AUSTRIA vs CROATIA (EURO 2008)

<4.45> <3.35> <1.65>

croatia head into this match knowing anything less than a win would be a minor disaster for them. austria are touted as the whipping boys of euro 2008, but it's still the opening match only, and they have home advantage. besides, austria do have enough quality to take advantage of any defensive slip-ups with roland linz a rather useful poacher, and ivanschitz ready to supply the ammunition. however, i still expect that croatia should have enough attacking prowess to really trouble austria, so it's a croatian win for me.

- Eddy's predictions: $5 on croatia @ 1.65 = $8.25
$5 on croatia A-A @ 2.90 = $14.50
$5 on croatia D-A @ 4.50 = $22.50

Austria are the tournament's weakest side. Seriously, their FIFA ranking of 92 is below those of Mozambique and Guatemala, both footballing powerhouses. Honestly, the only reason why they're in this tournament is because they are co-hosts. I won't claim to know a lot of their team - I only know of Roland Linz, Gyorgy Garics, Martin Stranzl and Emanuel Pogatetz - but I know that Croatia have a side to be reckoned with. Being one of the dark horses in this tournament, Croatia have a skilled side even without top scorer Eduardo da Silva. Highly rated dup Luka Modric and Niko Kranjcar will be marauding down the flanks, feeding workhorse striker Olic (who scored the second goal that knocked out England and was named MOM) and will seriously trouble the Austrian defence. The only thing going for Austria is that they have the home team advantage which, as we saw yesterday, did not give Switzerland the win.

- Roland's prediction: $10 on Croatia @ 1.65 = $16.50
$5 on croatia A-A @ 2.90 = $14.50
$5 on croatia D-A @ 4.50 = $22.50