Greece

Defender Avraam Papadopoulos suffered a knee injury and will now miss the rest of the tournament in Poland and Ukraine, while his partner in the first-choice centre-half pairing for Greece, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, was awarded a controversial red card and will miss out against the Czech Republic.

Greece coach Fernando Santos, of course, has other options at centre-half but with only PAOK’s Stelios Malezas and Kyriakos Papadopoulos, of Schalke, to call upon, he will be desperate for the pair to come through the match against the Czechs unscathed ahead of a potentially-decisive final group game with Russia.

Santos’ selection problems are not only confined to defence, however, with midfielder Giorgos Fotakis also doubtful due to a thigh problem.

In contrast, the Czech Republic have no significant injury worries but, after a demoralising 4-1 loss at the hands of Russia in their opening fixture, they almost certainly need to win on Tuesday if they’re to avoid an early exit at Euro 2012.

If the Czech Republic are to reach the latter stages of the competition they will need big performances from the likes of Vaclav Pilar, who scored their only goal against Russia and managed to impress despite the defeat, Jaroslav Plasil and Premier League pair Petr Cech and Tomas Rosicky.

Indeed, Chelsea keeper Cech insists all is not lost and insists his side can still qualify from Group A.

“The first game sometimes shows what the group will be like but it’s not the key one,” noted the talented shot-stopper.

“The crucial game will be the second one (against Greece). If we fail in that one, our chances of advancing will be very thin.

“A 4-1 defeat doesn’t look the best but it’s basically the same as 1-0…you simply get no points.

“We lost a battle, not the war. The good thing is we still have 180 minutes to advance. We have to look ahead, that’s what matters now.”

Greece looked bereft of ideas in the opening 45 minutes against Poland but the extremely harsh dismissal of Papastathopoulos seemed to galvanise Santos’ side as they produced an assured second-half display. In fact, Greece could well have gone on to win the game had it not been for a fine penalty save by Polish substitute keeper Przemyslaw Tyton following Wojciech Szczesny’s second-half sending off.

The Czech Republic struggled with the pace and swift movement of the Russians and should get more time on the ball against Greece, who are well organised and rely perhaps a little too much on the ageing Giorgos Karagounis as their creative outlet.

With the stakes high for both sides this contest promises to be a close affair as both countries cannot afford to lose, especially the Czechs who could be all but eliminated should they lose and Poland win in the later kick off.

Greece are priced at 11/5 to seal the win and they’re certainly capable of taking all three points if they can replicate their second-half display against Poland for 90 minutes on Tuesday, as Poland are arguably a better side than the Czech Republic.  A win for the Czechs is 7/5, while the draw is priced at 11/5.

One market that does stand out is the half-time result and the 20/21 on offer for a draw at half-time seems a decent bet considering neither side can really afford to lose the game, with an emphasis on defence expected from both sides.

Czech winger Pilar looked lively in an otherwise uninspiring team performance against Russia and if the 23-year-old continues to impress at Euro 2012 he could secure a move to one of Europe’s big leagues after the tournament. Pilar is priced at 5/1 to score at anytime in the match, which is worth some consideration given his display against the Russians, or 10/1 to score first for the braver punter.

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Spain have won their opening three matches in the campaign to lead the group by three points, but were made to work in their last outing as Scotland fought back from 2-0 down, only for Fernando Llorente to score with 11 minutes left to secure the three points.

The Czechs suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Lithuania in their first match but have bounced back to see off both Scotland and Liechtenstein and can make life hard for the home side on Friday night.

It is difficult to see past 2/9 favourites Spain in the match betting, given their record of 17 successive qualifying victories and 22 unbeaten, while they have won their last nine competitive matches since that shock defeat to Switzerland in the World Cup.

However, Czech Republic do boast an impressive head-to-head record against Spain, leading 7-5 with one draw, and will try to make themselves hard to beat on Friday so Draw/Spain at 16/5 in the Half-time/Full-time market looks tempting.

Austria look a big price at 7/5 to see off Belgium in Vienna, given the fact they were leading 3-2 in Brussels before Paul Scharner was sent off in the reverse fixture last time out.

The hosts hit back through Marvin Ogunjimi and Nicolas Lombaerts to seemingly win the game, before the 10 men of Austria snatched a point in injury time through Martin Harnik.

Austria have only lost once in 13 games to Belgium and never in Vienna, with a record of four wins and a draw, while they have now won their last five competitive home fixtures and can keep on the coat-tails of Germany at the top of Group A with the win.

The top two in Group C also go head to head with Slovenia looking to join Italy on 10 points when they clash in Ljubljana on Friday, although the visitors are the Evens favourites in the match betting.

However, Slovenia are fancied to upset the odds at 13/5 having won one and drawn one of only two previous meetings on home territory, while it is also expected to be a low-scoring encounter – four of the five results between the two sides have ended 1-0, with the other being a 1-1 draw.

Holland at 4/9 and France at 1/25 look nailed on to see off Hungary and Luxembourg respectively, even though both are away from home, while Northern Ireland’s unbeaten start to the campaign looks to be coming to an end.

Nigel Worthington’s men (6/1 – match betting) followed up a credible draw against Italy with a not-so impressive draw against Faroe Islands and will have their work cut out against a Serbia side desperate for the win.

What may work in the visitors favour is the fact that the match is being played behind closed doors following the riots in Genoa, but having lost only one match previously and none at home, Serbia are expected to justify 4/9 favouritism.

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