EURO 2012: Russia vs Czech Republic

Russia did a good job to qualify directly from their qualifying group as they didn’t have so easy job fighting against Slovakia and Republic of Ireland as their strongest rivals. Russians are having big expectations for this tournament, not only because they did good in qualifications and that they playing good football in their friendly games, but they are also in one of the easiest groups here and have every right to expect themselves in quarter-finals here. Just as most of the other teams, Russia had two friendly matches before EURO, they drew against Uruguay 1:1 and won over Italy 3:0 in a game played several days ago. How ambitious they are, probably describes the best interview of their national team coach Dick Advocaat who said that he isn’t completely satisfied with their performance and that there are many things that need to be improved, especially in defensive lineup.

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Czech Republic, on the other side, had to play play-off games against Montengro where they won both legs, 2:0 at home and 1:0 in Podgorica. They had a tough group as their biggest rivals for the second position were Scotland and Lithuania, as the first place was almost sure for the national team of Spain. The Czechs also played two control games before EURO, winning the first one against Israel 2:1, but losing to Hungarians with the same result just six days ago. Latest result doesn’t seem to be a positive thing for their national team especially because they are playing against the strongest opponent at the beginning of the group stage. Latest news that their striker Baros is slightly injured is also worrying thing for the Czechs.

Things will be a bit more clear after the first game of this group (game against Poland and Greece ends), so it should be expected that this game starts in a little faster tempo and with not that cautious approach. Russia is a bit more than a slight favorite here and will probably be the one who attack here, but the Czechs are surely capable of responding them too. The odds represent a real value in this case.

Bet: Over 2 goals @2.05 with Bet365