France-Austria Euro 2024 betting at BetMGM

France open -225, now -175
▪️ 91% of bets, 98% of money is on France

Tie open +360, now +310
▪️ 3% of bets, 1% of money is on Tie

Austria open +575, now +475
▪️ 6% of bets, 1% of money is on Austria

Turkey and Georgia open up their tournament with a crucial match in Group F.

Turkey are back at the Euros after losing all three of their matches at the previous Euros. They are bringing a much better and youthful squad to this tournament after a really impressive qualifying campaign. The question is, can they realize their potential and get all three points in a must win match.

Georgia are at the Euros for the first time in their country's history. They finished fourth in their qualifying group behind Spain, Scotland and Norway, but they got here by way for the qualification playoff beating both Luxembourg and Greece. They are the longest shot in the Euro field, so a result here in the first match would do wonders to their chances of qualifying for the knockout stage.

Turkey are in a transition mode with the next generation of talent making their first appearance at a major international tournament. While Turkey’s underlying numbers overall during qualifying leave a lot to be desired, they don’t actually tell the full story. They struggled early on in qualifying and it was so bad that they had to make a change at manager. They brought in Vincenzo Montella who has managed the likes of Fiorentina and AC Milan, but most recently Adana Demirspor in the Turkish Super Lig, ascending them up the table to a fourth place finish, which was the highest ever for the club.

He took over the job in October of 2023 and the performances instantly got better. In three qualifying matches under Montella, Turkey created 5.01 expected goals and even beat Germany 3-2 in a friendly in November of 2023.

Turkey are a really good in-possession side that is going to give a lot of teams in this tournament problems. Vincenzo Montella is a coach that likes quick, fluid passing in build up to create transition moments with their outstanding ball carriers and playmakers running at the opponent's back line. In this match, they are going to be forced to breakdown a 5-3-2 low block, which is something they’ve already faced in their 1-1 draw with Wales, where they created 1.46 expected goals.

Georgia have two talented attackers up top in Kvaratskhelia and Mikautadze, but outside of them it gets pretty bleak. The defense is really where the problems lie. They are a very passive team, even from goal kick situations they rarely press high and normally sit in their defensive shape, trying to deny space through the middle and forcing the ball out wide.

The problem is they really weren't that great during qualifying defending in that passive structure. They conceded 2.25 xG per 90 minutes, which is most of anyone in the Euro field. They don't have much talent in their midfield or across their backline and when they played Spain they really struggled defending in wide areas.

That's a big problem against Turkey, who had the 10th-most accurate crosses during qualifying and have playmakers out wide that can win 1 v 1 against the Georgian fullbacks to create a chance. They have the incredibly talented 19-year old Kenan Yıldız from Juventus who is a really effective attacker down the left hand side having the ability to not only beat defenders 1 v 1, but also cut inside and create shots on his own.

Georgia are a bottom-three team in this Euro field. They had the worst expected goal differential of anyone in the Euro field, but they aren't the least talented team because of Kvaratskhelia, Mikautadze and their outstanding goalkeeper Mamardashvili.

They are going to face three teams that are not only a clear step above them from both a talent and tactical perspective, but that will also force them out of their defensive block once behind, and that is big trouble.

For a team that allowed over two expected goals per 90 minutes in qualifying, they should not be getting this much market respect.

Cristiano Ronaldo will begin what could be his final international tournament on Tuesday as Portugal open their Group F campaign against the Czech Republic.

After Ronaldo's previous falling out at the 2022 World Cup with Fernando Santos, new manager Roberto Martinez has brought new life to the twilight of his international career.

The Czech Republic are also entering a new era under Ivan Hasek. The Czechs have won all four of their friendlies under Hasek, but this is his debut in a competitive fixture.

Portugal last won this tournament in 2016. The Czechs were runners-up in 1996 and won the tournament as Czechoslovakia in 1976.

After seeing his Belgium tenure end with a first-round exit at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Martinez has landed in another international role with plenty of talent at his disposal.

Most of the squad is smack in the center of their primes. And while Ronaldo has slowed, he is still an extremely unusual 39-year old and the team's leading scorer in qualifying with 10 goals.

But Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes is the team's central creative force with six goals and eight assists in qualifying and was the only player to start every match. Manchester City's Ruben Dias leads a back line that conceded only once, in a 3-2 home win over Slovakia.

While this team breezed through qualifying with a perfect record, it's worth noting that their group was among the weaker ones in the tournament. Slovakia were the second-place finisher, and teams like Luxembourg and Lichtenstein offered little resistance.

What the Czechs lack in a fully forged identity under their new manager, they may compensate for in unpredictability.

Hasek played four different formations in his four friendlies, twice with three center backs, once with four and once with five. The 3-3-2-2 and the 5-3-2 employed in the last two earlier this month suggest a counter-pressing and counterattacking style will be involved.

His track record suggests he may not be long for the job, having never managed more than three seasons in any single job over a winding career across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Far East. But that experience of adapting quickly could also be an asset given the circumstances of his late hire.

West Ham box-to-box midfielder Thomas Soucek and Bayer Leverkusen striker Thomas Schick are the standouts of quad. There should be some built-in familiarity within the rest of the group, with 15 players in the group based domestically at one of three clubs: Sparta Prague, Slavia Prague or Viktoria Plzen.

The last couple days of the Euro have gotten fairly dire in terms of goals, but the tactical setup of this game provides an opportunity for that to change.

Martinez has always won plaudits for his positive approach to the game — even if he's worn out his welcome in a couple of jobs when the desired results haven't followed — and the past two Czech friendlies suggest a counter-pressing approach that sometimes yields better attacking results against better opposition that feels more confident sending numbers forward.

In the first game of the day Wednesday, Croatia and Albania meet in Hamburg, Germany, for Matchday 2 in Group B of Euro 2024.

The Blazers come into this match in the bottom of the group after a disappointing 3-0 loss to Spain in their opener.

Meanwhile, Albania wasn't able to hold onto its early lead against Italy and lost 2-1 to start the tournament.

This is a game both nations likely have circled as one where they have to get points. So, we should have a great battle at the Volksparkstadion.

For a team with a veteran roster and manager, it was very strange to see how Croatia came out of the blocks against Spain. Before they could blink, the Blazers were trailing 3-0 at halftime.

The heavy defeat also hurts the goal difference, which could come into play for tiebreakers to advance from the group. However, there were some positives.

Croatia did generate 2.38 expected goals and three big chances, according to fotmob.com. Manager Zlatko Dalić’s team also finished with more shots than Spain.

This should be a drop in the caliber of opponent here for the Blazers, and I’m expecting them to come out with urgency in a must-win spot.

The only major tournament Albania participated in before this was Euro 2016. The Eagles finished that competition with just one goal.

Well, it took them all of 23 seconds to match that total at this event.

The goal by Nedim Bajrami was also the fastest goal ever scored at a European Championship.

Unfortunately, the Italians responded with a pair of goals inside the opening 20 minutes to give the Albanians a 2-1 loss.

Just like Croatia, Albania has to get a positive result here to have a chance at advancing to the knockout rounds for the first time.

Germany looks keep the positive momentum going when they take on Hungary on Wednesday.

The host nation was the most impressive team of the first round of the Group Stage while beating Scotland 5-1. Germany put everyone on notice that maybe they should be the favorites to take home the Euro title. They will play a very similar team to Scotland in Hungary, so we could be in for another route.

Hungary were thoroughly beaten by Switzerland in their first match, leaving them desperate for three points here against Germany. They were one of the dark horses picked by many but fell flat on their face when their tactical plan did not work. Marco Rossi now faces an incredibly tall task of trying to slow down the host nation and get Hungary a result from this match.

Germany was sublime against Scotland last Friday with Julian Nagelsmann devising the perfect tactical plan to breakdown Scotland's low block. Germany showed why they are so difficult to beat with a passive structure. If opponents allow Toni Kroos to easily pick out passes in build, especially with the versatility of all of Germany's attackers, then they will get ripped apart.

Germany also showed not only how great they are in attack, but also how strong they are defensively. Even though Scotland did score, it came on an own goal, and they did not even register an official shot for the match.

Germany's amazing transition defense and center-back pairing of Jonathan Tah and Antonio Rüdiger are so good at winning both ground and aerial duels against teams that primarily play long balls, which is what Hungary will do against them.

They can absolutely repeat the exact same tactical plan against Hungary, which should allow Kroos to pick out passes and find all of Germany's great attacking in between the lines or make runs off of the back line.

The main problem with Hungary, as you saw against Switzerland, is that when opponents get them into a negative game state and they can’t just sit back, they really struggle defensively.

Their attempt at pressing Switzerland’s build up after they went down a goal inside the first 10 minutes was downright horrible. It looked a lot like the pressing structure from Manchester United over the second half of the Premier League season where the attackers would try to press, but the back line wouldn’t come up to aid in the press.

Consequently, once the first line of pressure was beaten, Switzerland had acres of space to run at Hungary’s back line.

The other problem with Hungary is that even if they do sit in their 5-3-2, they will run into the same problems that Scotland had. The space between the lines is where Germany thrived against Scotland. Kai Havertz and Jamal Musiala were constantly dropping deep and pulling Scotland’s center backs up into an uncomfortable position, which left vacated space in behind that Germany exploited.

They also utilized width with their full backs to force Scotland to either defend them and have a numerical advantage in the center of the pitch in between the lines, or if Scotland didn’t defend them, then they would have a free unmarked pass into the box, which is exactly how the first goal happened.

As Germany and Nagelsmann showed in the first match, they are probably the best team in this tournament at manipulating low blocks and creating space because of their passing and positioning.

Since Hungary lost their first match, they will be very desperate. If Hungary falls behind, they can’t sit back and are going to have to press Germany, which will allow the Germans ample opportunities to score.

This match has real potential to get out of hand if Germany takes a lead because of how bad Hungary are when they are in a negative game state.

Scotland vs. Switzerland
Wednesday, 3:00 p.m. ET

Shellshocked Scotland return to action after their 5-1 thrashing to Germany in the opening game of Euro 2024. Normally I would look to support a soccer side who had just taken a heavy beating but not on this occasion against Switzerland who impressed me in beating a dangerous Hungary side 3-1 in their opening fixture.

The Tartan Army have only beaten one side in their last 10 internationals and that was Gibraltar who are ranked 203 in the World by FIFA with only San Marino below them in Europe. They had one weak attempt at goal against Germany and that was in the 86th minute with Antonio Rudiger deflecting that past his own goalkeeper.

The Swiss have only lost once since the beginning of 2023 and score plenty of goals – 22 in 10 qualifying games for this tournament. Their top scorer across those fixtures Zeki Amdouni started the game on the bench as did the man who netted the third goal, Monaco striker Breel Embolo, who has just returned from a serious knee injury. Talisman Xherdan Shaqiri and AC Milan’s Noah Okafor didn’t even feature.

That highlights the strength in depth, especially in attacking areas, Murat Yakin has at his disposal, something Steve Clarke can only dream about. Even with money coming for them, Switzerland look value on the moneyline.

Euro 2024 Best Bet: Switzerland Moneyline at -115.

Kicking off Thursday’s action at Euro 2024, Serbia and Slovenia battle in Munich for Matchday 2 in Group C.

The Eagles started their tournament with a 1-0 loss to the tournament-favorite England where their attack struggled.

Meanwhile, the Slovenian squad picked up a point against Denmark in the nation’s first game at a major tournament since the 2010 World Cup.

These two former Yugoslavia countries need a positive result in this matchup, and I’m expecting a high-intensity game at the Allianz Arena.

The best bet is to take Slovenia on the Asian handicap of +0.75 at -119 odds at bet365. I would be this to -130, and you can even take +0.5 at a plus price of +105.

In qualifying, Serbia failed to claim a clean sheet in six of eight matches. This is why the Eagles have struggled against better opposition.

Since 2023, Serbia have played five games against teams who have qualified for this tournament. The Serbians have lost all of those contests, which included a pair of losses to Hungary in qualifying and a defeat to Austria in a pre-tournament friendly.

As for Slovenia, I think there should be plenty of threat going forward to find the net at least once in this game. Plus, this has been a country that has shown it can be difficult to beat.

Since 2023, Slovenia have a pair of draws against Denmark to go along with wins in friendlies over the United States and Portugal.

England and Denmark can both take a major step toward sealing their place in the knockout phase when they meet on Matchday 2 in Group C on Thursday.

In the modern era of the European Championships (since 1980), England has never begun the group phase with back-to-back victories, and they could do just that after holding on for a 1-0 win over Serbia in their opener.

Denmark was forced to settle for a 1-1 draw with Slovenia after taking an early lead in their group opener. They're looking to advance to back-to-back knockout phases for the first time in their tournament history.

This is a rematch of the Euro 2020 semifinals, in which England earned a hard fought 2-1 victory in extra time over the Danes at Wembley Stadium.

Jude Bellingham got England off to an ideal start when he scored only 13 minutes into the opener against Serbia. However, manager Gareth Southgate's group appeared to lose some steam when they couldn't find the second before halftime.

In fact, the Three Lions only had two shot attempts in the entire second half of what was one of the most dour games of the tournament so far.

In fairness to Southgate, if the strategy was to try and dare Serbia to break them down, it worked.

While Serbia had the last four shots of the match, they lacked ideas and a willingness to try and be direct to use their physicality up top. And they generated only 0.2 expected goals over the entire 90 minutes, a puzzling stat given how much of the ball they were afforded after halftime.

It was England's sixth consecutive clean sheet kept in European Championship group play, a stretch that began with a 0-0 draw with Slovakia in the final game of their 2016 group campaign in France.

Three years after the sports world stopped when Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest on the field in Denmark's group opener at the previous tournament, Eriksen scored early in his return to the European Championship stage to put his side in front against group minnows Slovenia.

Unlike England, the Danes made a credible attempt at adding to their lead, and Rasmus Hojlund must have thought he did when he forced a sensational save out of Jan Oblak in the 60th minute.

Also unlike England, they conceded a second-half equalizer when Erik Janza's half-volley took a wicked deflection to wrongfoot Kasper Schmaichel in the 77th minute.

There were even occasional shaky late moments where it looked like Denmark was in danger of losing, even though they deserved the point. And maybe more troubling for manager Kasper Hjulmand, it continued his side's difficulty keeping clean sheets.

Denmark reached the tournament despite maintaining only three in 10 qualifying matches. They'll probably have to keep at least one or two in the tournament if they wish to repeat their run to the Euro 2020 semifinals.

The consistent throughout Gareth Southgate's England tenure is that his side have looked relatively ordinary in attack in major tournaments against European teams they can't simply overrun with superior talent.

And while Denmark might not be in the very top tier of teams on the continent, they are at worst in the level just below and plenty capable of giving England trouble.

The Three Lions have scored one or fewer goals in six of their eight games in the Euros under Southgate, and in four out of six matches in World Cup play against European opponents.

Within that sample of 14 matches, they've scored exactly one goal 50% of the time, or in seven games in total. Five of those came in the Euros.

Add Denmark's poor track record of keeping clean sheets, and the prop bet of England to score exactly one goal stats to look quite appealing at +180 odds and an implied 35.7% probability. That feels like better value than an England team total under 1.5 goals at slightly worse than even money, although that's probably not a terrible bet either.

Denmark vs. England
Thursday, 12:00 p.m. ET

I mentioned last week that this is my sixth major tournament following England and this one opened in familiar style to the previous five. A win, but after a promising start, the Three Lions supporters were left to sweat out a nervy second half.

Manager Gareth Southgate used the word “resilience” to describe his team’s performance, and that kind of description has been the norm over his time in charge. Despite the host of exciting talent at his disposal, it very rarely seems to gel once the action gets underway, and I am expecting a similar performance here in Frankfurt.

A total of five shots is simply not good enough for tournament favorites. Expect the hard-working, well-organised Danes to make it tough for England’s flair players to get going again. Kasper Hjulmand will be disappointed to have dropped points against Slovenia in a match they dominated but there are few easier games to get his side up for than this one.

The two nations have met four times in the last decade with all meetings cashing for under 2.5 goals bettors. The most recent of which being the semi-final meeting in the last European Championships a match that ended 1-1 after 90 minutes despite England enjoying home advantage.

Euro 2024 Best Bet: Under 2.5 goals at -139.

Spain and Italy meet for a crucial match in Group B at Euro 2024.

Spain routed Croatia 3-0 in their first match to take the top spot in the group. This will be a rematch of the Nations League semifinals last summer when they beat Italy 2-1, so they will have a lot of confidence heading into this match. This is the best team that Spain have played in over a year, so we will see if they are ready for the challenge.

Italy came from behind against Albania after conceding a goal inside the first minute. Luciano Spalletti will have his side set up really well out of possession to frustrate Spain and give them a lot of problems. They showed their ability to play without that ball against England in qualifying and will be able to give Spain some problems in this match.

Spain are the most possession-dominant team in this tournament despite holding under 50% possession against Croatia. That was mainly because they were up 3-0 inside the first 45 minutes, so naturally they played more passively in the second half to protect their lead.

When Spain do build up, they mainly utilize a 2-3-5 formation with Rodri at the center of it conducting the entire attack. It's always very balanced and the goal is usually to overload the middle of the pitch. The thing about Spain though is they haven't really faced anybody who is has committed to pressing them high. Italy may just do that to them, as they are a very versatile out of possession side.

Like you saw against Croatia, Spain thrive in positive game states. Normally, when teams that play very passively against them are forced to come out of their defensive blocks and play more aggressively, it leaves a lot of space for them to operate.

Spain do have a pretty clear weakness that Italy can exploit. They are a bad transition defense and because they build out in a 2-3-5 when they lose the ball there is a lot of space out wide. Italy are one of the best teams in this tournament at attacking from out wide, so Spain may have trouble in that aspect.

Italy did a fantastic job at not only erasing Albania's lead quickly, but controlling the match once they went ahead 2-1. They didn't allow Albania any more high quality chances and in the end only conceded 0.46 xG. This will be a much different type of match and they most likely will not a lot of the ball.

That is not a problem though because they are really good out of possession side. They have the versatility to press high in a man to to man fashion or sit in a solid 5-3-2 defense block and they are elite at denying space through the middle. Spain are a really good counter-pressing team and often smother inferior opponents, but Italy have a ton of really good press resistant defenders and midfielders to play through that pressure.

Spain have a clear weakness defending in transition and in wide areas. What Spalletti wants his team to do is create wide overloads and combinations for Italy, which was the same when he was at Napoli. The fullbacks DiMarco and Di Lorenzo will push inward once they reach the final third to create space out wide to combine with the winger to eventually create a chance via a cross.

Even though they kept a clean sheet, it's not like Spain were dominant defensively. They conceded well over two expected goals in total to a pretty bad transition team in Croatia. They still haven't faced a good offense in well over a year in non-friendlies, so this will be a wake up call for them.

Italy being good and flexible out of possession sets up them up really well here against Spain. Italy have won the expected goals battle in all but one match under Spalletti and I think they shouldn't be this undervalued in what is a pretty even matchup.

Spain vs. Italy
Thursday, 3:00 p.m. ET

On paper, this is a mouth-watering clash between two of Europe’s most decorated soccer nations. Spain caught the eye in the opening round with a 3-0 defeat of Croatia while Italy bounced back from conceding the earliest goal in tournament history to beat Albania 2-1.

Quite often, though, ties that look Box Office tend to disappoint. Certainly, for those looking for end-to-end action and plenty of goalmouth excitement. Luckily, I am not one of those people, and instead, I am drawn to under 2.5 goals here at what looks a nice price.

These two have played each other in all the last four European Championships including twice in the tournament hosted by Poland and Ukraine. Four of those five meetings cashed for those holding tickets for under 2.5 goals.

The focus for both head coaches is to navigate their way out of this “Group of Death” and into the Round of 16. There is no need to be expansive here or rack up the goals; simply get a win or, arguably more importantly, not lose. Four of their last seven meetings in Euros finals have ended all square so expect another contest of fine margins again.

Pick: Spain vs Italy – Under 2.5 goals at -137.

Ukraine were probably the least impressive team of the group stage, losing 3-0 to Romania and only creating 0.55 expected goals. The problem that has existed for Ukraine for a long time is the are not a great tactical side and they have been putting up mediocre underlying numbers despite having loads of talent.

Early on in qualifying, Sergiy Rebrov had them strictly building out of the back and trying to be a possession-dominant side, no matter who they were facing. What ended up happening was they continually were turning the ball over in their own end of the pitch and giving their opponents easy transition opportunities. That is exactly how they conceded the first goal against Romania and the third one was a result of a high turnover as well.

Ukraine controlled 71% of the ball and ended up taking 13 shots for the match, but eight of those shots came from outside the box and they ended up being way too reliant on set pieces because they couldn’t create anything from open play.

As Slovakia showed against Belgium they are a team that is willing to press high, which is how they scored their lone goal. So, they can give Ukraine some problems. Slovakia during qualifying had one bad match against Portugal where they conceded close to six expected goals, but in every match they allowed under 1.5 expected goals.

The final aspect of Ukraine is that since September of 2021 they have a negative expected goal differential in non-friendlies. You cannot out run bad underlying numbers, as eventually they will catch up with you.

Poland and Austria meet for their second match in Group D. Looking at the standings, both teams have yet to secure a point, making this match critical for their chances of advancing to the knockout stage.

Poland had a promising start in their first match against the Netherlands, taking an early 1-0 lead with a technically sound header from Adam Buksa. However, they couldn't maintain their advantage, as Cody Gakpo equalized 10 minutes later and Wout Weghorst scored the decisive goal in the 83rd minute, resulting in a 2-1 loss for Poland.

Similarly, Austria showed resilience against France but ultimately succumbed to a very unfortunate deflection off Max Wöber’s header, leading to a 1-0 defeat for Austria.

After a promising performance against arguably the best team in the tournament, it’s difficult to discount Austria's chances. Their midfield versatility and efficiency, combined with their dynamic attack, are likely to pose significant challenges for the Polish defense all at even money.

I like the set-up of this match. Both nations lost their opening fixture of the tournament, so they need to win this one.

To be fair to Poland they were better than I expected against the Netherlands. Taking the lead but ultimately having conceded 21 shots two found their way past Wojciech Szczesny, and they fell to a 2-1 defeat.

Austria had the more difficult contest of the two having to face the much-fancied French. But the confidence built by the aggressive front foot and high-pressing tactics of Ralf Rangnick wouldn’t have been dented too much.

The game swung after Christoph Baumgartner burst through with only the keeper to beat only to be denied by a top-class Mike Maignan save. Incredibly a corner wasn’t given, France went down the other end and a Kylian Mbappe cross was turned into his own net by Max Wöber for the only goal of the game.

That was only Austria’s second defeat in the last 17 internationals, and they had won six of the previous seven. Expect their incredible levels of fitness and energy to overwhelm the Poles and secure that vital win to keep progress to the knockout stage in their own hands.

Euro 2024 Best Bet: Austria Moneyline at -103.

This was an easy one and I was able to get +107.

Great work as always

Georgia and the Czech Republic meet in a must win match for both if they want to make it to the knockout stage.

Georgia put up a valiant effort on Tuesday, losing 3-1 to Turkey, but they were incredibly brave despite clearly lacking the talent compared to their opponent. With a match against Portugal looming in the final match of the group stage, they need to win this match to have any chance of qualifying.

The Czechs put in a valiant effort on Tuesday against Portugal losing in the dying stages of the match. This will be a much different type of match for them and one that suits them really well. With the way this tournament is setting up, three points may end up being enough to make to the knockout stage, so this is a must win match.

Georgia came out in a completely different set up against Turkey than they did in qualifying. During qualifying, they were the most passive team in the Euro field, but they came out very aggressive both in and out of possession. A lot of that had to do with the fact that they went down early, but you have to give them credit for not just sitting back.

The problem with their approach is they do not have any ball winning in the middle of the pitch or enough talent in their back line to play an up and down type of match. If they do that here against Czechia they are playing right into what they want to do, which is play in transition. Their best approach would be to sit deeper and force the Czech Republic to build out of the back and break them down. But, even that might not be enough.

The other aspect that is troubling for Georgia in this game is they do not defend crosses well at all. They allowed nine accurate crosses against Turkey and during qualifying had the worst aerial duel win rate. Not to mention, they are a below average set piece defense, which is an area where the Czech Republic thrives.

This will be a much different matchup for the Czech Republic than the one against Portugal.

The gameplan was pretty simple for Czechia in their first match. They sat deep in a compact defensive block, denied space through the middle and defended crosses at an elite level. Now, they are going to be the ones that are going to be controlling a majority of the possession or at the very least will be able to attack a lot more.

They will also be able to set up their man to man high press against Georgia, and it should be really successful. Georgia really struggled in qualifying against Spain, not because they couldn’t control the ball, but when they did win the ball in their own final third they couldn’t hold onto it. During qualifying, Georgia allowed the second-most high recoveries in the Euro field and Turkey had 18 against them on Tuesday.

If they are able to deploy their press with success, it's going to lead to a lot of easy transition opportunities, which should translate to a lot of high quality chances.

This match sets up really well to what the Czech Republic's strengths are. They are not the fastest team in the world, so often times the ball goes out wide and they try to beat teams with crosses. Facing a team like Georgia that is not only poor at defending crosses, but also the worst team at winning aerial duels, is a big problem.

Georgia also tried far too often to build out of the back against Turkey instead of playing directly. If they try that against Czechia, they are going to turn the ball over because the Czech Republic led Euro qualifying in high recoveries.

Turkey and Portugal meet for a crucial match at the top of Group F.

Turkey sealed a 3-1 win over Georgia in their first match to claim the top spot in Group F. Vincenzo Montella has his team playing at an incredibly high level since he took over half way through qualifying. If they can win or get a draw from this match, they can guarantee themselves a spot in the knockout stage.

It took Portugal a long time, but they eventually found a way through to beat the Czech Republic, 2-1. Even though they dominated possession and lived in the final third, it wasn't the most impressive match tactically, which isn't surprising given who their manager is.

What Turkey showed in their first match is the technical capabilities they have all over the pitch. They are an incredibly good team in possession with ball carriers and playmakers all over the pitch. Arda Guler announced himself to the world with what is the goal of the tournament so far, but they have so much more talent beyond just him.

Turkey are not solely a build out of the back type of team. One of the ways they’ve been really dangerous under Montella is with long balls over the top. They have committed quite a few turnovers in their own half of the pitch, but during qualifying, especially when they played Croatia, they hurt them badly with long passes from goal kick situations or utilizing Hakan Çalhanoğlu as a deep lying playmaker to send a lot of those long passes up to the forwards.

Turkey may not have been the best team during qualifying, but if Portugal settle for sending in a bunch of crosses again, I can promise you they will be ready for it. During qualifying, Turkey allowed the third-lowest cross completion rate and had the experience of playing without the ball for a majority of the match when they beat Croatia 1-0 in qualifying.

Yes, Portugal dominated a lot of the ball against the Czech Republic and ended up deserving the victory in the end, but there were a ton of tactical problems with Roberto Martinez’s set up.

First off, there were way too many players with similar traits playing in the same position. Vitinha, Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva were all playing centrally and then Joao Cancelo was inverting from left back, which caused a log jam in the middle of the pitch. So, what ended up happening, since the Czechs did such a good job denying space through the middle, is the ball went out wide and they ended up sending in a bunch of crosses.

Over 77% of Portugal’s attacks came from out wide and they ended up sending in 29 crosses to the box with only four of those crosses completed to a Portuguese player. It was an incredibly bizarre tactical plan that on a different night would have ended up costing them.

The other aspect of the performance was the starting XI that Roberto Martinez chose. Going with a midfield of Vitiniha and Bruno Fernandes means there is zero ball winning in the middle of the pitch. There were often times when they were in possession that a 41-year old Pepe was their only cover for a quick transition attack. Czech Republic were slow in their transitions from deep, which played into Portugal’s favor, but Turkey are going to be a much different opponent.

If Portugal decide to start the same starting XI in this match against Turkey, they are going to get torched. You simply cannot have four players in the middle of the pitch with no ball winning and a 41-year old Pepe as your only defensive cover for transition attacks.

Roberto Martinez has once again proven himself to be one of the least competent managers at simply giving his teams proper balance around the pitch. With that being said, there is too much talent in this Portuguese side and Turkey are not the best defensive team, as they were 21st in the Euro field in xGA per 90 minutes during qualifying.

Belgium will try avoid moving closer to another early tournament exit in their second Group E match Saturday while Romania come in knowing even a point could take them closer to their first knockout phase game since 2000.

The Red Devils fell behind early to Slovakia in their opener, and despite controlling possession and chances in the second half they could not find a leveler in their 1-0 defeat. And while another loss won't mathematically eliminate Belgium from moving on, it would wrestle fate out of their own hands on match day 3.

Romania pulled off arguably the most stunning result of match day 1 in their 3-0 romp of Ukraine. But while the Balkan side were deserving winners, the score flattered to deceive after Andriy Lunin's goalkeeping contributed to the first two goals.

This is these nations' first meeting in a competitive fixture since they split a pair of World Cup Qualifying games in 1993. Both eventually reached USA '94.

Manager Domenico Tedesco's side created a full expected goal more than Slovakia in their group opening defeat, and that did not include an apparent leveler from Romelu Lukaku that was correctly taken off the board for being offiside.

But for the most part it was very much a case of a volume of chances created rather than a handful of quality opportunities. Slovakia were content to focus primarily on flustering their opponents after taking the lead in the seventh minute through Ivan Schranz.

Of Belgium's 14 shot attempts after going behind, only one carried an expected goals value of better than 0.13, and that effort from Johan Bakayoko was blocked by a defender before it reached goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

The performance suggested something we already thought we knew from qualifying — that Belgium still have plenty of potential, but are a team that is far more dangerous when scoring first. They did that in all six of their qualifying victories, while they had to come from behind to earn their two draws.

Romania present a similar challenge to Slovakia with a squad built around the collective, combined with some elite pieces in defense. That includes goalkeeper Horațiu Moldovan, Oblak's backup at Atletico Madrid, and Tottenham Hotspur defender Radu Dragusin.

But their opening victory over Ukraine was atypical. While Edward Iordanescu's squad has proven itself plenty capable of earning a result when conceding possession, the 30% total they held against Ukraine was lower than what they posted in all but one of their qualifiers — a 2-2 draw at Switzerland.

Their three goals scored were also an anomaly — they reached that plateau only once in qualifying — and while it's debatable whether Nicolae Sanciu's opener from distance was deserved, Razvan Marin's second clearly benefitted from Lunin's late reaction.

There is little recent track record to suggest how Romania will fare against an opponent with multiple elite attackers. They did fall 3-2 to a very good Colombia side in a March friendly, though.

Securing even one point here would be seen as a bonus for Romania after opening the group with a victory. What they really can't afford is to give back their goal differential advantage. That means an early Belgium goal may not be as likely to open up the match as you'd expect.

Even if they didn't have an abundance of high quality chances, Belgium were unfortunate in their tournament-opening defeat, and if they play the same way here they should find three points as their reward. But I wouldn't expect this to be any sort of romp, especially since Belgium will also feel relatively comfortable so long as they're in the lead.