Euro 2012 Day 13 tips: Ladies and gentlemen, Ronaldo has arrived

Ed Hawkins
21 June 2012

Ronaldo impressed against the Dutch

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Ed Hawkins looks to the Portugal playmaker to continue his good form against the Czechs.

"Ron could always launch one in from about 20 yards"

Back Ronaldo to score first at 5.004/1

Czech Republic v Portugal
To score
Ah, Ronaldo. So you've turned up I see. Did you get locked in at the tanning salon? No matter, all is forgiven. Your performance against the Netherlands will live long in the memory.

The two-goal hero against the Dutch is finally living up to expectations after a cumbersome start. He was not exactly shot-shy in matches against Germany and Denmark, merely off target. But he looks as though he has found his range.

Indeed, Graham Taylor, former England manager, said after the game: "You could almost say Ronaldo 2 Holland 1".

He is 2.1211/10 for a goal in this last-eight contest. This seems skinny but it should be noted the upturn in his fortunes. Ronaldo now tops Uefa's player rating index for the tournament, for example, and has had 13 efforts on target, three more than any other player. He has also had eight off target, the fourth highest.

Helder Postiga, Portugal's main striker, is 4.67/2, the dangerous Nani is 4.3100/30 and Bruno Alves, who always looks a threat at corners and free kicks, is 16.5.

The key men for the Czechs are the two wide players; Vaclav Pilar on the left and Petr Jiracek on the right. We have made money from Pilar already this tournament - he is 7.4013/2 for a goal - and although he remains a threat thanks to an impressive seven efforts on target, his team-mate has increasingly come to the fore.

Jiracek, who is priced around 8.5015/2, was superb against Poland as the Czechs topped the group. He made some fine solo runs and was a danger when he cut inside. Hopefully for his supporters he can be again, particularly if he comes up against Fabio Coentrao, who looks suspect when attackers run at him.

What will be key for Pilar and Jiracek backers, however, is the fitness of Tomas Rosicky, who is their supply line. The 31-year-old playmaker has been struggling with an inflamed Achilles tendon injury which kept him out of the final group match and saw him return to Prague for treatment.

First goalscorer
This column does not like betting odds as short as Ronaldo to score at any time so it makes sense to stick the neck on the block and hope he can bulge the net before any other at a more appealing 5.04/1.

Nani could be key to this. Increasingly he has got behind full-backs on the right and we saw this against the Dutch when he set up Ronaldo for the winner. Then again, Ron could always launch one in from about 20 yards.

Jiracek and Pilar are 20.0019/1 and 19.50 for the first goal respectively. They are big old prices and its difficult to ignore a saver on Jiracek, who is flavour of the month.