Football Betting: Euro 2012, Will Ireland Make History?

Without further ado, let's look at the balanced team:

GK Akinfeev - Russia

DF Puyol - Spain

DF Boateng - Germany

DF Cahill - England

MF Nigel De Jong - Netherlands

MF Lampard - England

MF Shirokov - Russia

MF Sneijder - Netherlands

FW Benzema - France

FW Silva - Spain

FW Muller - Germany

On the face of it, I really like it. It works well as a balanced team and only includes players from Spain, Russia, England, Germany, Netherlands and France which was my preferred route. The only problem I can foresee is that if one or two stars out there i.e. Van Persie, Ronaldo etc start to really score well. This is what led me to my next team.....

GK - Casillas - Spain

DF - Cahill - England

DF - Lahm - Germany

DF - Ignashevich - Russia

MF - Iniesta - Spain

MF - Van Bommel - Netherlands

MF - M'Villa - France

MF - Dzagoev - Russia

FW - Van Persie - Netehrlands

FW - Christiano Ronaldo - Portugal

FW - Jelavic - Croatia

It's not unbalanced per se but I've had to trim down a few favourites to get those two big names up front. The logical and experienced side of me says that the first team is the only way to go but my heart loves the forwards in the second one. Of course, to get in one amazing player you're likely to need to "demote" 3 or four others so the maths doesn't really work. You should have half an eye on your first transfer as well at this stage, I'm currently planning on bringing in Ronaldo for Muller for the second Matchday as Germany are facing the far trickier Netherlands and Portugal the lowest team in the group Denmark.

One consistent part of both teams is the enablers. As discussed in my last article, these are the players who should play but cost no more than 4 points, allowing you to spend bigger elsewhere. The one's I've chosen are:

GK - Karnezis - Greece

DF - M Olsson - Sweden

DF - Bjelland - Denmark

MF - Andrews - Ireland

There are others out there such as Polanski for Poland, M Olsson for Sweden and Zimling of Denmark but the ones I've chosen appear to be the strongest candidates.

In my next article, we'll cover amongst other things - who to choose as your captain. You can also get further ideas on this sort of approach via my book on Amazon here

Six years ago, Fabio Cannavaro lifted the World cup for Italy. Since then, a lot has changed in the team. Many top players retired, making way for young blood while Cesare Prandelli replaced Marcello Lippi as the head coach. Moreover, the team hasn't won any major trophy since 2006. A quarterfinal exit in Euro 2008 was followed by a humiliating first round exit in World cup 2010. The newer generation of Italian players has an opportunity to prove themselves on the grand stage. Will they rise to the occasion and restore their country's pride? Or will they waste this opportunity? We have to wait and watch.

Route to qualification

Italy are one of the few teams that have gone unbeaten in the qualifiers. They kick-started their long and arduous journey with a 2-1 victory against Estonia on 3rd September, 2010. Four days later, the Azzurri trashed Faroe Islands 5-0 at home. cyberbola.com say no to racism piala eropa 2012