost 3-2 to Uruguay on Sunday despite going ahead twice. Even though the Uruguayans were awarded two penalties, the general consensus was that Turkey lost as a result of poor defending. And the reason is not far-fetched. Servet Çetin, one of Turkey’s best defender, is injured and have not been fielded in any of the friendly matches.

FINAL TURKEY SQUAD FOR EURO 2008!....

HALIL ALTINTOP, YILDIRAY BASTURK AND IBRAHIM KAS ARE THE LAST PLAYERS CUT BY FATIH TERIM!..

Turkey coach Fatih Terim has announced Turkey's final 23-man squad for EURO 2008 finals with a press conference he held at Hotel Klosterpforte in the German village of Marienfeld.

Terim decided to exclude Germany-based Turkish duo Yıldıray Baştürk and Halil Altıntop along with Beşiktaş defender İbrahim Kaş.

Final Turkey squad for EURO 2008 finals is as follows:

GOALKEEPERS


1-
VOLKAN DEMİREL
FENERBAHÇE

2-
RÜŞTÜ REÇBER
BEŞİKTAŞ

3-
TOLGA ZENGİN
TRABZONSPOR


DEFENDERS


4-
SABRİ SARIOĞLU
GALATASARAY

5-
GÖKHAN ZAN
BEŞİKTAŞ

6-
EMRE AŞIK
ANKARASPOR

7-
SERVET ÇETİN
GALATASARAY

8-
HAKAN KADİR BALTA
GALATASARAY

9-

10-
UĞUR BORAL

EMRE GÜNGÖR
FENERBAHÇE

GALATASARAY


MIDFIELDERS


11-
MEHMET AURELIO
FENERBAHÇE

12-
MEHMET TOPAL
GALATASARAY

13-
EMRE BELÖZOĞLU
NEWCASTLE UNİTED

14-
TÜMER METİN
LARISSA

15-
HAMİT ALTINTOP
BAYERN MÜNİCH

16-
AYHAN AKMAN
GALATASARAY

17-
ARDA TURAN
GALATASARAY

18-
TUNCAY ŞANLI
MIDDLESBROUGH

19-
KAZIM KAZIM
FENERBAHÇE


FORWARD


20-
GÖKDENİZ KARADENİZ
RUBIN KAZAN

21-
NİHAT KAHVECİ
VILLARREAL

22-
SEMİH ŞENTÜRK
FENERBAHÇE

23-
MEVLUT ERDİNÇ
SOCHAUX

Source:TFF

Turkish National Team has problems!.....

Turkey's Nihat Kahveci, right, celebrates his free kick goal with head coach Fatih Terim, left, during a friendly soccer match between Turkey and Uruguay in Bochum, western Germany, Sunday, May 25, 2008.(AP)

Turkey 2 Uruguay 3

Turkey slid to a 3-2 defeat to Uruguay in Bochum Sunday in a friendly international ahead of next month's European Championships. Turkey welcomed back midfielder Hamit Altintop, who has recovered from a foot fracture, and the Bayern midfielder set up the first goal in the 13th minute with a cross which Arda Turan headed home.
Luis Suarez equalized for the South Americans in the 31st minute before Nihat Kahveci put Turkey back in front six minutes after half-time.
However Suarez notched his second with a penalty in the 78th minute and Cristian Rodriguez converted another spot kick five minutes from time.
Turkey, who are in Germany training for the June 7-29 tournament in Austria and Switzerland, on Tuesday defeated Slovakia 1-0 in Bielefeld.
A third and last test match follows on Thursday against Finland in Duisburg.
Turkey defender Gokhan Gonul has meanwhile been ruled out of Euro 2008 because of a foot injury.
Turkey coach Fatih Terim called 27 players into the training camp and will trim it to 23 by Wednesday's deadline for squad nominations.
Turkey are in Group A with Portugal, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.

Turkey: Volkan, Hakan Balta, Gökhan (Mevlüt 87), Emre Belözoğlu (Halil 65), Mehmet Topal, Nihat, Yıldıray (Tuncay 65), Arda (Tümer 60), Emre Aşık, Hamit (Sabri 46), Kazım (Ayhan 46).

Uruguay: Carini, Alcoba, Godín, Gargano, Caceres, Eguren, Suárez, Cavani, (Fernández 46), Pereira (Silva 68), Giménez (Rodríguez 56), González (Flores 75).

Turkish National Team takes on Uruguay in friendly match

WATCH TURKEY V URUGUAY MATCH LIVE

The Turkish national team plays Uruguay in Bochum today in its second warm-up match for next month’s Euro 2008 championship.
And than, Four day later, Fatih Terim's boys will take on Finland in Duisburg in four days before leaving Germany for Switzerland on June 1.


GOKHAN GONUL OUT OF THE EURO 2008 ROSTER........

Turkey coach Fatih Terim announced the decision together with national team doctors Bülent Bayraktar and Cengiz Dinç. "Scans have showed that Gökhan should be rested for at least four weeks without participating in any training sessions. We did our best to keep him in our squad but our players' health is more important in any case. Therefore, we were forced to remove him from our EURO 2008 squad. This decision will surely disappoint him. He will return to Istanbul and continue his treatment there" Terim said. The experienced coach also added he were not intending to call a replacement for Gökhan.

Hamit Altıntop: "I'm ready to play"

FC Bayern München midfielder Hamit Altıntop made a short statement to the media, by saying: "I have totally recovered from the foot injury. I don't feel pains anymore and I'm ready to play at the moment. I can say that playing against Portugal in the first match in the group is an advantage. for us. If we play good enough, we can win this game. If we can apply Fatih Terim's tactics on the pitch, then there will be no problems. We will do our utmost in order to be successful."

Turkey, Portugal to be first Euro 2008 arrivals Turkey

Turkey and Portugal will be the first teams to arrive at their base camps for next month’s UEFA Euro 2008. Group A rivals Turkey and Portugal will arrive at their bases in Neuchatel and Geneva, respectively, on June 1.



Teams preparing for the finals in Austria, Poland (Bad Waltersdorf) and Italy (Baden bei Wien) will arrive on June 2. Under UEFA Euro 2008 regulations, every team must arrive at its team base camp at least five days before its first match. Spain will be the last of the 16 nations to arrive at its Tyrol headquarters on June 5. The referees will check into their hotel in Regensdorf near Zurich on June 2. Most training sessions will be held behind closed doors, but 14 of the 16 teams may abide by the UEFA's recommendation to open at least one training session to the public.

FATIH TERIM HIRED AN AGENT

WWW.TURKISHSOCCER.COM ,EDITOR AHMET TURGUT, EXCLUSIVE NEWS!......

You herd it here first...........
Fatih Terim, Turkish National Team head coach,hired British Sports Agent, for him self before the Euro2008 tournament.

Power Goldberg Sports Management, website introduced Fatih Terim as their new client on their website.

Power Goldberg Sports Management represent famous sports figures in the world.

Fabio Capello, who was hired by England Football Federation recently to coach the National team,also is client of Power Goldberg Sports Management agency.

One of the partners of Powers Gold Sport Management,Mel Goldberg has assisted Fabio and recommended him to the FA for the England managers position.


Now, who do you think recommended Fatih Terim to Chelsea a couple weeks ago?...

You could bet your bottom dollar that it was Mr.Mel Goldberg......

I think this tournament will be a farewell to Fatih Terim in my opinion.....

What a coincidence, just before the the big tournament,Terim, get a world known agent for him self!...

Is Zico leaving Fenerbahce?

Zico, was on UEFA chat room and just a little while a go and he said :
"I think it will be hard for me to stay. Talks so far have not been the best. There are questions about my technical staff and I am a bit sad that the entire situation came up 15 days before the end of my contract. After two seasons there I thought they would have given me a bit more time."

There were speculation in the Turkish press that
Fenerbahce soccer team's coach Zico is heading for a new job with the Portuguese team Benfica.

Portuguese newspaper Record reported that the Portuguese club is now interetsted to enlist Zico after Michael Laudrup did not respo9bnd to an offer by Benfica on time. Record said Zico would have a good impact on Benfica's players as he was known as a "soccer god". It said the Brazilian coach asked to be given until Monday to respond.