[icemantbi]

Well, after a successful weekend of capping NFL Football, i now turn my attention to "futbol". Hope I can do better than my Saturday picks.

Italy pk and -0.5
Ukraine

This is my most confident pick. I was impressed with the way Italy played against France on Saturday. They dominated a good portion of the game, but the strong French defence held them in check. If Italy plays the way they did against France against Ukraine tommorrow, I see Italy scoring a goal or two. Couple that with a stingy defence that will contain and shut down Shevchenko, and I can't see Ukraine pose any kind of a scoring threat. Add the intangible that if Italy fails to take 3 points tommorrow, they will be in danger of failing to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals next year, which would be a monumental embarrassment for the squad that won the World Cup last year. Expect Italy to come out strong and win tommorrow.

Cyprus
San Marino +3

I got burned on Saturday laying 4.5 goals with the Czechs to whip San Marino, so this time I'm taking the goals. Cyprus is no European Soccer power and San Marino did a decent job of containing the heavily favoured Czechs. San Marino have a lot of pride, and tommorrow's game is one in which they can take some points. The last meeting saw Cyprus winning 1-0. I have a hard time seeing Cyprus putting 3 past them in any event. Take the goals.

England -1
Russia

England seems to be getting on track with Steve McLaren. After an impressive victory over Israel on Saturday, I see that trend continuing against Russia. This is more of an iffy proposition of whether or not England can win by 2, so this might be a better ML wager. Having said that, this is a crucial game for England. A loss here will make qualifying next year a lot more tricky. Expect another excellent performance from England, especially Gerrard, Wright-Phillips and Heskey. The only problem they might have is at midfield with the injury to Owen Hargreaves. Russia will be going into the match with their thrid string keeper who played well against Macedonia including saving a penalty on Saturday, but the English forwards will provide a much more potent scoring threat. Also, Russai suffers from injuries to Ivan Saenko and Yuri Zhirkof. If England can contain Andrei Arshavin, they will win this match.

[altctrl]

[icemantbi]

Well, today was alot better than Saturday. England clobbered Russia 3-0, Italy battled out a 2-1 win over Ukraine. If it wasn't for Cyprus scoring in the 90th minute against San Marino, I would have been perfect today. So, finished up close to perfect, 2-0-1.

[altctrl]

yeah, i agree ...
but, lol i didn't play +3 on Marino, i played over 2.5 (in my country, thats 3+) .....