Premier League | Transfer Rumour | Daniele de Rossi

Daniele de Rossi, who signed a five year contract with his club, Roma, has made a minor attempt to place some cats in amongst the pigeons by saying;

"I have received many offers from English football. And I must say that I feel attraction for it. 

I like English football very much. I think now it's probably more interesting than Italian football.

 There are lots of outstanding and talented players, as is the case for Spain as well."

 Does he want a move already, or merely creating a bit of mischief?  Perhaps he expected to be playing France in the quarter-finals, and has just seen the pound signs (or Euro signs) flashing before his eyes.

Euro 2012 | Spain v Croatia | Italy v Ireland | Betting Tip

Spain v Croatia (The "Biscotti" Game).

You may wonder what the above refers to.  In Italian horse racing, when a horse is doped to lose a race, the doping agent is given to the horse on a biscuit, or biscotti in Italian.

Your now wondering what horse doping has to do with Spain v Croatia.  It so happens that should Spain and Croatia draw 2-2, then they go through together irrespective of the result in the other match.

Assuming that there is no collusion, and for the good of the game, let us hope that the final score is not 2-2.  Croatia will need to win this match (or draw 2-2 or higher score draw) to go through without depending on Ireland to do well against Italy.  Spain need a draw to qualify, or a win to ensure first place.

Neither team has reported any injury concerns.

Betting Tip

[The following tip is for fun only.  Gamble responsibly (if at all) and only gamble money you can afford to lose.]


As Croatia need at least a goal to ensure qualification, this game will in all likelihood be open, which will suit Spain, so I would go for Over 2.5 Goals at 1.75 (8/11) at Betfair.  As a matter of interest, Correct Score 2-2 is ridiculously short at 12.5 (11/1), which I would avoid.

Italy v Ireland.

Ireland will want to get at least a goal here, if only to match the Netherlands dismal performance at this tournament.  It is also Damien Duff's 100th appearance.  If Ireland can avoid their now traditional early goal, then who knows what will happen.

The only injury concern is Balotelli, who has a knee injury and may be rested.

Betting Tip

[The following tip is for fun only.  Gamble responsibly (if at all) and only gamble money you can afford to lose.]


I can only see an Italy win here at 1.43 (4/9), which doesn't seem to offer much value.  An alternative market is Over 2.5 Goals at 1.84 (5/6) at Betfair.

Euro 2012 | This much we know | 2nd Round Summary

Group A

Russia are the only team in this group to have a positive goal difference, which is a fair refection of their dominance so far.  They have to play Greece, who have been woeful in their two games thus far, and who are not going to qualify.

The czech Republic and Poland play each other, and Poland need to win this match, or else the Czech Republic and Russia will go into the quarter finals.

Group B

The so-called "group of death" has seen the death of the Netherlands.  Their shock defeat, caused entirely by profligacy of their strikers (they have had 46 goal attempts producing 1 goal over 2 games).  This has left Germany leading this group.

Germany play Denmark next, in a game which Denmark must obtain a result better than Portugal, and Portugal play the Netherlands. As these matches are played concurrently, Germany must also get at least a point from this game.

Group C

Spain are, as expected, top of this group.  The surprise is that Croatia are second, thanks to an unexpected draw with Italy and a defeat of Ireland.

By a mathematical quirk, if Spain and Croatia manage to score a 2-2 draw (or any higher score draw) then the Italians match with Ireland will be a dead rubber.

On the assumption that Italy beat Ireland, they will qualify if Spain or Croatia win.  So the chances are that Italy and Spain will qualify from this group.

Group D

The next matches in Group D will show us how good England are compared to the others in the group.  England have to play Ukraine, for whom it will be a home match.  England will need to ensure that they get a point at the very least.  If England lose, they will need to hope that France lose also.

Euro 2012 | Croatia v Italy Preview | Betting Tip

Italy had a well-deserved draw against Spain in their first match and will be looking forward to a hard fought win against a Croatia who come from a relatively easy win against an out-of-sorts Ireland.

Italy have no new injury worries, and Prandelli will need to decide between starting with Balotelli, who gave an unimpressive performance against Spain.  The obvious alternative is to promote Di Natale from the bench.  Croatia looked weak at set-pieces, and Italy will hope to test them as often as possible.

Croatia may consider themselves lucky that Shay Given, the Irish keeper, had an off day in their last match, and with a fully fit squad, may like to pit two strikers against an Italy defence which many suspect is susceptible to crosses and corners.


Betting Tip


[The following tip is for fun only.  Gamble responsibly (if at all) and only gamble money you can afford to lose.]


This is a difficult game to call.  So, being conservative, I would plump for Italy win or draw available at Bet365 for 1.33 (30/100).

Spanish Press Reaction

The press and media in Spain are generally as jingoistic as those in any other country; especially so now that they have a world-beating football team.

AS, the sports paper whose editor famously said: "We are handsome, Spanish, Catholic, and we support Real Madrid."  So you know what you are going to get. leads with;

[A tie between two greats.  The Italy game surprised Spain who are still in the running.  Cesc Fábregas equalised after a goal by Di Natale.  Fernando Torres held the win in his boots.]

Which I agree with, apart maybe from the surprised bit.  That Italy were a good team who had the ability to frustrate Spain shouldn't have surprised too many.

El País led with.

[Spain hasn't been matched. The team equalised a goal by a good Italy (1-1) and lost its way to victory thanks to the mistake of Torres.

Game Preview: Spain v Italy

Spain are the bookies' favourites for both the competition and this match; Betfair have Spain at 1.8 (4/5).  Neither team have lost a match in the qualifiers, and they both scored more than 2 goals per match.  The only fly in Spain's ointment being he loss of their striker of choice, David Villa.

One tactical move to look for in the match can be gleaned in this quote from Prandelli:

"De Rossi is totally convinced about his ability to play centre-back," Prandelli said. "He has played there for Roma and if he had to play in this position he won't simply be a defender but a defensive midfielder. We want to use him in this position because during the match we could make tactical changes.

Italy can therefore be expected to flood the midfield to prevent Spain from playing.  As this will probably be Italy's most difficult match, I have a suspicion that it could be a low scoring affair.  Italy will be looking to get the ball to Pirlo and then on to whoever is chosen up front.  Balotelli anyone?

Injuries and Suspensions

Italy have Andrea Barzagli unavailable (he may be replaced in the squad).

Spain have no injury concerns