Originally Posted by
Honeybadger44
Didn't find any good value in these lines, but here are my thoughts.
From group C, I have Colombia and Japan proceeding to the next phase, so obviously, I like them today as well.
Colombia will miss Falcao for sure, but they have 4 great strikers, behind him on depth chart (Bacca from Sevilla, Ramos from Hertha, Martinez from Porto and Guttierez from River Plate). Of course, they are not like Falcao, but still very good. Also in other positions, their team looks pretty strong, especially on the flanks with Armero and Rodriguez on on side and Zuniga and Cuadrado on the other side. That is why I am leaning their side, but I am not too thrilled about the odds. Greece play super boring football, but very disciplined at the same time. I don't like their football very much, and from what I was reading, their midfield is not that great in destructing opponents game, like it was, back in the days. That is important information, because that is huge part of their game. Mitroglu was great in Olympiacos, but since he trasfered to Fulham, he only played like 2-3 games there. And he is their starting striker. Also, don't know if Samaras can play at his best on the wing. We will see. As I said, lean toward Colombia, but not great value in the odds.
I like your thinking about Uruguay game. Suarez is out. They have a good team, but I feel they are bit overhyped, because of Cavani-Suarez duo up front. Costa Rica will obviously have very defensive minded approach and that 1H draw, does not seem like a bad option.
Italy-England is a big question mark. I don't like England's predicted starting line up. Just don't trust Henderson in the centre of the midfield, while Welbeck on the wing is not a great idea as well, imho. I can see Italy dominating the midfield in the first half with Pirlo, De Rosi and Veratti. Probably scoring an opening goal. And then England will probably rely on their young guns from the bench, like Sterling and Barkley, adding some flair to their game in second half, scoring an equalizer.
Ivory Coast-Japan. As I said, I like Japan. They always had the tactical discipline in the game and played like a team. I think that at the moment, they finaly have some individual quiality as well, to get through to the next phase.
Ivory coast has few big names on their team. But I saw few of their friendly games. Their defense was hilarious against Bosnia, few days ago. Midfielders not being careful with the ball in that dangerous area, 35 meters, in front of their goal. Defenders bmping into each other, when trying to make a play... Kolo Toure was once a very good player. But at the moment, I don't trust him, comanding their defensive line. Up front, they are loaded with talent, but if they will fail to back it up with some team play, Japanese will upset them. Good luck!
) put on this usually old-hat discussion...first he stirred up some sport-specific knowledge shit with his clearly-fringe evaluation of Fed...then, he put on a clever "how I'd TRY to exploit the proposition that your strong disagreement with me is both common-enough and just outdated-enough to create an exploitable dog-ear that I'm contrarian-enough to not just think about putting money on...but will"...so there
