month long tournament starts on the 14th, with host germany playing scotland.

the usual suspects are clear favorites, don't see any outsider with a shot.

I’m going with France…but could always be Spain or Germany. England will find a way to blow it.

yeah...that's usually the plot. southgate left off grealish, in his prime at age 27-28?

some suspense with 2nd place-3rd place group finishers. denmark/serbia in group C, turkey/czech in group F and in group E - everyone except everyone's favorite dark horse for the past 8 years in belgium.

the 2022 world cup was in-season. higher quality/less fatigued. i'm afraid this tournament could be run-of-the-mill stuff. i brought up grealish because he's the type (obvious talent and medium amount of appearances in 2023-2024 for man city) that could star in this typical after-the season tournie.

I haven’t looked but is Ollie Watkins on the squad? Even as a sub he could be resourceful. They’ll still blow it.

he's in. i don't follow villa, seen him a few times - another dangerous wide FWD. kane has the CF position locked up, we'll see how southgate sets the team up. seems like watkins is comfortable on either side - more left, maybe.

watched germany x greece. not impressed with the panzers. neuer good and bad - saved the impossible, then fumbled easy stuff. kroos was way off. poor 1st half.

scotland is the best tonic for germany. match is in less than a week.

Watkins can't play on the wing. Palmer should be off the bench. Saka starting with Foden and Kane upfront.

Can’t believe Palace has 4 players in the England squad.

i didn't say he's a winger, i said he's looked very comfortable playing wide. i said that, because there's no way he's starting in the center as long as kane can walk. only chance, if southgate goes 4-4-2 out of desperation or a throw-away match.

watched him in both semi-final matches in the conference league. i see england laid an egg yesterday (only 1 shot on goal at wembley) against iceland - watkins didn't play. saka in, off the bench. didn't watch the match, can imagine the ruckus in the english press today.

My only point w Watkins is he won't play on the wing when Saka, Foden, Palmer are available. Foden is getting a pass as usual from the English press.

no doubt, i wouldn't argue that. my point was/is: watkins looks comfortable wide. if this was the 1980 euro, would surely start as a 2nd striker in a classic british 4-4-2. skill and speed to beat the first man, vision and skill to make the killer pass. currently - schematically, england play like everyone else, the dreaded 4-2-3-1. given the talent, i suppose he can play this. likely play bellingham as the attacking CM and foden out left?

prefer to play germany today with a spread (-1.5 goals/-125) rather than odds/moneyline (-350). bankroll starts at $0 and will play the panzers for $200.

not much from scotland, red card centerback tried to cut down a tree with that tackle. 5-1 and who could really tell how good the panzers are?

bankroll at +$200

going to play a small amount on switzerland to beat hungary in the early match. $100 on switzerland to win (-190, draw no bet). not going to play it, though i'd lean towards the over at 2.5 goals.

going to play $100 on spain to win (-110) over croatia.

italy x albania. feel the albanians will be pysched to play the neighbors they love/hate/want to impress - at the end, hoping that all that adrenaline will see a 0-0 match.

$50 on a draw at +400. $50 on albania (-130 spread, +1.5 goals). $50 on the under at 2.5 goals. could end up 3-0 for la squadra azzurra, history says otherwise.

the swiss come through, 3-1 and the bankroll is at +$300.

10 goals in 2 matches and would think that the losing sides have more to do with that than the winning sides.

may increase the plays on the italy x albania match if the spain play wins.

Some of the defending is awful. Scotland, Albania, and Hungary couldn't field a decent back four if you combined the teams.

when albania scores 20 seconds into the match, no real chance for an under. tragic mistake, but the italians could have easily had 2-3 more goals. i remember a coach that spent 20 minutes every practice going over when/where to throw and how to defend a throw. italians were sloppy in the 1st minute. would never, ever see that for decades of italian NT football.

anyways, +$145 for the day. bankroll at +$345.

thinking that poland will play everyone behind the ball against the dutch, best 2 attackers are out. the dutch are -175. will play holland despite de jong's absence. $100 on holland.



yeah...that, along with VAR/penalties scare me off on unders. scotland is usually overwhelmed against everyone and hungary isn't the greatest. was really surprised by how poor albania's defense was. when they never qualified for anything, they frequently would hold powers to one goal and wouldn't be as psyched up against the finlands and georgias of the world and allow 2 goals. they really should have conceded 4 goals against italy. those white ottoman hats their supporters wore didn't help them much.

i guess the more the goals, the more borderline fans get interested.

i'll take the win, though the dutch showed me every reason to believe they will eventually implode. selfish, whining, throwing their arms...etc. jeez.

bankroll at +$445.

don't think much of the next match, denmark x slovenia. i'm familiar with slovenia's 'keeper that plays in spain. that's it. no draws in the tournie so far. denmark seems a cheap -130 for the win.

going to play $50 on a draw to win $130.

looks like some english hooligans attacked a few dozen serbia fans today. the match is designated as 'high-risk', in terms of fan violence. english reports are blaming the england supporters for the violence, telling us the serb fans were attacked while peacefully drinking and discussing england's betrayal of chetnik leader draza mihailovic during ww2.

got the draw with the danes and slovenes, bankroll at +$575.

england x serbia. going to play the over (2.5 -120) for $200. a combo of serbia being traditionally fearless and reckless, never looking for the cynical 0-0 and england with attacking talent. hoping for lots of goals. see that foden is starting on the left and bellingham high in the CM. looks like attacking purpose.

wow...going to lose a play here and there, but england was shit. landon and ian told us that this match should be a lesson for southgate and england.

i thought southgate already had this same lesson against italy, in the last euro final. early goal, then, close up shoppe - then lose the match. luckily for england and southgate, serbia is not the same quality as italy to punish them.

landon and ian told us that foden wasn't quality today. can't be quality when you walk on the pitch. was neutral towards southgate, today i saw that his detractors were/are correct.

starting kane over ollie is absolutely fucking stupid. this was one of the most shitty wins i've seen from england.

they always find a way to get in their own way. serbia deserved to draw and steal 2 points. england won't make it out of the knockout round.

Kane wasn't the problem. Southgate gets up a goal and doesn't want to attack anymore. He's an idiot.

won't play or bother to stream this morning's non-fox tv match of romania x ukraine. won't miss hearing any patriotic fun facts about the players/team and the war.

will play belgium at -200. can't see slovakia keeping up with belgium over 90 mins. de bruyne is back and should be fresh.

bankroll at +$335, going to play $200 on belgium. will wait for this result before thinking about france x austria.

romania not feeling sorry for the beleaguered ukrainians. russia banned from intl. football, putin may send over gift trays of caviar.

hopefully, get back on track with belgium.

Did the US not qualify for this thing?

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

We’re busy with Copa America starting the 20th.

too many hurdles for belgium - a fearless slovakia, the ref, VAR and their biggest hurdle, themselves. mix in some extremely crappy play from 3-4 belgians...just not happening for them today.

france x austria. more money than expected coming in on austria and a draw. a france win at odds of -165. taking france for $200.

yes, playing the free state of jones. the second tuesday next week.

the wasteful and casual french squeak by. mbappe may have broken his nose...

kolo muani would fuck up a cup of coffee that thuram would spill. what can you say about kante?? super player.

mbappe, thuram, dembele and likely more france footballers have a political message for french citizens: they urge the french public to vote against 'extremes'.

in other words, don't vote for france's 'far-right' party, rassemblement national in france's general election in some 2 weeks.

don't vote for that 'extreme' party, but vote for extremist green, or communist or anti-charlie hebdo/pro immigrant parties.

disappointing message.