Match 09 - Czech Republic v Portugal / Editor / 10 June 2008 / Leave a comment

If any teams don't need reminding that winning your first group game will ensure your place in the next round, it's these two. In Euro 2004, Portugal watched as Greece and Spain won their opening games in Group A but Spain failed to qualify on goal difference (and we know what happened to Greece).

Two years ago at the World Cup, the Czechs were impressive as they beat USA in their first match but then, after injuries to Jan Koller and Milan Baros, they slumped to defeat to Ghana and went home in third place.

The Czechs have no major injury concerns following their opening-match win over Switzerland, but there have been issues to occupy coach Karel Bruckner The five-man midfield battled hard against the hosts but clearly missed the creativity of injured captain Tomas Rosicky and the benched Marek Matejovsky.

The goal that substitute Vaclav Sverkos scored was their first and only shot on goal, and I was surprised to see neither David Jarolim, Jaroslav Plasil or the lively Libor Sionko try a shot from range. Has Sverkos done enough to earn a starting-place against Portugal? I doubt that Bruckner will want to be too offensive against the group favourites, knowing that a draw will leave their fate in their own hands in their final group game.

That's why the Czechs, for all their talk about a disappointing performance against the Swiss, are not expected to try anything too dissimilar against Portugal: a goalless draw will suit them fine but I'm not convinced that Petr Cech will be able to keep them at bay: the half-time/full-time market has the draw/Portugal result at [5.5], which I prefer to the Portugal/Portugal price of [3.3].

Cech is bound to be a key figure and his battle with Cristiano Ronaldo will be one of many interesting sub-plots to the game: Ronaldo had never scored against Cech until his header in the Champions League final but he then saw the Czech no.1 save his penalty in the shoot-out. Ronaldo's price to score in the game is around [2.2], but more attractive to me is [2.9] for central striker Nuno Gomes. The Portugal striker came close to becoming the first player to score in three consecutive European Championship finals, after hitting the post and crossbar against Turkey. There are concerns that he misses more chances than he scores, but he played well on Saturday and I fancy him to earn his place in the history-books.

There was some talk in the Portuguese press that Scolari¹s midfield was too offensive and against tougher opposition, will leave too many gaps behind them. Joao Moutinho was guilty of deserting his post and made some excellent runs beyond Deco to supplement the attack, which is why his price of around [8.8] is interesting. For the Czechs, Sverkos is around [4.0] to repeat his heroics, but I like Libor Sionko at [5.7], as he created some half-chances for himself against the Swiss.

As most of the games so far in the tournament have been close affairs, the Asian Handicap market is worth a look: but things to end to open up in the second round of matches, and the best Portugal -0.5 price of [1.9] might be tempting.

I would devote more attention to the bookings market, as Greek referee Kyros Vassaras is the man in charge. It is his first match in the competition and if previous form is anything to go by, he has been delayed for a reason: he is the most card-happy official in Austria and Switzerland. The only blemish on the Czechs' excellent disciplinary record in qualifying came in their home win over Ireland, when Vassaras showed nine yellows and one red card. I would normally suggest a lay in this market, but this Greek does not bear gifts ­ his card-count in Champions League games are a third higher than his colleagues ­ and so the best bet has to be to back the nine-points-and-above, even if it is at [1.35].

Tags: Cristiano Ronaldo, Czech Republic, Joao Moutinho, Libor Sionko, Nuno Gomes, Petr Cech, Portugal