Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:46 pm Post subject: France v Spain Quarter Final Bets
I couldn't believe France seemed to be so well tipped pre tournament by the pundits as their 'outsider', they have been a poor side for years and were lucky to escape from Group D. Spain haven't been brilliant so far but they have lucked out with the draw here and look a very good bet to win. Spain have scored a single goal in two of their matches so far and won most of their knockout matches at the World Cup 1-0 and that has to go down as by far the most likely correct score.
Spain and 1-0 for me.
Anyone think the world champions are heading out? Surely not after France's result against Sweden.
Anyone think the world champions are heading out? Surely not after France's result against Sweden.
Nope. I just can't see France scoring against them. Not unless they get a stroke of luck. Spain have also been pretty useless but they have still managed 6 goals in 3 games and also scored in all 3 matches. Both teams build up their play slowly, passing left-to-right etc and I don't think this is going to be a great game. Dominance will probably be overrun by Spain and like you say on paper we would expect a 1-0 Spain victory to see them in the Semi Finals. 0-0 though wouldn't be the biggest shocker. Not a blend of footballing styles that has me crying out to watch it.
Czech Republic vs Portugal though. Now that's my pick of the 3 QFs not involving England. Should be end-to-end at times and much more attacking. That's the one I want to be watching. Even if the Czechs go defensive Portgual have impressed me more than any other Team in attack so far. Blistering pace and a threat from set pieces.
Latest video preview for this match, don't forget if you are one of the first to put a tip on the match thread for the semi final or the final you have a great chance of having your tips featured in the videos for those matches.
There may be a shock in this one. France lost to Sweden 2-0 mainly because coach Laurent Blanc put in Nasri and Ben Arfa together in midfield slowing their game way too much to put the swedish defense out of position and not making anything of the ball. When he made changes by taking out Ben Arfa and putting in Menez (who scored in the game against Ukraine) France got a huge amount of chances to get back to 1-1.
Spain meanwhile have qualified for the quarter finals but were extremely lucky to do so. A penalty not given to the croates and an extraordinary Casillas saved Spain from the humiliation of having to take the plane back to their homeland at the end of the group stages and even coach Del Bosque in the interview after the game said "not that long ago, we'd have taken the plane back to Spain". The spanish have not been impressive and a lot of spanish journalists are extremely worried. Spain have the ball in average 70% of the time but don't do much with it. The longer this game stays 0-0 the bigger the chance the french have of scoring on the break as the croates almost did. In fact, Spain only won that one because the croates had to score as Italy were leading against Ireland.
France will play defensively as spain will have most of the ball but looking at how fast some of the french attack are in the likes of Benzema, Menez, Ribery and Valbuena, the spanish defense who I find are really slow could well have trouble handling these four on saturday.
Can see this ending in a France win at odds that are way too big considering how poor Spain have been since the start of the tournament.
im with pharlap on this one. the Spanish looked slow and weary in their last game. i think an early goal from france could suck the life out of spain.
if torres plays he will be lucky to get a touch let alone a goal!
will wait for the team news and take it from there. Vive la France! _________________ Never pay for tips, Why would you?.
just be cool, think about what your betting and be smart.
Ive just Backed Busquets first goal because alonso doesnt enter the box ,xavi pulls the strings outside but with his height Busquets often in the box for corners etc and seems to push on more than the other two and @33-1 thought wasnt a bad price
:x Alonso went in the box tonight though haha had to look twice i knew it was a midfielder hoping for Busquets
Last edited by chappy on Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:32 pm; edited 1 time in total
On the contrary to many on this thread so far i am with France for this. Without meaning to sound too silly I do not think France would have been overly bothered getting Spain at this stage. I know England had avoiding Spain as a top priority but feel France really and truely believe they can beat them.
Remarkably i imagine that Spain are more concerned with having to play France then the other way around They do not strike me as the sort of team that suffer from any sort of inferiority complex. They know they have the fire power to hurt the reigning champs and i agree with them. Spain do not seem to know what their strongest side would be and i feel that Del Bosques choice to play no recognised strikers against an historically successful side in Italy showed great arrogance and i have doubts whether they fully believe in their own style anymore.
Alot of Spains players have had to endure elimination from champs league etc playing the same style of football against poorer footballing sides and not been able to break them down before being hit on the counter by sides not technically as good or as talented going forward as France.
I appreciate the football spain play is beautiful at times and the patience shown is admirable but they seem to run out of ideas very quickly against determined dogged outfits. I reckon complacency will lead to their exit tonight as i don't think they've met a side as good going forward as France for quite a while now.
The flip side of the coin being that France do not turn up in which case all of this is nonsence but where some poeples opinons are born out the performance against Sweden on Tuesday, i will not be taking this into account as for my money this is irrelevant. France knew what was going on all of the time and the chance of them going out was very unlikely. Clearly, i am not saying they lost on purpose lol but more didn't put a proper shift in as it simply was not needed. France are a side that seem to play when it matters and have the ability to go up several gears if required. In my opinion they have been extremely undervalued for this match.
Obviously Spain being Spain, they could go on and absolutely smash the French tonight but taking all things into account ie a tastey looking price i will be firmly in the French camp.
I think its gonna be a blue weekend so have done France + Italy in a double
it seems the french have some "clear the air" talks as Sweden did before their french match.
i believe france will show us why people were tipping them before the start.
its no secret i hate the way Spain play and i'm hoping the french will show that pass, pass, pass etc is not the way. (do it if your 1-0 up with 5 mins to go, but not with 5 mins gone :x
Benzema, nasri and ribery are key tonight if they can get enough of the ball we will see the fragile Spanish defence crumble.
backing each of them to score first and anytime could be fruitful.
the french should get a few free-kicks around the box or even a penalty, due to the Spanish Defence being sluggish.
(who is the French penalty taker?)
as in the rugby world cup i expect the french to bring their "A" game when it matters
France to win by 2.... 2-0 or 3-1
C'MON FRANCE have a go!!! _________________ Never pay for tips, Why would you?.
just be cool, think about what your betting and be smart.
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Alonso went in the box tonight though haha had to look twice i knew it was a midfielder hoping for Busquets 
