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FootBall
Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been giving mixed messages over his future at the north London club, but bookies are not taking any chances over his hopes of winning the Golden Boot for the 2008/2009 season.
The Togalese striker is just 7-2 with some firms to finish as the Premier League"s top marksman after he told a press conference: “I"m staying at Arsenal.” However, he then said in an interview with Sky Sports News that his future will be decided by the end of next week.
“I have three-year contract with Arsenal but I have a lot of clubs interested in me,” he said.
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Euro Championship
What a Euro Championships it has been. The best tournament since Italia "90 some say. Villa is our Schillaci, Arshavin our Gazza and, as per, the Germans are in the final. Magicians call it The Distraction and rumours have it that this is happening at the Euros. All the chat is about Ronaldo to Real and Arshavin to Barcelona when the reality is that Cesc Fabregas is not only making a late run for the "Player of the Tournament" award but also that football agents are circling to prize him away from Arsenal. Arshavin is 27 years old, temperamental and expensive whereas the Arsenal supremo is 21, permanently exceptional and could make Peter Beardsley look a prima donna. Homesickness is still relevant as his momia regularly flies over to cook her special paella, and there is no chance Arsenal can match a Barcelona or Real Madrid wage packet.
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Euro 2008 - Croatia
Euro 2008 - Croatia
Slaven Bilic has done an exceedingly good job with Croatia. A sign of a great manager is the ability to utilise what you"ve got and he does that unbelievably well with his team. He"s a great tactician and he gets the players playing for him. And they"ve had great support from their fans in Austria.
At the start of the tournament Croatia were dangerous outsiders but many shrewdies reckon they"ve now got a good chance of winning it.
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Football - Euro 2008
Germany have regained favouritism for Euro 2008 after booking their place in the semi-finals. The Germans became the first team through to the last four after beating Portugal 3-2 in an enthralling contest in Basel.Goals from Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack did the damage although Portugal made them sweat after twice closing two-goal leads to just one with strikes by Nuno Gomes and Helder Postiga.But it means, having lost favouritism to Holland and Spain, Germany head the market once again with bookies making Joachim Low"s men 5/2 favouites.
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FootBall - Betting
Germany were ante-post favourites for Euro 2008, but they will be out of the competition if they lose to Austria in Vienna tonight. Manager Joachim Low is still talking a good game before a match his side dare not lose and bookmakers agree Germany should still reach the knockout stages – they are 1/14 to qualify.“There can be only one winner and that will be Germany,” said general team manager Oliver Bierhoff, who scored the winning goal in the Euro 1996 final. However, Austria have shown great fight and determination and manager Josef Hickersberger wants his team to raise their game even higher tonight. He said: “It is the biggest game of my life and it will be the biggest game forever if we win.”
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Golf - Bet
Woods played the US Open course last week and used a buggy between holes but there were reports suggesting there was a discernible limp. Some punters might think that even at a best-priced 7/2 he rates a value bet, but there are just too many question marks hanging over him at present. Phil Mickelson is definitely a viable alternative at about 8/1, especially as it must be one of the greatest frustrations of his career that he has failed to capture the US Open title. Three times this century he has finished in the runner-up position and thinking about Winged Foot two years ago must bring back painful memories. He had the championship within his grasp as he lined up on the 18th tee only to fire his drive into the corporate tents well left of the fairway. He ended up double-bogeying the hole and was stranded a shot adrift of Geoff Ogilvy. ‘Lefty’ comes into the tournament in pretty good nick having landed the Crowne Invitational a couple of weeks ago and he’s still young enough to take a major, while his course management skills (a prerequisite in a US Open) have improved a hell of a lot over the last few years.
So it could be time for Phil to make his mark.
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Ronaldo going to Real Madrid
Is Ronaldo going to Real Madrid this summer? Come, come. Now reports will tell you he"s off to the Bernabeu but why would he swap playing for the biggest and most stable club in the world for one that is more temperamental than a Naomi Campbell plane journey? He"s too clever to go just for the cash and if l can just remind you the last time transfer issues were raised after World Cup 2006 Cristiano told the press there was "no way l can see myself ever playing for Man United again" He did... and scored a few goals in the process.
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Euro 2008 be another tournament of lost promises for Spain
Tell me if I"m being naive here but l was unaware that the underperformance of Spanish sides over the years has been more to do with in-fighting affecting on-pitch performances as much as anything else. Same said journalist told me the normally cherubic Torres and Fabregas are sworn enemies and that off pitch their relationship is colder than naked mountaineering. Could Euro 2008 be another tournament of lost promises for Spain?
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Reintroduced the son of Galileo
Punters have been piling into New Approach for Saturday’s Epsom Derby following Monday’s shock news that Jim Bolger’s colt will actually run. Last year’s champion two-year-old was favourite for the mile-and-a-half contest over the winter but when Bolger stated in April that Epsom would not be the colt’s destination, a number of firms took him out of the betting. Since then he has been placed in both the English and Irish 2,000 Guineas and bookies reintroduced the son of Galileo (who won the Derby himself) into the market as a 6/1 chance at BetUK.com. He has now been backed in to 5/1. Punters can do without these shenanigans. If the financial markets were mislead in the same way there would be people on their way to jail right now!
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All the sports pages in every one of the UK’s newspaper seem to be full of gossip about who it is that billionaire Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will install as his club’s next manager.Current favourite Frank Rijkaard is looking for work after leaving Barcelona and has long been linked with the Stamford Bridge hotseat.
Guus Hiddink is also prominent in the market despite signing a contract extension with Russia earlier this month. The Abramovich connection (he partly pays the Dutchman’s wages) is a clear link here and the billionaire is a known fan of the man who has guided Russia to Euro 2008.
The only short-priced Brit is Mark Hughes and the Blackburn manager has Chelsea connections from his time at the club from ’95 to ’98. However, appointing a manager without Champions League experience may be seen as too much of a risk for Abramovich.
The other reasonably priced runners are Carlo Ancelotti, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Roberto Mancini, Didier Deschamps, Luis Felipe Scolari and Jose Mourinho. Surely the manner in which the Mourinho aka “the Special One” left Chelsea last year must rule him out of contention.
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