Tom McGarry’s tips for Wednesday night’s final round of group games include a win for Belgium and goals galore when Georgia face Portugal.
The Euro 2024 group stages draw to a close on Wednesday with the final round of fixtures to come from Groups E and F.
It is all to play for in Group E, with all four teams, Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine and Belgium, locked together on three points, while in Group F Portugal are through, while Turkey, the Czech Republic and Georgia are battling to join them in the round of 16.
Wednesday’s Euro 2024 acca (pays 15/1)
Slovakia v Romania – Under 1.5 goals @ 13/10
Belgium to beat Ukraine @ 7/10
Both Teams to Score in Czech Republic v Turkey @ 4/6
Georgia v Portugal – Over 3.5 goals @ 7/5
Nerves could make for cagey encounter
Neither Slovakia nor Romania were particularly fancied coming into this tournament, but both will head into their clash in Frankfurt knowing a point should be enough to ensure their progress into the knockout stages.
That could make for a cagey contest, which would be no surprise for Romania, who warmed up for these finals with a pair of goalless draws and, after briefly letting the shackles off against Ukraine, they reverted back to type in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Belgium.
Edward Iordanescu’s side conceded just five times during qualifying and will likely try and keep things tight against a Slovakia team that may adopt a similar approach to the one that saw them shut out Belgium in their opening match.
Belgium to deliver when it matters
On another day, Belgium would have eased past Slovakia in their tournament opener and they could have had more than the two goals they scored against Romania.
Domenico Tedesco will now be hoping his side can click into gear in their final group game against a Ukraine team that showed plenty of battling spirit to come from behind to beat Slovakia last time out.
That fighting spirit should be on show again in Stuttgart, but it is hard to see past Belgium, who have won 11 and lost only one of their 16 games under Tedesco, doing anything other than picking up the three points.
Goals likely in decisive Hamburg contest
A point will be enough to ensure Turkey make it through to the knockout stages, while the Czech Republic realistically need to win to progress. That makes picking a result from this Group F contest tricky but one thing that should be guaranteed is goals.
Both teams have scored in each of the Czechs’ last six matches, while they have netted in nine games on the spin, a run that includes putting seven past Malta in a pre-tournament friendly.
Turkey failed to net against Portugal last time out, but with highly-rated teenage duo Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz expected to be recalled to the starting XI for this one, they should have more than enough attacking flair to get on the scoresheet.
Much-changed Portugal set to entertain
Portugal’s place in the knockout stages as winners of Group F is already assured and Roberto Martinez could make changes to his starting XI as a result, but that should not weaken the Selecao too much, particularly in the final third.
The likes of Goncalo Ramos and Joao Felix will be itching to get their first minutes of the tournament and they will fancy their chances of scoring against a Georgia defence that has only kept four clean sheets across their last 17 games.
Georgia need to go for this, as only a win will realistically do for Willy Sagnol’s side, so that should make for an open game that could easily feature four or more goals.
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