Euro 2008
2008-06-07 - Portugal vs Turkey
A Sports Betting Pick by chappers
EURO 2008
Geneva, June 7 1945 BST
Portugal FIFA Rank 9th
Portugal have a very good record in the championships in recent years with a final and semi-final in the last two tournaments so this is a team who should at least make the knockout stages and maybe even further. In Ronaldo they have a player that if he clicks will ensure that Portugal will have a very good few weeks.
However in saying this they have not had it all their own way in friendly games this year with three games played and only one victory and that last week when they beat Georgia 2-0 in front of their own fans. Before this they lost to both Greece and Italy.
In the back end of the qualifiers for this tournament they did not lose a game but out of the 8 games they played they only managed to win three and drew the other four and when you see that they were in a easy enough group this may be a worry for them.
Turkey FIFA Rank 25th
For years Turkey used to be the whipping boys of football so it comes as no surprise that they don’t have the best of records in the Euro's and in fact until 1996 they had not even managed to make the finals. Then in 96 they went on to lose all three games they played, however when they made the finals in 2000 they got to the knockout stages and went out in the QF.
Being ranked 25th in the world, means for me that this is a team that could cause a few upsets in this tournament and while they wont win it, they could cause problems for some of the so called bigger teams. They have already played five times in 2008 and with a record of 2-2-1 it does seem they are a team who are very inconsistent.
In the back end of 2007 when they qualified from their group they ended with two back to back wins beating both Bosnia and Norway but also lost and drew a couple so as I’ve already said this could be a team that may surprise a few people but they could just as easy lose all three games.
Verdict
Turkey are more than capable of getting out of this group but in order to do this they will more than likely need to beat either Portugal or the Czech Republic and with this being the first game in the group for them, they may just catch this Portugal side a bit cold.
Portugal on the other hand will be looking at this as three points that will help send them on their way to the knockout stages and also maybe bigger things like the title itself. So I’ll go for Portugal to win this game at a decent enough price of 1.75.
The Pick :
Portugal to win this game
