One team has just played Holland off the park, the other played out a goalless draw with Italy. However, the bookmakers are universal in making Spain the 11/10 favourites (VC Bet) to beat Russia in ninety minutes and book their place in the Euro 2008 final.
While it’s true that Luis Aragones’ men made short work of the same opponents during the group stages, beating them 4-1, it will be a very different proposition for them on Thursday night. They’ll now face a team who have played the best football of the tournament since that opening game humiliation, and PinnacleSports 27/10 about them winning in normal time might be gobbled up before the match kicks off, especially if the firm have any decent punters as customers.
My only qualm with lumping on Guus Hiddink’s team is that they seem to require a handful of clear goalscoring opportunities before scoring. Chance after chance went begging before Roman Pavlyuchenko drew first blood against the Dutch, and the striker is 15/2 (Boylesports) to open the scoring for the third successive match. Quite how Holland managed to be level with their opponents by the final whistle was anybody’s guess, although many might fancy the draw at 12/5 (Stan James), considering what’s at stake.
There’s no doubt that Spain’s danger man is David Villa, especially if he insists on taking every free-kick as he did against Italy. The Valencia forward is 5/1 (bet365) to open the scoring and supplement his position as Euro 2008’s Top Goalscorer. He’s also 7/5 (bet365) to score at any time, while you can get 6/4 (Boylesports) about Liverpool striker Fernando Torres doing the same. It’s certain that the pair will test a slightly brittle Russian rearguard, who will hope that Andrei Arshavin can get on the ball and weave his magic.
The Zenit midfielder has been the talk of the town since Saturday night and he’s a 7/2 chance (Paddy Power) to score for the third successive match. This is the player that Spain will have to stop if they are to have any chance of progressing. Personally, I’m going for correct score bets of 2-1 (12/1 SportingBet) and 3-1 (30/1 SportingBet) in the Russians favour, although Spain can be backed to win 2-1 at 8/1 ( SportingBet). The 7/1 (bet365) about Andrei Arshavin getting man of the match might also be worth a small punt after two outstanding displays.