The end of the main round, the final is in sight at Euro 2012 …
We’ve set out the permutations as we understand them for today’s games here so all that remains to do is get the crysal ball out and undertake a final day’s group-stage predicting.
Group I is where the drama will be as, unlike Group II, there’s still a semi final berth available. First up though at 3.10pm UK is Sweden v Czech Republic. The Czechs have battled hard in every game and with a bit of good fortune might have collected some more points since their opening day win against Ukraine but I expect Sweden will want to go out on a high and am backing them today.
Then, at 5.10pm it’s Serbia v France. It’s only really for Serb matches that the arena has been anything like full and I imagine there will be a lot of home town support in again. Ordinarily, I’d say France as they have the pedigree and also, on paper, the better team but they’ve underperformed whereas Serbia have played to their strengths (albeit having taken part in numerous see-saw matches). I’ll be going for a Serb win here – which renders the next match redundant.
The next match is at 7.10pm. Denmark are the tournament’s top scorers and have called up Laerke Moller (129 goals in 44 matches) so are presumably thinking that adding firepower is the way to go. Their defence will need to improve though and also cutting out the errors that has cost them in pressure situations. Assuming the match still counts it will be interesting to see how Norway go about the match – and it may be their attitude that has the most significant bearing on the score. On balance, I think Denmark will win, I just think it will be too late for them.
Over in the already-decided Group II I imagine Spain will want to go out in style against Montenegro (3.10pm) and they may just win and show everybody what they should have been doing the whole time; Romania and Germany (5.10pm) I expect to be entertaining and end in a German win (again, showing what they’ve got too late in the day); and, finally, I expect Hungary against Russia to be brutal but go with form, so a win for Hungary and recriminations for Russia.
Remember, it’s all live with commentary on YouTube and, should you have a problem with that stream, it’s live without commentary for anybody with a Bet365 account in the UK via their livestreaming. (Other bookies are available but they all make Norway clear favourites for the title.)