Finland v Holland
Finland take on Holland which should technically be a home venue, but is being played on a neutral ground in Germany’s Olympstadion.
The Oranje are coming off the best form in their life, and are now undefeated in all 7 games of their campaign and looking to make it 8 in a row tonight with a win over their opponents Finland who are sitting towards the lower half of the table. For Holland, van Persie, Sneijder, Huntelaar and Dirk Kuyt who have been among the form scorers for the national squad, will want to add to their tally to help their team take this game.
Finland on the other hand had won 4-1 against Moldova in their last game, keeping them in with a slim chance of qualifying in second place, which is hardly probable. The previous outing between the 2 sides, resulted in a 2-1 Dutch win in Eindhoven, and the Finnish will try to take some heart from that game.
The key element of this match could be Holland’s defense. With such a tight back 4, Steklenberg at the back and further protection from van Bommel in front of the back 4, it leaves it difficult for teams to penetrate the Dutch, and I can see them easily winning by a couple of goals today.
Prediction: Holland -1 goal to win. Bet Holland at bookie.
Romania – France
France can go a long way toward securing Euro 2012 qualification with a win against Romania in Bucharest on Tuesday.
France lead Group D by three points from Bosnia and Herzegovina with both sides still to play three games, including one against each other on October 11.
Romania will not be lacking in motivation either for the clash, as they are only two points behind Bosnia and still very much in the mix for second place and a playoff berth.
Both teams enter the match in winning form, with Romania securing a 2-0 victory over Luxembourg on Friday courtesy of a brace from Gabriel Torje, but coach Victor Piturca will be ruing the yellow card the winger picked up to rule him out of the France game.
The match will be played in the newly built National Arena, the stadium that will also host the final of the 2012 Europa League and this match is the first one ever played here. It should be a lot of enthusiasm in the crowd, but on the other hand, the public from Bucharest is more demanding, so it may not be only cheering if France gets the lead.
It has been repeated over and over again here, that the French players are better individually, but Romania can compensate by excelling in things like organization, determination and some other clichés. I just think that France is superior in every compartment and they would have to catch their worst day to lose here.
Romania needs to win this game, a draw would not help them at all, so I imagine they will need to risk at some point and I can’t see Benzema or Ribery not taking advantage of that fact. Despite France’s defense looks shaky now and then, I can’t see Marica or Bucur getting a lot of chances today.
Prediction: France to win. Bet France at bookie.
England – Wales
England have suffered two withdrawals from their squad due to injury with Micah Richards and Darren Bent being sent back to their clubs, however, neither featured at all against Bulgaria and should not be a big miss.
Frank Lampard has been told this week by boss Fabio Capello that he needs to improve his club form to get back into the starting XI and thus is unlikely to trouble Scott Parker or Gareth Barry for a place in central midfield.
Wales will have to cope without the suspended Craig Bellamy and David Vaughan after the pair picked up bookings in the victory over Montenegro.
They can be heartened, however, by the return of experienced defender James Collins and are hopeful that West Ham midfielder Jack Collison will recover from the illness that kept him out on Friday in order to take his place in the team.
Wales were irrepressible against Montenegro last week but it is a far bigger task that awaits them in front of a partisan crowd at Wembley.
Their young hopes in Bale, Ramsey and Joe Ledley must show their composure in attack without the guidance of Craig Bellamy, in order to threaten the hosts.
England will be full of confidence given the form of their attacking options, particularly Downing, Young and Rooney, who have all had flying starts to the season.
The home crowd will certainly give them a further boost and, given their recent form, they should prove too much for this young Welsh outfit.
Prediction: England to win exact score 2-0. Bet England at bookie.
