Friday, November 11, 2011

Euro 2012 Playoffs

Enchanted Dream was a disappointing unplaced; reading her trainer's comments, she apparently did not take to the fibresand, but she did well on her last appearance on it. I think that she got outpaced and the 7 furlongs was a little on the sharp side for her. A longer distance would have suited her better.

In a few hours, the Euro 2012 playoffs will commence and I unreservedly think Portugal, Ireland and the Czechs are going to go through. No surprise there as they are favourites of their ties. As regards Turkey against Croatia, I think the underdogs Turks have a great chance to qualify; at this stage, mental toughness will shine through and the Turk national team certainly has the edge over the Croats in this regard. For value punters, Turkey is the one to look at, in my opinion, in these playoffs

Portugal should be able to overcome Bosnia over 2 legs. They not only can count on Christiano Ronaldo, but also a cast of other big-game players like Nani, Meireles etc. The Portuguese to qualify is the recommendation.

Ireland will not have a better chance to qualify as they play Estonia. Trappatoni is a master trainer who will get his tactics right; I hope the Irish go through because of the injustice suffered at the hands (no pun-intended!) of the Thierry Henry fraud in the World Cup 2010 playoffs. I think they will and recommend to qualify as well.

Finally, it looks to be close between the Czechs and Montenegro but the former boast a much richer pedigree in the competition. They are maybe slightly weaker than the Czech teams of a few years back, but still a formidable force to reckon with. I recommend the Peter Cech and his acolytes to go through.

To qualify: Ireland, Portugal, Czechoslovakia

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