[gregm]

This is really one of the tougher tourneys to look at trying to look at numbers and stats as friendlies are not great indicators and players stats are definitely going to change when they are playing with the national team. This is the definitely a time of the year I really rely more on the web sites I use and local punters views of their national teams. I was really surprised to see alot of Polish punters not real excited about their national team and their chances.

You have Lewandowski who may be the best player ont he pitch but playing with a top tier team like Borussia Dortmund and being surrounded by guys like Da Silva, Kagawa,Hummels, and company and now he is playing for a national Polish team where I cant recognize one other player other than their goal keeper Szczesny and Blaszczylowski and Piszczek and who play for Borussia too.

Poland has looked very sharp in their friendlies and most of them have been at home,stats wise this game certainly favors the under. Poland doesnt have much of a history here at the european cup and Greece certainly has the experience and Greece certainly seems to be the better side here but they are certainly not known for offensive prowess, they didnt average many goals in their qualifying matches and are definitely more of a defensive side showing from their numbers in qualifying .

I didnt get much of a sense of excitement from Greece punters on the boards and fan sites for their national side as well, I dont see either side just parking the bus in the back but I just dont see where the goals are going to come from for either side. The under seems like the only play here.

Poland/Greece U2 -124 risk 1.24

I wasnt really impressed byt watching Czechs in qualifying and this another team where the Czech punters dont seem to excited about their national teams chances here with this older team. The Czechs certainly have one of the best goalkeepers in Euro 2012 with Cech but I really dont see any other players that stand out to help Rosicky, who is coming off an injury, and I am really wondering where the goals are going to come from for the Czechs.

Russia has looked extremely strong and I thought they looked fantastic in the Italy match I watched, they have alot of top names from strong squad like Zenit and CSKA who have experience playing with each other. The Russians play an attacking type of football and should dominate possession here, I really like this russian team to win this weak group and the Russian side definitely seems the strongest play of the day.

Russia pk,-.5 +116 risk 2

These are the prices I am seeing for the futures out there now and the one s I have taking a punt on

Russia to win group A +151 risk 2

Germany to win group B +131 risk 2

Germany to win euro 2012 +344 risk 2

Spain to win euro 2012 +275 risk 1

Van Persie o1.5 -171 risk 1.71

Klose o1.5 goals +119 risk 1

Benzema o1.5 -157 risk 1.57

[crackerjack]

Nice write ups...thank you

[gregm]

Thanks cj. This poland game has been alot more interesting than I thought it would be. Great start for this tourney