bosnia

Portugal v Bosnia Herzegovina betting is not over by a long shot. Bosnia kept Portugal at bay in the opening fixture in Zenica and earned themselves a 0-0 draw to take back to Lisbon. So this fixture is very much still alive and it should be a fascinating climax. Portugal were led by Cristiano Ronaldo, who continues to look their best way to goal, but the Bosnian defence stood pretty firm and limited Portugal well. Portugal will have come away a bit frustrated, but knowing that they still have a lot of work to do in order to get through to next summer’s finals. Of the two sides, Portugal definitely had the better of things going forward, but Bosnia put on a good enough second half show to suggest that they are not going to go away quietly. Bosnia could well have taken a 1-0 lead but they missed a clear cut opportunity to take a massive advantage. But it is Portugal who will have the upper hand with being back at home in front of their own support. But they will have to be careful of Bosnia sneaking in and snatching an away goal. There should be plenty of life in this fixture, because Bosnia are a very organized and neat side and aren’t going to give things away too cheaply. Most of the initiative will come from the Portuguese of course and you expect them to have more chances up front, but they need more than Cristiano Ronaldo to stand up and take part. Things are going to be pretty evenly matched between these two on the pitch. Portugal are a bit of a negative, one dimensional side, and the longer the game goes on and Bosnia can keep them at bay, the more nervous and fragmented they will probably get. That could open the door, and Bosnia will threaten from set pieces as well, because the Portuguese defence is not water tight. This is the closest of the four second legs remaining to make it to Euro 2012 next summer. Don’t see a hatful of goals flying in with this match, and it could be a tight affair. There is good value in Bosnia sneaking a win, but would keep a close eye on Live in play Betting for this one for a deadlock breaker.

Portugal v Bosnia Herzegovina Betting
Portugal to win: 4/9 at BetFred
Draw: 3/1 at William Hill
Bosnia Herzegovina to win: 17/2 at VC Bet

You can watch a live stream of the Portugal v Bosnia match with online bookmaker Bet365. The highly rated bookie is bringing a full live football stream of this fascinating Euro 2012 play off match. Bet365 customers can get free live access to the big match, which is a tremendous service as you can get right up close to the action and that should influence your live in play betting positively. If you are not an account holder at Bet365, then signing up brings the reward of up to £200 in free bets! The bookie will mach the value of your first deposit on a new account, potentially giving you a huge amount of free betting cash to play with!

The Euro 2012 Play Off draw, with the ties to played on November 11/12 and the second legs on November 15, sees the last eight teams shooting for a place at next summer’s finals. Most of the excitement on the final night of Euro 2012 qualification was in Groups D and H, where France were trying to hold on to top spot against Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Portugal was trying to battle Denmark for that automatic place at next summer’s finals. So we know the identities of ten of the teams who will join the co hosts at Poland and Ukraine 2012 (nine group winners plus Sweden as the best runner up), and now the final eight have one last chance to book their place at the finals. There are strong teams left in here and there should be some very evenly matched contests. We have one home nation involved, with Giovanni Trapattoni trying to guide Ireland through to the finals, but having to contest against some poor major tournament play off history. Four places up for grabs, and the action will start up against on November 11th and 12th. Here is a look at the Euro 2012 play off draw and your early betting options.

Turkey v Croatia
Turkey did enough from Group A, finishing well behind Germany but holding on to second place. Croatia battled their way through from qualifying Group F, finishing two points behind Greece, with the Greeks squeezing out a 2-1 win in Georgia in their final game to book top spot. But Croatia were on a run of good form going into the final matches, and Turkey will need to take advantage of being at home in the first leg here.  There is good history here between these two, as Croatia were knocked out on penalties in the quarter finals of Euro 2008. Croatia coach Slaven Bilic has been eyeing revenge over the Turks for that, because Croatia had scored in the 119th minute, because Turkey replied right at the very death of extra time. Interestingly too, Turkey were Croatia’s first ever Euro 2012 opponents, after the Croats had made it to the finals for the first time in Euro 96. Croatia won 1-0. The two sides have met only four times in total, with one win each and two draws. Going to be a tough encounter for these two sides. Croatia probably just have a technical edge though.
Play Off Records: Croatia P2 W2, Turkey P4 W2 L2
Tip: Croatia to Qualify 4/6 at Bet365 (Turkey 11/10 at Bet365)

Estonia v Republic of Ireland
The Republic of Ireland secured their place at Euro 2012 with a 2-1 win over Armenia in their final match. That was the big crunch match on the final day, to see who would take second spot behind Russia in a very competitive group. Estonia pushed their way into the finals from Group C behind Italy, as Serbia failed to get the win they needed against Slovenia on the final day of qualifying matches, which sent Estonia (who had already completed their games) through. This is a massive chance for Estonia to reach their first ever major finals, and they have proved to be quite a handy side through qualification. Estonia pretty much got the play off draw that they wanted, eyeing up Ireland as the best chance that they would have to progress. Ireland was who Estonia coach Tarmo Ruutli wanted in the play offs, because they should be able to match styles with Ireland. Estonia play quite a fast paced, physical British style of the game, and therefore should fancy their chances. But Ireland, being one of the seeded teams have the advantage of playing away in the first leg. The goals dried up for Ireland in their group when they needed them the most, but fought their way to the play offs. However, the Irish do not have a great record in the play offs, but have beaten Estonia on their only two previous meetings. They were paired together for the 2002 World Cup Qualification, with Ireland winning both home and away. Only Shay Given, Richard Dunne, Damien Duff, Robbie Keane and Kevin Kilbane remain in the Irish set up since that last encounter with Estonia back in 2001. This has been quite an adventure for Estonia though, as they were on a five match losing streak earlier in the year (including a defeat against the Faroe Islands).
Play Off Records: Estonia P0, Republic of Ireland P5 W1 L4
Tip: Ireland to Qualify 4/9 at Stan James (Estonia 9/4 at Victor Chandler)

Czech Republic v Montenegro
Montenegro, thanks to a couple of draws against Group Winners England will contest their play off match against the Czech Republic. The Czech’s squeezed their way into the play offs behind Spain, but really made hard work of things. Therefore this should be an evenly contested match. Montenegro showed signs of maturing into a good international side with their performances against England, notably how they played at Wembley, but new coach Michal Bilek, who only took over for their final two Euro 2012 qualification matches, may be a bit worried about their lack of goals. That is something they need to work on. As for the Czech Republic, well they were shown up by Spain and Scotland really in their group, as the Czech won only half of their eight matches (including a home loss against Lithuania). They don’t look very strong at all at the moment, and if they had been in a more competitive group, you would have to believe that they could well have missed out. Really hard to pick a winner out of these two, neither have a lot of firepower and both have leaky defences. The two nations have never met before at the senior international level, so it will be interesting to see who draws first blood. Good chance for Montenegro to take what they would consider to be a big scalp though, especially with playing the second leg at home. The Czech’s do have experience of play offs, while this is the first time that Montenegro will face the high pressure.
Play Off Records: Montenegro P0, Czech Republic P2 W1 L1
Tip: Czech Republic To Qualify 4/7 at Paddy Power (Montenegro 7/4 at Victor Chandler)

Bosnia and Herzegovina v Portugal
The final night of Euro 2012 qualifiers threw up some great excitement, none least in Group D where France and Bosnia met in Paris in a shoot out for top spot. After Manchester City’s Edin Dzeko has put Bosnia ahead in Paris, France just managed to hang on to the top spot in the group thanks to a equaliser by Dzeko’s club team mate, Samir Nasri who fired home from the Penalty spot, just twelve minutes from time. So that sent Bosnia through to the play offs, but they were oh so close to getting an automatic spot. This is the fixture than is perhaps the most attractive of the four. Most of the teams in the draw wanted to avoid playing Portugal, but from Portugal’s point of view, they have gotten one of the toughest opponents. Portugal blew their chance of securing the automatic place at next year’s finals, as they went to Copenhagen for their final match of qualifying, level on points with Denmark. However, it was the strong looking Danes who ran out 2-1 winners in the decisive match of the group leaving Portugal level on points with Norway, but just taking the play off spot because of goal difference. This should be an epic encounter as Bosnia and Herzegovina look to book their place at their first major final since gaining their independence. This is where the history between these adds a little extra spice to this match. The closest Bosnia have come to a major final was the 2010 World Cup, but they lost in a play off there against, yes, Portugal. Bosnia will start at home, which may work against them, and they have suspensions at the back which won’t help. Portugal boss Paulo Bento still has a lot of work to do with his side, as they were favourites to win their qualifying group, but failed to do so, in what was an arduously competitive campaign. Portugal won both 2010 World Cup qualification play off matches against Bosnia 1-0. A mouth watering encounter here. Portugal aren’t the strongest side, and the technically strong and organised Bosnians will present a real challenge.
Play Offs Record: Bosnia and Herzegovina P1 L1, Portugal P1 W1
Tip: Portugal to Qualify 4/9 at Boylesports (Bosnia 2/1 at Bet365)

Qualified Teams for Euro 2012
Poland and Ukraine (hosts), Spain, Germany, Russia, Italy, France, Netherlands, Greece, England, Denmark, Sweden (as best runners up).

Euro 2012 Outright Winner Odds
Spain 5/2, Germany 4/1, Holland 56/1, England 10/1, France 12/1, Italy 11/1, Portugal 20/1, Russia 28/1 at Bet365

There will be plenty of nerves on display in Lisbon, Athens, Dublin and Moscow this coming Saturday, with eight teams battling it out for four World Cup places. These matches are sure to be popular as far as pre-match and In-Play betting is concerned, so we’ve taken a look at our favourite bookmakers to find some top promotions.

Over at bet365, they are running their usual Bore Draw Money Back offer, where correct score, HT / FT and Scorecast bets are refunded if a match finishes 0-0. We would say that these type of matches have a much stronger chance of finishing goalless, especially as the first leg games are bound to be tight and cagey. Teams will be afraid of conceding and you can bet that the likes of Bosnia and Slovenia will be setting up defensively against Portugal and Russia respectively.

Meanwhile, Paddy Power have come up with a typically crazy promotion for the Ireland v France match, which ties in with the X Factor! John and Edward are one of the favourites to be eliminated and, if they are evicted on Sunday, then your losing First Goalscorer, Correct Score and Scorecast bets will be refunded. The pair were close to being axed last week so this could be a popular promotion.

Meanwhile, although Ladbrokes don’t have any set promotions for the four matches, they are providing a unique type of bet. The Quatro enables to you to select a combination of the winning team and the amount of goals scored. For example, they offer odds of 2.50 that Ukraine win or draw in Greece PLUS there are two goals or less in the match. Similarly, Ladbrokes offer Goal Time Quatro, so for example you can back Republic of Ireland to score first PLUS the first goal being scored after the 27th minute. At odds of 4.00, it’s not a bad shout.

My personal hunch is that the matches are likely to be low-scoring. If you look at the previous first leg scores in the play-offs, there are often few goals involved and it could therefore be worth looking at the Under 2.5 Goals prices. Stan James are offering some great odds on this market, going best price for the Greece v Ukraine and the Ireland v France matches. Doing four lines of trebles on the quartet of games would return a profit if three involve two goals or less and the Bosnia manager has already stated his intention to pack out the midfield in Portugal.

Over at Unibet, they have priced up some goalscorer match bets, with Kevin Doyle being paired with Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane going head-to-head with Nicolas Anelka. Meanwhile, Canbet customers should be aware that you get a 10% bonus on any winnings from a multiple bet. Providing you include at least three selections and that your accumulator amounts to odds of at least 6.00, you can get 10% added to the pay-out.

Of course, all of the bookmakers we mention will be offering In-Play betting on the four World Cup qualifying matches, while bet365 will be streaming the games from Moscow, Lisbon and Athens so that you can watch and bet on the action!