Euro 2008
2008-06-20 - Croatia vs Turkey
A Sports Betting Pick by chappers
EURO 2008 QF
Vienna, June 20 1945 BST
Croatia
Croatia always seem (along with Russia) to be classed as the "Dark Horses" of any major tournament they make and this one has been the same and I’ve been impressed with the way they have set about their business and made it through top of their group and when you consider they did that with Germany in with them, then that is no mean feat. Before the finals I would have said that Croatia would have been one of the teams in the knockout stages but would never have put them on top with three wins out of three.
I was very disappointed in them in the first win of the group when they beat co-hosts Austria 1-0 and to be honest, Austria were unlucky not to get something out of that game. Then when they took on the Germans I was convinced that Germany would ease past them, and even more so when you look at both teams in the first games but Croatia played a great game and fully deserved the 2-0 win that came their way. Since I was watching the Germany v Austria game I did not see the 1-0 win over Poland but with that win it did not only make it nine points from nine but they are yet to concede a goal in the finals.
Turkey
Gone are the days when Turkey would be the whipping boys of football and now its no surprise to see them in finals and to be honest I didn’t see them making it out of the group stages and I had the Czech Republic as the team along with Portugal to get to the knockout stages from this group so and even more so when you saw the score line v the Czech Republic with not long to go so fair play to Turkey for still being in the finals.
Turkey loset with ease for me when Portugal beat them 2-0 and even if the second goal did not come until the last minute of the game, this is a game that if Portugal had took their chances would have been over well before this. This meant that the losers of the Switzerland and Turkey game would be out with one game to go and it was all looking good for Switzerland when they took the lead but Turkey came back from the dead and managed a last minute goal of their own to win 2-1 and set up the do or die game v the Czech Republic.
Now in this game I’d backed overs so when it became 2-1 to the Czech's with fifteen minutes to go, I sort of lost interest in the game as the bet was won, so I like most other people sat shocked as Turkey scored two very late goals in order to win the game 3-2 and make it though to the next stage at the expense of the Czechs.
Verdict
I guess like most people we all expected with fifteen minutes to go to see this game as Croatia v Czech Republic but then as we all know, football has away of throwing up shocks now and again.
So will a shock happen in this game and will it be Turkey who move on the semi-finals and a possible showdown with Germany or Portugal or will Croatia live up to their tags as favourites and head to Basel on June 25th.
Croatia are priced at 1.80 to win this game in 90 minutes and that's what I’m going for as I think that Croatia will be just too strong for them in this game, but like all the quarter finals it wont be easy but in the end I think that it will be Croatia who move on to the next stage and Turkey will be heading home.
The Pick :
Croatia to win this match
