International selections 12/10/02 - place your tips

[Guest South Manchester Latic]

Just browsing through the games this weekend, the two fixtures that stand out for me are: Sweden V's Hungary 2/5 a slight bit of an unknown quantity are the Hungarians, and this is their first qualifying game for Euro 2004. For me they've never set the world alight since the 50's (irrelevent maybe) and I don't think they've qualified for a major tournament in the last 20 years. I think in a group as this tough, with 3 fairly strong teams included, Sweden know they have to win against teams like this. They're usually strong qualifiers, and vary rarely drop points on their own patch - the reason on why they qualify regularly. I'll make sure though, to check up on the team news before I commit to the bet. Ukraine V's Greece 10/11 Fair enough, Greece proved to be a pain in the arse in England a year ago, but I cannot see them gaining anything from an uncomfortable trip to freezing-cold Ukraine. Greece have already suffered defeat at home to Spain so far, and if Ukraine get the early goal it'll send Greek heads down. Don't forget, when they played England a year ago, the pressure was all on England. It showed that day, and I feel that's the only way Greece can get results - when there's no pressure on them. Well, there is now. I also noticed that Ukraine's odds were the same as Iceland's to beat Scotland. I'd much rather put my money on the Ukranians rather than the unpredictable Icelanders against equally unpredictable Scotland. In a weekend full of silly-odds (Denmark 1/50!!), these ones are definitely the stand-outs for me.

[Guest Tonyvdb]

Re: International selections 12/10/02 - place your tips Ukraine are under pressure as well, if they wanna qualify this time, they'd better win this one (and they lost 0-1 against Iran two months ago) ... I don't touch this one.

[Guest South Manchester Latic]

Re: International selections 12/10/02 - place your tips I never go by 'friendly' games at all for form guides, purely competitive matches only as 'friendly' games are essentially experimental games with managers trying out different formations/whole team substitutions and the like. It's especially difficult with there not being many competitive games recently, and thanks for the info on Ukraine too Tony.

[Guest Tonyvdb]

Greece-Ukraine Good luck with it, I really don't know about this one (Greece won in Romania too that very day I remember)

[Guest Tonyvdb]

Ukraine - Greece Did a little research and found out that Ukraine won neither of their WC-home-games in the last campaign (lost against Poland, drew with Norway, Belarus and Wales) Just for information ...

[Footie Addict]

Selections I'll be backing Lithuania, Turkey, Sweden, Belarus, France, Czech Rep and Germany amongst others, but I think Lithuania 4/6 at home to the Faroes is probably the best vaule bet, followed closely by Turkey and Sweden wins.

[Guest Tonyvdb]

Re: Selections Mine : * Sweden-win double-doubled with Scotland X2 * Israël-win double-doubled with Bulgaria 1X * Lithuania-win double-doubled with Belarus 1X * double : Turkey and Spain-wins (Nordicbet-odds 1,95 !!!) * single : Belarus-win @ 2,50 (Ladbrokes) * single : Denmark Handicap -3 @ evens (Centrebet) * 2 singles (small stake) : Slovakia-win and Slovakia-X considering : Romania-win, Belgium-handicap-3, LatviaX2(crazy odds), GreeceX2 and Albania1X.

[Luso]

.. Some silly prices about for sure... France - Slovenia X2 looks very tempting. Slovenia won a friendly 1-0 at Italy not long ago and they are capable of grinding out a result in France. Their away form is very impressive too while France scraped past Cyprus in their last game. Italy - Yugoslavia X2 looks tempting here too. Not quite as scandalous as the Red Star price at Chievo last week, but Yugoslavia are still way overpriced for me... And what about an X2 on Luxembourg?? No seriously ;) Denmark could only beat Malta 2-1 in the WC qualifiers, thanks to a last minute goal in Copenhagen. Lux aren't as bad as they used to be so I think an X2 could be worth a try if your very very brave ;) Malta 1X as well ....didn't Malta almost hold England not long ago?? And as I just mentioned nearly held Denmark in Copenhagen so Irsael could be in for a tough game...

[Guest Tonyvdb]

Re: .. come on ... Luxemburg were crushed by Israël a few months ago 0-5 at home ...

[Guest Orfeuz]

initial thoughts Surely lads, I know you associate the name of Albania with anything but football but they nowadays play pretty nice football and most of if not all of them have also international experience playing in Italy, Croatia... Remember England there last time? Odds seem to me very attractive and I would give them at first hand more than 30% chance of winning the Swiss. You all know the miserable state of Scottish football and I do not want to repeat all of that - Iceland looks excellent value. Ones to avoid at first glimpse to me are Norway, Turkey, Ukraina.

[Guest Lardonio]

Luso Centrebet are offering 2,45 on Luxemburg with +3 goals (Luxemburg starting with 3 goals). I will be avoiding it myself but you were considering x2 so maybe this is a better suggestion.

[Guest Postman Pat]

Re: International selections 12/10/02 - place your tips Ok ............. Contrary to popular belief ..... this is my Saturday double Albania v Sweden (away win) 4/5 (bet 365).. Sweden should beat them after alot of huffing and puffing. Iceland v Scotland (away win) 11/5 (bet 365).. Scotland will try and bounce back. Yeah Scotland are no good but so are Iceland. Scotland should do it.

[Guest Accaman]

re Albania plays Switzerland, not Sweden.