Euro 2012 - the odds are up!

Spain were immediately installed as favourites for Euro 2012 folliwing their 1-0 victory over Germany in the Euro 2008 final. The team that Aragones built are 6/1 to repeat the feat in four years time. England are 11/1. There are long long odds on many coutnries who will fancy their chances although Kazakhstan at  5000/1 are probably a bit too long a shot. 

You can get all the latest odds at BetClick. Plus there is a £10 free bet fro new members here.

Bet Spain at odds of    6.00      
 
Bet Germany at odds of    7.00      
 
Bet Italy at odds of    9.00      
 
Bet Holland at odds of   10.00      
 
Bet England  at odds of 11.00      
 
Bet Portugal  at odds of  11.00      
 
Bet France at oddds of    12.00      
 
Bet Russia  at odds of  15.00      
 
Bet Croatia at odds of    18.00      
 
Bet Poland at odds of    25.00      
 
Bet Ukraine at odds of   25.00      
 
Bet Czech Republic at odds of   30.00      
 
Bet Turkey at odds of   40.00      
 
Bet Romania at odds of    50.00      
 
Bet Sweden at odds of   50.00      
  
Bet Serbia at odds of   60.00      
 
Bet Greece at odds of    70.00      
 
Bet Denmark at odds of   80.00      
 
Bet Switzerland  at odds of 80.00      
 
Bet Bulgaria  at odds of 100.00      
 
Bet Ireland at odds of   125.00      
 
Bet Scotland  at odds of   125.00      
 
Bet Austria   at odds of 200.00      
 
Bet Belgium at odds of    200.00      
 
Bet Israel at odds of    200.00      
 
Bet Norway at odds of   200.00      
Bet Slovakia at odds of   200.00      
 
Bet Bosnia-Herzegovina at odds of  300.00      
 
Bet Slovenia  at odds of  300.00      
 
Bet Wales  at odds of  300.00      
 
Bet Finland  at odds of   500.00      
 
Bet Hungary at odds of    500.00      
 
Bet Belarus   at odds of 750.00      
 
Bet Latvia at odds of    750.00      
 
Bet Northern Ireland at oddds of  750.00      
 
Bet Lithuania at odds of   1000.00      
 
Bet Macedonia  at odds of  1000.00      
 
Bet Estonia at odds of   1500.00      
 
Bet Georgia  at odds of  1500.00      
 
Bet Albania   at odds of  2000.00      
 
Bet Cyprus  at odds of  2500.00      
 
Bet Iceland  at odds of  2500.00      
 
Bet Montenegro  at odds of 2500.00      
 
Bet Armenia  at odds of  3000.00      
 
Bet Azerbaijan at odds of    3000.00      
 
Bet Moldova  at odds of  3000.00      
 
Bet Kazakhstan  at odds of   5000.00      
  

Uefa 2008 - game that changed European football

This was the moment that Real Madrid and Holland’s Wesley Sneijder finished off the perfect team goal that had flashed from a goal line clearance at one end to the Italian net at the other in less than 15 seconds and made it 2-0.

The politics of European soccer changed. A seismic shift in the tectonic plates of the beautiful game. And the Italian house came down. After decades of catenaccio, strong arm defence, niggling, nasty midfield, histrionic gamesmanship, sharp incisive striking, the Dutch showed there is another way to play. To play and to win. This was the first Dutch victory over Italy since the 1978 World Cup.

The Dutch express of the early 90s was derailed at Wembley by Terry Venables England at Euro 1996 - 12 years and 10 days ago - with four goals two from Alan Shearer and two from Teddy Sheringham. Last night was the renaissance. After more than a decade of paranoia, schizophrenia, introspection, valium, Proxac and other nuerosis like fear of flying, a Dutch side emerged from its cocoon to show why they are one of the spiritual fathers of world soccer. Like the Brazilians, they bring another dimension to the modern game. Even if beating Italy was a one – off, they left their mark. Dutch football was here on June 9, 2008. Enjoy.

They were lucky. The Italians were unlucky. After so many offsides that have been down to the width of an elbow, a toe, a lock of hair, Ruud Van Nistelrooy was offside by an avenue, a motorway, the Atlantic ocean of space. As the Daily Telegraph put it, he was almost in Austria. But the flag stayed down. The goal stood. Apparently the fact that Christian Panucci was comatose knocked off the pitch by his own goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon meant Fifa regulation 11, sub-clause 11 passed apparently mysteriously five years ago, says he was played onside. This must be the first time such a rule was actually enmforced. Throughout, the Swedish referee Peter Fröjdfeldt, was supremely lenient and let the game flow to increasing Italian chagrin in the second half. Sweet revenge for all those teams over the years that have suffered from over zealous refereeing as the Italians strove to break up a game.

The victory was no more than the Dutch deserved after rolling the Italians back, like so much bedding back on themselves And for once the Italians to whom playing from the back was never an issue, were undone.

In a sense the mood of the match surrounded the superbly fit RuudVan Nistelrooy. In the 18th minute he burst through, caught his foot on the diving Buffoon but instead of falling as he might have done in the old days at Old Trafford he struggled gainfully for his footing and caught the ball on the byline but missed the chance of a penalty or an open goal. After the second goal, he could have had another bursting past the muscle of Marco Materazzi but only to shoot at Buffoon who saved it with an ankle.

And then there were two goals of sublime team play. Both came from goal line clearances. Giovanni van Bronckhorst, saved at one end, sprinted the length of the field crossed to the dynamic Dirk Kuyt who sent an angled ball in for an inspired conversion by an on rushing Wesley Sneijder. The second came after Edwin Van De Saar had saved brilliantly from a 30 yard free kick by Andrea Pirlo. The ball spiralled in the air was booted clear to another orange shirt. Again Van Bronckhorst was quickest up the field and set up Kuyt, who was denied by Buffon, but recovered, and chipped across the box, where it was headed in by Van Bronckhorst.

This is not strictly a team like those of Johan Cryuff or Ruud Gullit of the days of total football. It was a team in almost a mirror inversion of the Jose Mourinho Chelsea. Where Mourinho with his defensive mind set stuffed the midfield and moved forward like a tank with midfield runners and flying wingers and the brute brilliance of Drogba, here Van Basten had only two in the midfield, Nigel de Jong and the massive Orlando Engelaar holding the play, breaking it up and bringing everyone else into the game. It was a 4-2-3-1 formation. When the Dutch broke they did not attack down one side of the field, but both sides at once. They crossed from one side of the pitch to the other for both goals while running the length of it and could have come in from either side.

It was some stuff. And they ran. My did they run. By the end they had run Italy ragged despite the subtle beautiful threat posed by the substitute Del Piero towards the end. But even then players like Boulhrarouz who had looked clodden and out of his depth in the Premiership filled in at the right back slot which has become such a strange poisoned chalice at Chelsea and played with the heart of a lion or like a boulder rolled into the doorway of the defence. There was another ex-Chelsea right back on display in Panucci who again looked another class to his days at Stamford Bridge, except when he went missing for the offside goal.

And Italy were unlucky, not just for the first goal but on another day they might have scored but even if the result had been 3-3 it would not have altered the reality that here was a team capable and willing to depose the champions. Italy were good which makes the victory all the more important. Compared to the vapid French a few hours ealier Italy had tenacity, flying full backs that ran to the byline, they had in Luca Toni a big centre forward in Drogba fashion who was always going to be troublesome. The obituaries on them can wait. At 10/1 they are not a bad bet to still win the championship, especially after such a rude wake up call. If they have the legs in this ageing team, they probably have the nous and the acumen.

And then there were the fans too. Two thirds of the stadium ws orange. The Dutch were dressed in wigs and painted faces so much so the authorities had issued a warning about smoking (and this the Eurioopean country that discovered and introduced tobacco in the 1600s). They were there because they wanted to see it. They saw it. They sang: Always Look On the Bright Side Of Life.

Euro 2008 - winners homecoming

All the Spanish papers carried the story of the homecoming on page one.  El Mundo pictured the open top bus and dozens of Spanish flags in the Paseo de la Castellana.The paper notes that the players dedicated the triumph to the out-going manager, Luis Aragonés, and that he, emotionally said that ‘I have the best team in the world’. El País has the caption ‘Spain acclaims her heroes’. ABC says that all Spain vibrates with her team, and says that a human sea celebrated the historic European championship triumph in Madrid.

Euro 2008 final aftermath - 69 year old gets the bumps

He dedicated the victory to his team. They dediated the victory to him. Luis Aragones built a special bond with his players. Controversial, cantankerous he may seem from the outside but a patriot in that he supported Spanish football and La Liga by only chosing two non-Spanish based players in Fernando Torres and the irrepressible Cesc Fabregas. The result was victory in the Uefa 2008 Final, a meagre 1-0 hardly reflecting a score that might have been in double figures.

Euro 2008 - the defining moment, that Torres goal

The quick feet of Fernando Torres, the sprawl of Jans Lehmann, the balls hurtling to the net and Euro 2008 came to a heroic, climax. Spain 1. Germany 0. Euro 2008 was won by this moment of brilliance and quite a few others that might have been, all Spanish. Spain were about flair, panache, speed, Germany were a spent force, their defence as rigid as a forest through which the young toreadors nipped quickly round and around. By the end Germany were exhausted and for all the hype were shown to be an ordinary side that had been beaten by Croatia, only pipped the 80/1 outsiders hosts Austria 1-0, got lucky against Portugal and more so against Turkey. Forty-four years after Spain last won this competition, Torres’ goal defined  the new champions of Europe and their formidable attacking football. Hola Holay.

Euro 2008 final - high fives for Spain

 Ernst Happel Stadium, Vienna: Iker Casillas celebrates with Carlos Marchena at the final whistle of Uefa 2008 after 30 years of promise Spain final;ly deliver in style and grace their neat triangles of quick passing. Holay. Holay. Holay

Euro 2008 final - Torres, king of Europe

Fernando Torres caps a fantastic tournament with the Cup on his head - the cup was redesigned this year to make it bigger, two kilos heavier and be more competition for the Jules Rimet worlcd trophy. On my head Fernando, on my head!!