Thursday Football Tips: Oberdorf a card contender

Germany v Austria
Thursday 21 July, 20:00
Live on BBC One

Backing cards in the Women's Euro hasn't been a particularly profitable pastime but there may be an angle for props players in Thursday night's quarter-final.

Young German star Lena Oberdorf is an all-action midfielder, one who has already found herself in trouble with the officials during this tournament.

She was carded in Germany's first two group games, meaning she missed the third, but she's expected to reclaim her spot in the starting XI here.

Oberdorf managed a whopping eight fouls in those two matches and following the completion of the group stage, no player had committed more.

Her two cards took her total for the national team to six in 20 competitive appearances which is a high ratio for the women's game. Filter things down and it's four in her last eight.

Such figures certainly make odds of 9/2 about her picking up another card in this game look big.

Of course, we also need to consider the referee in any such bet but that's not particularly bad news.

While the group stage's 24 games saw 48 yellow cards (and two red), Rebecca Welch produced three in each of her two appointments.

There's also the local rivalry factor to take into account - these two countries border each other and more than half the Austria squad play in Germany's Frauen-Bundesliga.

For me, there's clear potential for a few cards in this one - and hopefully one for Oberdorf.

It may also prove to be more competitive than the odds suggest - Germany are 1/4 to win in 90 minutes.

Austria have been one of the better defensively-organised sides in the tournament - after losing only 1-0 to England in the opening game, they kept clean sheets against Northern Ireland (2-0) and Norway (1-0) to progress.

Adding under 3.5 goals - something that's occurred in two of Germany's three matches so far - to the Oberdorf card bet creates a Bet Builder that pays just under 7/1.

It's a price which looks to offer some value.

Read Kevin Hatchard's in-depth preview of Germany v Austria