Euro 2012
2012-06-21 - Czech Republic vs Portugal
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: Euro 2012 Quarter Final
Thursday 21 June 2012 - Kick Off 7:45pm
This game is live on TV
Preview
The Czech Republic were the surprise winners of Group A and I think that says a lot more about that group than it does about the Czechs. They now face a battle-hardened Portugal team that came out of the group of death behind Germany and this is probably the best team the Czech Republic would have seen in the tournament so far.
It was an opening day 4-1 loss to Russia that would have indicated that the Czech Republic were going to have a hard time getting out of the group stages, let alone go on and win it. They scored a couple of early goals against Greece to beat them 2-1, before their most impressive performance so far in beating Poland 0-1 in the final game that actually confirmed that the Czechs had gone through and won the group.
Portugal also lost their first game of the tournament when they were beaten by Germany 1-0, but they have put up two impressive performances in winning games against Denmark and Holland, although both could have been won with a little more ease than the one goal margin suggests.
With Cristiano Ronaldo finally amongst the goals, Portugal have a genuine threat going forward as he has worked well with Nani so far to create plenty of chances. It is unlikely that they will make any changes as Paulo Bento has kept the same starting XI for the last 5 competitive games.
The Czech Republic are still waiting on the fitness of Tomas Rosicky ahead of this game, although it is clear that they are going to try and base any success on a strong defensive platform. Michal Bilek has been speaking about not making the mistakes that plagued them in their opening game against Russia as Portugal are another team that are very likely to punish them if they do.
Bilek has also been speaking about the collective belief in the squad and how that can be transferred onto the pitch to cause a surprise here and move the Czech Republic on to the Semi Finals.
Head to Head
These two nations have met at the European Championships in 1996 and 2008 and both teams have picked up one win apiece.
The Czech Republic beat Portugal 1-0 back in 1996 at this same stage of the competition.
Portugal got a measure of revenge with a 3-1 win at the group stages of the 2008 tournament.
Prediction
Portugal are rightly the favourites for this match, but I can't help but think that their price is a little short considering it is a Quarter Final against a team that is not likely to come out and attack as both Denmark and Holland did in the last two group games Portugal played.
This means it will be much more difficult to utilise the pace the Portuguese have in Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani and could make the game a little tighter than anticipated at the start.
On the other hand, I am not convinced that the Czech Republic have turned any kind of corner from where I thought they were at the beginning of the tournament. The wins over Greece and Poland are good results, but neither side is on the same level as Portugal, while the loss to Russia showed what can happen to the Czechs when things go a little wrong.
The real problem for the Czech Republic will be if they fall behind as they will be forced to come out and attack and that is where I think Portugal will eventually exploit their chances and record the win. It might be a similar scoreline to when they met four years ago so I am going to take Portugal to win and 3/4 goals scored.
The Pick :
Czech Republic 1-3 Portugal
