You can't ignore that Villa almost single handedly knocked Russia from this tournament in group play.  The last time these two met Spain spanked Russia in a 4-1 victory.  A three goal margin is big for international play and the only two teams to loose by that same margin in tournament play were Italy, knocked out by Spain, and France, knocked out in Group play.  Russia's been on a tear as of late ever since the reinstatement of Arshavin from his two game suspension.  Pavlyuchenko has seemed to find his own as well and is only one goal behind Euro tournament goal leader Villa.  Villa and Torres are the biggest threat to this Russian defense and we've already seen them punch holes in and out of it.  Yoonew contracts for Russia in morning trading were bid at 1000 while Spain contracts remained Strong at about 3600.  Russian has never defeated Spain in international play.  Spain has won the last three times they met and drew once.  Today could be epic or just another Spainish team being Spain again.  

 Dan     

If you've been reading my blog here's a breakdown of the futures contracts that I've been discussing about that are on yoonew.  Some of the trading can be an indicator of certain teams that are held in too high a regard, Netherlands and Croatia.  I'll let the reader decide what to make of it though.

http://img377.imageshack.us/my.php?image=yooneweverythingfk0.jpg

The true Cinderella story of Euro Cup 2008 has to be this Turkish team.  The underdog since the beginning of this competition Turkey has given us the two greatest games of this tournament.  YES the two greatest.  The final will be lackluster in comparison to the hurdles that this Turkish team jumped.  The end of the Croatia game, which was heartbreaking for me, is some of the most intense trading i have ever seen on the Yoonew exchange.  I had to spend the next two hours doing damage control but that's beside the point.  Turkey though may have finally run out of steam though.  Turkey is facing a string of personnel problems including captain, Emre Belozoglu, who will not be playing.  There starting keeper is also out on suspension.  Turkey is going to be playing with a slew of second string players on a team already weak in depth.  Don't count these guys out though since they pull stuff out out of nowhere.  Germany though the high favorite as shoudl be obvious.  Its a match to see how long this Turkish lucky streak can go.  My pic Turkey.  Why, cause I had germany loosing to portugal and I'm bitter.    

If you've been reading my posts as of lately you can begin to get the feel that yoonew's predictions are not always a lock.  This can be a blessing in disguise though.  Anyone playing the underdogs on a value play only has been making a killing.  With all this said in mind I'm still sticking with the favorites on this one.  Netherlands.  They've scored nine goals in tournament play so far.  Yoonew futures contracts for Netherlands were trading at 1560 and Russian contracts were trading at 330.  Lets see if we get another Turkish like upset.

Croatia and Turkey battle it out today for a spot in the semi finals against Germany.  Neither of these teams have ever reached the semi finals in the Euro Cup tournament.  Croatia is heavily favored against this Turkish team.  Croatia's main strength surrounds its depth of talent and its very strong midfielders.  besides Croatia's dominance in its Group play the big worry for me about supporting this Turkish team is their keeper, Volkan Demirel, is banned from game play today.  I see little chance for this Turkish team but they may become the Cinderella story of this tournament.  Yoonew.com futures contracts traded 1,832 for Croatia and 380 for Turnkey.  Lets see if the numebrs end up lying.  

Today marks the start of the quarter finals and with it comes the added excitement that is single elimination.  Portugal and Germany square off today at 2:45 EST.  If any of you have been following my blog my predictions have almost been a sure position to bet against.  Keeping that in mind here is my best look at today's matchup.  Germany contracts on yoonew are trading at 2,368.54 while Portugal contracts are trading at 1,401.46 on yoonew with early morning trading pushing that gap further.  As I always I go with price dictates direction and I'm predicting Germany to be the winner of this one.  If you want to watch the price movements during the game heres the link https://www.yoonew.com/market/EventPage?event=EC08.  Otherwise enjoy the game and get psyched for the upcoming heart racing matchups that are the Euro Cup 2008 Finals.  

Today's matchups are exceptionally even.  Romania who has two draws within Euro 2008 play is facing off against the scoring behemoth of the Netherlands.  The Netherlands have the highest Goal differential in the entire tournament at +6 a force that shows the power of this Netherlands team.  Betfair has Romania ahead at 7/5 and Netherlands 2/1.  Yoonew.com places a Netherlands contract, which is a contract guaranteeing a ticket to the championship if Netherlands makes it, at 1,206.63 last and Romania last at 101.93.  Both however were down in intra day trading.