elfinke's Tabulator for Euro 2004!
OK, I have reviewed the official odds available in real life, the squads mentioned over in the
other thread, and given due consideration to whom is managering who, and have come up with a simple list of odds from
elfinke's Tabulator©
Here they are, with some short reasons. Don't be offended as this is all in jest, 'cos I missed out on managing. I'm keen to ask pre and post match question of the managers too when the comp starts
GROUP A
Portugal - 8/1
(I'm not too familiar with the manager, but home team advantage cannot be overlooked. Plus, they have C. Ronaldo lol. player to watch: cristiano ronaldo, sure it'd be easy to mention figa or any of the porto players. but im not)
Greece - ?/1
(a solid manager, but without the squad being announced,
elfinke's Tabulator© could not give me an answer)
Spain - 6/1
(short, short odds. again, I am unsure about this managers credentials, but with a squad full of
La Liga superstars, these guys should go far. player to watch: fernando morientes, coming off the back end of a tremendous loan spell with monaco, he is the linchpin of the spaniards)
Russia - 500/1
(a topical manager, but with this very limited, relatively unknown squad, I can't seriously see them getting past group stage. player to watch: aleksandr mostovoi)
GROUP B <-not the group of death for me...
France - 5/1
(with a superstar manager of the highest credentials, and Thierry Henry coming ff the back of the greatest EPL season of his career, it is hard not tip this guys highly. but they are lacking in the GK department, and some questions can be asked of their defence at times. still, no.2 on the charts for now. player to watch: thierry henry. need i say more?)
England - 7/1
(a relatively new manager at the helm, with arguably the best midfield going around at his disposal. However, the defence will be sorely tested, and the depth of the frontline will be interesting. however, they should qualify past the group stage. player to watch: who else, but david beckham. if the english captain fires in midfield, then who says engalnd can't go all the way?)
Switzerland - 25/1
(unknown manager to me, and comparably lesser team compared tot he rest of the group. player to watch: fabio celestini)
Croatia - 16/1
(a real darkhorse of the tournament, with another great manager. if they can pull off a win against england, then expect to see the odds on these guys shorten over the course of this tournie. player to watch: dario simic, inspirational defender)
GROUP C
Sweden - 15/1
(a solid, experienced manager at the wheel, with lots of experience. however, an aging (!?) frontline, and lack of real depth in the squad should see this side through to the next stage of competition, but not far after that. player to watch: henrik larsson, the tremendously experienced celtic striker should be the leader for the swedes in this tournie)
Bulgaria - 1000/1
(despite having a knowledgable manager running this show, this bookie says that this group will prove too difficult for this team of virtually unknowns: player to watch: dimitar berbatov)
Denmark - 10/1
('ooooh' I hear you say at the short odds. despite denmakr not ever living up to their glory days of the past, they have a wonderful squad, with some big guns ready to deploy. and with a solid manager, albeit on debut, running them behind the scenes, denmakr are a threat not to be taken lightly in the group stages. player to watch: martin laursen, in PES2 he was the shiznit
)
Italy - 4/1
(not to place to much pressure on the manager here, but I wanted to cause a stir
! a worldy manager, an unbelievable squad, which has depth, experience and youth, with arguably the best defenders and goalkeepers getting around, this group shouold pose little challenge for the Forza Azzurri and they should cruise through. player to watch: anyone with a blue shirt on. seriously.)
GROUP D <-group of death for me
Czech Rep. - 9/1
(these guys are the real dark horse of the comp, along with the croats. another decent squad, with a tremendous midfield, with payers coming from all leagues across europe, only a fool would write the czechs off. however, this group will be very trying for them and their relatively inexperienced american manager. player to watch: pavel nedved, possibly player of tournament if the czechs can go far enough)
Latvia - 1000/1
(an unknown manager, an unknown squad. it would take nothing short of a miracle for this team to get more than a point from the group stage, let alone qualify. i am prepared to take my foot out of mouth should the manager be made of sterner stuff. player to watch: andrejs prohorenkovs)
Germany - 11/1
(the prodigal underachievers of world football, not including WC'02. they have a tremendous manager, and a world class squad. if it wasn't for the difficulty of this group, germany would have to be considered serious contenders for this tournament. but the strains of this demanding group may well dent any aspirations of going further than the quaters for the firey germans. questions over the GK's and striker partnerships. player to watch: jens nowotny, one of the finest defenders in the world right now.)
Netherlands - 12/1
(if the manager can pull his squad of squabblers together, and stop any infighting between them for 90 minutes at a time, these guys are a real threat any way you look at them. once again, a highly credentialed manager, with a tremendous squad. something to watch out for is shoud the manager pick all his Barca players from his squad, these odds will drop drastically. player to watch: rafael van der vaart, if the young fella works his voodoo from midfield for his country, then RvN et al will clean up any defence in the competitiion, except for perhaps france and italy)
these odds are subject to change without notice.
elfinke's Tabulator© is property of elfinke enterprises. odds will be updated based on squads named, and upcoming/past matches.
and as it would seem, the results of these upcomgin friendly matches...
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