Bookies Blog

Russia stopped the Dutch in their tracks with a 3-1 victory which brings them to face Spain. It’ll be a closely contested match after the Russians played so well against the Netherlands. The bookies have Spain at 11/10 general with best value at Skybet 6/5 so it seems the underdogs are Russia here at 11/4 (Skybet) and 13/5 at William Hill.

Again, though, I feel Spain are unsuited to the pressure. Coach Aragones was effusive about his team’s resolve after the Italy game. This could show he was worried about what such a defensive game could do to his players. However lets not forget Spain’s crushing 4-1 defeat of Russia in the opening stages of the tournament. Definitely solid evidence of Spain’s prowess over the young Russian team. I think Spain will be playing a transformed team though and I would like to hedge my bets with the Russians.

For the half time/full time bets the bookies have pegged down Russia/Russia at 11/2 on Bet365, best value can be found at Bet Chronicle for 63/10. Whilst Spain/Spain is at 14/5 (Bet Chronicle). Its seems the bookies feel that, if Spain can bag an early goal, they should be able to hold on to a lead till the end of the 90minutes. However I feel Russia will play a defensive first half, and go on to score a late second half goal. The odds for this are 7/1 general, with best odds at Ladbrokes for 8/1.

Fernando Torres is placed at 11/2 at Coral to score the first goal, Torres has had five shots on target this tournament and only one goal. I feel this price was made with his premiership career in mind, not his performance in Euro08. However 7/1 at 888Sport is pretty good value for No Goalscorer.

The number of goals market is at 6/5 over 2.5 goals and 4/6 under 2.5. If Spain take control of the game early on we could be looking at a fairly defensive game with a lot of possession to the Spaniards, but I feel Russia will want to play an aggressive first half and may force the opposition to take more shot. Hence I feel these are reasonable odds.

For more Euro2008 betting markets click here.