Euros preview: Saturday’s action including Turkey vs Portugal
Georgia vs Czech Republic
Both these sides gave decent accounts of themselves in their opening matches – but ultimately, ended up losing. Georgia went down 3-1 to Turkey, with the Czech Republic losing 2-1 to Portugal after a late, late Francisco Conceicao goal.
The Czechs must surely go for it here – but Georgia have proven they won’t go down without a fight. Still, Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick may be able to get off the mark here for the Czech Republic; back Schick to score at 15/8.
Turkey vs Portugal
Portugal weren’t entirely convincing in their opening match, even if they did eventually nab victory over the Czech Republic.
So it will be interesting to see how the side make out over Turkey; the Portuguese side is clearly one of the strongest in the competition, but already there has been talk about Cristiano Ronaldo’s presence in the team; specifically, whether it might be better if he was used more sparingly, perhaps starting on the bench.
Whether manager Roberto Martinez has the desire to potentially irk the 39-year-old is a different matter; in qualifying, Martinez was happy to use the former Man Utd star regularly, and in fairness Ronaldo was pretty useful in qualifying too.
In any case, whatever the line-up you’d expect Portugal to see off the Turks. After that unexpectedly tricky opener, there’s a chance Martinez’s side could score a few goals on Saturday. Portugal to win and over 2.5 goals is a 59/50 shot.
The favourites may not have everything their way of course. If he’s fit to play – he’s currently an injury doubt – perhaps it’s worth siding with Turkey’s Arda Guler to find the net again, as he did against Georgia. The young Real Madrid star is 5/1 to score…
Belgium vs Romania
After Romelu Lukaku’s double disallowed goal heartache in Belgium’s opening game against Slovakia, can Domenico Tedesco’s side shake off that setback with a win against group leaders Romania at the Cologne Stadium?
It seems fair to say that much went wrong for Belgium in their opener; similarly, it couldn’t have gone much better for Romania.
Edward Iordanescu’s side hit three fine goals past Ukraine without reply, despite the opposition having most of the ball – Romania had just 29% possession. But after two unexpected outcomes, will this match play out in more predictable fashion?
The Red Devils are big favourites to take the win. But Romania have already shown they can do a lot with a little; they’ll surely be happy to let Belgium have the ball for much of the game and wait for the right opportunity.
With Belgium feeling the pressure, it’s definitely worth taking a chance on Romania or the Draw in the Double Chance market at 13/8, then. But you could throw caution to the wind and just back Romania for the outright win at a tasty 23/4…
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