It is time once again for a summer of football. 16 teams will contest a month of action packed football matches. The competition promises passionate victories, superb goals and upsets galore. In 2004 bookmakers would have taken a massive sting when Greece were crowned champions of Europe. With Europe's finest on show throughout who would have predicted that? With so many selections to choose from and important factors to take into consideration picking an outright tournament winner is not an easy task. Below is a detailed breakdown of the main tournament contenders and crucial information needed to help you make your pick.
The Champions of Euro 2008
This year there are 5 possible tournament winners.
France - Priced @ 9.6
The World Cup 2006 finalists will want to go one step further in this competition and avenge their World Cup final defeat to Italy. France is the highest priced pick for a number of reasons. Their pre tournament friendly's have been under par and lacked the passion. They are in the toughest of the 3 groups contesting against the likes of Italy and the Netherlands. France do have a wealth of players at their disposal including in form Frank Ribery. France will be looking for a performance from Thierry Henry if they are to progress to the knock out phase and this season at Barcelona has been nothing to go by. Patrick Vieira is out for the Romania game and will have to decide whether or not he plans to continue for the rest of the tournament. Expect a price crash if France can get through the group stages. Bet with a view to a trade.
Germany - Priced @ 5.0
Germany we feel undeservedly begin the competition as tournament favourites. We believe that they are strong contenders but should not be the favourites. Germany's side of youngsters looked exceptional at the World Cup with super pace, constantly picking off sides on the counter. Coach Joachim Löw has experimented with squads during the recent friendly's but it is believed that there will be few changes made to the side that featured in World Cup 2006. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski all feature. The German side looked like tournament winners in 06 but without home advantage on their side they will not be victorious in this competition.
Player to watch Michael Ballack.
Italy - Priced @ 7.8
The World Cup 2006 Champions are a good price @ 7.8. They have sustained a major blow however with the withdrawal of captain Fabio Cannavaro who damaged an ankle ligament during a training session. Roberto Donadoni has made a number of changes to the 2006 side. With the retirement of Alessandro Nesta and Francesco Totti many Italian players will be looking for their chance to shine. They are in the most difficult group locking horns with both France and the Netherlands. Italy are a good bet but it is doubtful they will hold both the World Cup and Euro titles at the same time.
Portugal - Priced @ 8.8
Portugal are the pick of the bunch at a great price of 8.8! The Portuguese were priced at 27/1 at the World Cup and were semi finalists. A hero's welcome was given to big Scolari's side as they landed in Switzerland. You would have thought that they had already won it! Portugal feature a star studded line up including this year's soon to be crowned 'FIFA World Player of the Year' (it will be a fix if not). We are of course talking about Christiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo is a completely different player to 2006 and after being this season's top scorer for Manchester United he will be looking to double up with the Golden Boot. A number of young players will be on show in this tournament all playing their hearts out for Scolari's vote. Nani being amongst them. With the Players, the Price and the mass support from the locals Portugal are a bargain at 8.8.
Spain - Priced @ 6.8
Spain are up there amongst the favourites mainly because of the stars amongst the side. Cesc Fabregas, David Villa, Fernando Torres, Carlos Puyol, Xabi Alonso, Xavi Hernandez to name a few. The downside to Spain is that they are bottlers and tend to choke in the latter stages of competitions. In their opening World Cup games they were on fire and it was goals galore during the group phase. As soon as they faced quality opposition they didn't look half as good submitting to France. Spain a good price @ 6.8 but definitely look to trade in the knock out rounds.
Soccer Engine UEFA Euro 2008 Tournament Winner Prediction - Portugal @ 8.8
