Euro 2012 11am Bulletin: Ronaldo and Casillas amongst best players

A day without football, what on earth did we all do with ourselves yesterday?

ITV4 were quick thinking, making a last minute decision to show a re-run of Paul Gascoigne's interview with Piers Morgan earlier this year, followed by One Night in Turin, a fascinating behind the scenes look at England's 1990 World Cup heroics, and in particular, Sir Bobby Robson's rise from a managerial flop to a national hero.

Roy Hodgson is far from a managerial flop, but his achievements in leading the Three Lions to top of Group D - under the circumstances outlined yesterday by James Pacheco - has drawn similarities between what Robson did then and what Hodgson is doing now. Long may it continue.

England are currently 10.09/1 joint fourth favourites with their quarter final opponents Italy to win Euro 2012, behind Germany (3.39/4), Spain (3.55/2) and Portugal (8.615/2).

For the most part of yesterday I tinkered with my Euro 2012 Dream Team, taking advantage of the transfer window to get rid of all my dead wood and instead bring in some players that are still in the tournament.

I immediately noticed that two of the tournament's leading goalscorers - Mario Mandzukic and Alan Dzagoev - have now gone home, leaving Germany's Mario Gomez as the only player still left at Euro 2012 on three goals. With Germany facing Greece at the quarter-final stage it's easy to see why Gomez is trading at just 2.6413/8 to be Top Goalscorer.

The only conceivable dangers I can see are the next two in the betting, Cristiano Ronaldo (5.14/1) and Fernando Torres (6.86/1), both of whom have two goals apiece.

Ronaldo rarely figured against Germany during Portugal's first game defeat but since then he has emerged as one of the tournament's best players - no real surprise given his stature in the game. True, he missed some glorious chances against Denmark but his performance was much improved from his first game, and he built on that against the Dutch, scoring two goals in a performance that earmarked Portugal as a real force in this tournament.

Portugal face the Czech Republic this evening, a side that has done magnificently since being thrashed 4-1 by Russia on the first night. Watch out for Vaclav Pilar and Petr Jiracek in that game, two of Euro 2012's best players so far, and both with two goals apiece.

Other players to catch the eye during the group stages have been the likes of England's Joleon Lescott who has looked solid alongside John Terry, Spanish keeper Iker Casillas who has surprisingly been called into action a lot more than expected, and Germany's Mezut Ozil, a focal part of everything good the Germans do.

As for the tournament's flops, well you could probably name all of the Dutch side, especially the likes of Wesley Sneijder and Ibrahim Afellay, but two players that have been particularly disappointing are England's Ashley Young and France striker Karim Benzema.

Young looked far better playing just behind the lone striker in England's two warm up games than he has on the left side of midfield but then that position has always been a curse for our national side. As for Benzema, he looks disinterested to me and a completely different player to the one that turns out for Real Madrid.

Just seven games remain at Euro 2012 and the possibility of seeing some penalty shoot-outs is a distinct possibility. I can see at least two of the quarter finals going the distance and if that's the case then fingers crossed for one more before the tournament concludes. Three Matches is available to back at 10.09/1 in the Penalty Shoot-Outs market and that's worth a small wager.

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