Ramblings from the week-end

Sitting pretty on Ireland and the Czechs as they are virtually through to the Finals after convincing wins in the first leg. Portugal was unable to strike in Bosnia, and although they are still the favourites, there is a risk that they could be outdone on away goals. Imagine Bosnia scoring the first goal and parking the bus... My opinion is that Portugal have enough quality and firepower to score a few against the Bosnians at home and are still the more likely to go through. It wouldn't hurt however to cover your positions if you're already loaded on them to qualify in case the visitors play for the away goals. After all, returns from the Ireland and Czechs qualifying should be more than enough to take a small cover on Portugal-Bosnia match.

A few tidbits from the sporting world over this past week-end. I was looking much forward to the return to the track of Overdose, the Budapest Bullet, in Italy. He duly won and beat Italy's best sprinter by half-a-length. Considering that he won this race by 10 lengths a couple of years back, before his feet problems, it can be strongly argued whether he's still at the peak of his powers. Being a 6-year old now definitely does not help. My assessment is that he's still a good sprinter and can win in lesser fields of Italy and Germany, but will find it very hard against proven sprinters in France, England and Hong Kong, where the connections are planning to race him next. We'll see if he can be better than what he showed on Sunday.

In football, England beat Spain in the international friendly. Whether they were dominated or not, a Win is a win, and a great moral boost for the hosts. No nation will beat Spain at the moment by matching their football. Even a great footballing side like the Netherlands had to resort to negative tactics in the World Cup final to try to break the rhythm of the Spanish team. It nearly worked for them. I think Saturday's win will have given the team belief that they can get a result against any team but they have to build on that result, or else they are bound to regress to the doldrums and remain a perennial disappointment.

In golf, could Tiger be on his way back? It certainly looks so after an encouraging third in the Australian Open. The guy's trying new things with a new caddie; it will take time for him to get back to his winning ways and dominance, but he'll win again for sure. Next year is definitely the year to start following him like at the start of this century.

England to go through

Never Perfect won, continuing the good racing streak.

On Friday, as I was mentioning a few posts back, I like England to go secure its qualification in Montenegro. Capello's men are certainly more relaxed on their road travels than at Wembley and the current team looks solid. The only negative is today's developments about Rooney's father and uncle being seriously accused of betting fraud. How that plays on the mind of England's best player remains to be seen. Their opponents look to be resting a few key players for their next and last game against Switzerland, so as to still keep their chances of progressing intact in case of defeat. After a dull draw at home in the first leg, England will not get a better chance to beat their surging opponents in Podgorica. England as draw-no-bet is the recommendation.

Draw-no-bet: England

Countdown

Not a week to crow about in terms of horse racing and football as we await the return of Frankel in the QE II Stakes and the Montenegro-England match for the European qualifiers on Friday.

Today got the news that Excelebration looks to take on Frankel again after being beaten twice by the superstar miler. In fact, these were his only 2 defeats this year. To me, the colt from the Botti stable is one of the 4 best milers in the world. He's very progressive and looks to be the main danger to Frankel, if ever there is one. I am not a fan of ante-post by any measure, but ante-post lovers must surely be having a strong Place consideration on Excelebration. He looks to be in the first 3, but won't beat Frankel.

I'm just hoping for a case of "no news, good news" from the England camp; i.e, they don't suffer any injury setback in the coming days for their match against Montenegro. If they go there injury-free, I have every reason to think that they will book their ticket to the finals by either winning or drawing. That's the way I'm aiming my big punt, so, just hoping for uneventful developments on that side.