EURO 2008 - Group Stage

The first round of the group stage is almost over and there were no big surprises until now. The matches in Groups A and B went as predicted and the BetUknow's community got it right. Group C, however, was a different story. France and Romania played out a boring draw which the community failed to predict. The community was also quite sure Italy and Netherlands will share the points, but Marco van Basten lads proved them all wrong.
Today, group D matches take place and the expectations are high. High-profile Spain meet Guus Hiddink's Russia and Sweden play European Champions Greece.
Russia lost Pogrebnyak due to a knee injury and Andrei Arshavin is suspended. This means the talented but unexpected Roman Pavlyuchenko will have to take their place. On the other side, Spain coach Luis Aragones have decided to play with Villa, leaving Cesc Fabregas on the bench. This increases the firepower of the Spaniards, but could cost them the midfield domination.
At the second match, European champions Greece eager to prove 2004 win wasn’t a fluke. Sweden will try to penetrate Greece's strong defense and the recalled Henrik Larson, alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic, will try to do just that. We should not forget that unlike 2004, Greece hold a very talented striking force, which scored 25 goals in their 12 qualifying group matches, so Sweden will have to make sure not to give the Greek strikers any openings.
Lars Lagerback said that "Each game is a cup final so you have to be careful". That was just before claiming he sees a lot of similarities between the teams…… are we about to be bored to death?!?
The community and all the top predictors believe Spain will win the match against Russia, while the second game will end in a draw. Only Greece top predictors think otherwise, and predict Greece to surprise yet again and take all three points. Maybe they are still dazed from 2004 triumph…..