Euro 2012
2012-06-18 - Croatia vs Spain
A Sports Betting Pick by ROzsolt
Football : Euro 2012 Group C
Venue: Arena Gdansk, Gdansk
Monday 18th June – Kickoff time: 20:45 GMT+1
Croatia
Mario Mandzukic scored his third goal at the Euros to keep Croatia in the battle for a spot in the QF, taking advantage of a moment of weakness in Italy’s defense 20 minutes from time.
Slaven Bilic is hoping to lead Croatia to the quarter finals for a second successive time (before leaving for Lokomotiv Moscow), but he admits that they are the outsiders against the world and European champions Spain.
Croatia won’t need a win to book a place in the next round, they will be through with any draw other than 0-0 or 1-1. Of course, this is only in the case when Italy wins against Republic of Ireland, but I guess Croatia will have to think that Italy have already won that match.
Croatia could qualify in the event of a high scoring draw, but according to Slaven Bilic that doesn’t even cross their minds.
Everton striker Nikica Jelavic missed training on Saturday with a fever, although he is still expected to recover in time to lead the line against the champions at the PGE Arena Gdansk.
Probable Croatia line-up :
Pletikosa
Srna, Corluka, Schildenfeld, Strinic
Vukojevic, Rakitic
Mandzukic, Modric, Perisic
Jelavic
Spain
After the opening draw match against Italy, Spain went on to humiliate Republic of Ireland 4-0, which is actually a record European Championship final tournament win for the Spaniards.
Spain have the simplest task before the last two fixtures in this group, they only need a point to ensure qualification to the quarter finals. If Spain draw 1-1 and Italy win 4-0, Spain would finish first ahead of Italy on coefficient.
Sergio Busquets recovered from a minor foot injury which means that Vicente del Bosche has a full squad to choose from.
Fernando Torres is expected to start from the first minute for the second consecutive game with the Chelsea striker having scored twice against Ireland. This means that despite scoring two goals so far Fabregas will sit on the bench.
Probable Spain line-up :
Casillas
Arbeloa, Ramos, Pique, Alba
Xavi, Busquets, Alonso
Silva, Torres, Iniesta
The Betting Verdict
We all saw what happened to group A favorites Russia in their final game against Greece, so Spain playing for a draw or rotating players at this moment would be out of the question in my opinion.
Spain set a new record with 860 passes at the tournament during their 4-0 win over Ireland and it will be no surprise seeing Spain moving the ball around, dominating possession once again, but I expect Croatia to be more dangerous on counter-attacks than Ireland.
I’ll hate to see Croatia go home, I would have preferred to see them in QF rather than Greece or the Czech Republic, but they’ll have to get a result against a Spanish side that will prove to be too good for them in my opinion. They need to win here which is more than unlikely, so their only other option is a high scoring draw, but I can’t see them scoring twice against Spain.
The Pick :
Croatia 1-2 Spain
BEST BETTING TIP :
Take Spain to win at 1.75 at LadbrokesConfidence: 7/10
