Euro 2008 8 Sept

The weekend fixtures have hardly got me salivating to have a bet but there are at least a couple of wagers worth having.

The first is to take Israel with a 1 ¼ goal start at Wembley against England. I just can’t have England because they have a poor manager, are out of form and have tons of injuries. They played reasonably well in attack in their friendly game against Germany but were woeful in defence and clearly have not yet got used to playing at Wembley. Israel are no mugs and held England 0-0 in the reverse fixture and the handicap is just too high in my opinion. Israel (+1 ¼) at 1.93 are worth a one point bet.

[England won 3-0]

The second bet is to take Romania at 1.60 to beat Belarus. The Romanians are a massively underestimated team and are also good travellers while Belarus are only average. Romania should be a bit shorter in my opinion and a two point bet on them at 1.60 should pay dividends.

[Romaina won 3-1]

As for the friendlies, there is a good reason most bookmakers are not betting on them. They almost all look like exhibition games and with the exception of the USA, who plan to put out a full strength side against Brazil, the team news is almost impossible to predict.