The Russians will try to keep their lead atop the group as they take on co-hosts Poland in the second round of group stage play. Find out which way we are laying our money in this matchup, and how much are we looking to make?
So much for the first few games of major international
competitions being boring.
The opening day of Euro 2012 brought with it a lot of drama
and intrigue as the Poles drew Greece 1-1, with the Russians looking most
deadly with a 4-1 thrashing of Czech Republic.
Now the two teams meet up and it's Russia that's favored in
the soccer odds.
Backed at +125 for the encounter, you have to like that type
of value after how good they looked against the Czechs. Meanwhile we find the
at-home Poles priced at +210, while a draw is posted at +225.
High-flying Russians
Russia looked good in the warmup matches leading up to Euro
2012 and has started off the competition with a bang.
A brace from Alan Dzagoev and additional goals from Roman
Shirokov and Roman Pavlyuchenko were all Russia needed as they linked up
flawlessly together with neat passing and creativity in attack.
The only real negative for the Russians was the performance
from Zenit St. Petersburg striker Alexander Kerzhakov, who wasted a lot of good
chances before getting substituted.
As for the Poles, they lost a 1-0 lead following Robert
Lewandowski's opening goal and it happened while they were down a man too.
Dimitrios Salpingidis came in and scored with one of his first touches of the
ball, and then the Greeks even had a chance to win it twenty minutes later with
a kick from the penalty spot.
Wojciech Szczesny, who we talked about in our Poland
preview, was in the headlines but for all the wrong reasons. He got red carded
after taking a Greek player down in the box. Consequently the Arsenal keeper
will miss this game against Poland, before being eligible to return again for
the last match against Czech Republic.
Luckily for the Poles, backup keeper Przemylaw Tyton came in
and promptly saved the penalty. In the end, it was the backup goalkeeper that
was the hero for the country of Poland.
Will it be two for two for Russia?
Do the Poles have it in them to beat the upstart Russians on
Tuesday, or will Russia pick up right where they left off with another
dominating showing?
With Dzagoev in lethal form and Andrei Arshavin looking
dangerous going forward as well, we really loved what the Russians brought to
the table in their opener. They put together some spectacular combinations and
were a constant threat.
However, the Czechs were truly poor in the back and the
Poles may prove much more difficult to get past, especially with the crowd
against them too.
That's not going to stop us from siding with Russia in this
one though.
Poland looked mighty shaky defensively in their first match
and that was up against a Greek team that lacks any significant attacking
guile. How on earth are they going to cope against a Russian side that had ten
shots on goal against the Czechs?
Look for Pavlyuchenko, Alexander Kokorin or even Pavel
Pogrebnyak to get the nod ahead of a disappointing Kerzhakov in this one, and
who knows how how much more dangerous that could make the Russians.
This Russia outfit had their coming out party back on Friday
and we believe this soccer betting value is too good to ignore.
We are adding the Russians at +125 for this group stage
match.
FREE Pick: Poland 1 Russia 3