Back France Sounds daft but I think they could sneak past the Italians and then battle their way through to the final. The Dutch have looked awesome, but I'd like to see how they react if they fall a goal behind to anyone.
RE: Back France Van Basten will rest many of his first choice players, as is his right, having already won the group. Romania, who let's face it, were pretty tasty against the Italians, will turn them over and it's a win-win double for the Dutch. Fresh players for the quarters and France & Italy out of the equation.
The Dutch have looked poor at the back for me Excellent going forward but a bit dodgy at the back. I noticed that against france they were just hitting and hoping the ball out of defence and it was often coming straight back at them because the clearances weren't upto standard.
Like I said, theyre excellent going forward. But look at it the other way, they've managed a clean sheet in 50% of matches so far.
Yeah I know, I couldn't think of a way to word that that didn't sound overly critical. Basically in the two games they played they only kept a clean sheet in one and let's face it, they haven't played anyone decent yet have they (yes you might say that france are good but they've been crap so far), I would think that an all round excellent team would go through the group stages without conceding.
The Dutch second string aren't too bad though Look at the players Van Basten brought on in the second half, spoilt with luxuries in an attacking sense. Originally I thought the same as you, but the Dutch finally seem to have built up a team spirit and I think the second string would seize their chance in order to be considered for the knockout phase should anyone pick up two bookings. I also think the French boss will be forced into a few changes for the Italy game, dropping some of the old guard, potentially giving the opportunity for some new faces to shine. When you're hand is forced it sometimes works out for the better. 28/1 is definately worth an each way bet, all they have to do is beat Italy then it's a lottery in the knockouts, look at Greece last year.
