SOCCER FOOTBALL 24H

Italy v Republic of Ireland Wednesday June 22, 20:00 Live on ITV With Italy breezing through to the next round already, it's all about jockeying for position in Group E. Italy are certain of first place because of their head-to-head record against Belgium, so will rotate the squad completely. That explains the  2.50  around about Italy winning the game . That seems a  massive price  given the relative abilities of both sides, and will be one worth taking, but only once the team news is out. Even if Antonio Conte does change the entire starting XI,  Italy's second team may still win . If the Azzurri drift in the Match Odds market on the back of team changes, get on. Italy were less impressive against Sweden than they had been with Belgium, but they did enough to land us a couple of bets, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a slightly more liberated performance here. Conte has always been capable of switching from a tight, throttling set up to an open one (his J...

Iceland v Austria  Wednesday, 17:00 Live on BBCi Iceland  They've never made a big tournament before and because they don't know when the next one will be, they're making the most of this one.  In many ways they're the team at this Euros who most resemble the infamous  Greece  team of 2004.  You know when you've been in a game with this lot and in their match against Hungary they showed they're not afraid to resort to a few underhand tricks, conceding 15 fouls and seeing three players booked.  For all the positives about them though, you have to worry about whether they have in them to chase a game if they go behind, even though they did so against Portugal. So it's a good thing for them they may not have to. If Portugal lose or draw 0-0, they just need to draw to finish second. Austria  Despite all of the disappointment of having just the one point from two games and not having scored a goal, at least they're in a position where their destiny i...

sweden v Belgium Wednesday June 22, 20:00 Live on ITV4 After stinking the place out against Italy, Belgium turned on the style against the Republic of Ireland, and while some of you may still not trust them,  I'm puzzled to see them as big as  1.86  to beat a poor Swedish side . Sweden seem to be overrated in every market in which they're placed, due to the presence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.  That makes our betting approach pretty simple here. I think that there'll be goals in this game, but having tipped this to be Group E's top scoring match in my Group Preview at  5.00 , there's no real need to get involved again.  Italy may run riot against Ireland, but then Belgium may do something similar here. In terms of the Group betting portfolio, we're covered.  They're can't be any big question about Belgian motivation for this. They'll want to finish strongly, even if they cannot now win the group, and certainly won't want to leave themselves vulnerab...

Slovakia v England Monday June 20, 20:00 BST Live on ITV 1 Slovakia In my pre-tournament preview I nominated Slovakia as possible outsiders to go quite deep and I have seen nothing to overly deter me from that line of thinking. Obviously they were beaten by Wales in their opener but they played quite well on reflection and were unlucky not to take at least a point from that game. Ján Kozák 's side then showed great resolve by beating Russia on Wednesday in a match that saw them lead 2-0 at half time. The Russians ensured a nervy final 10 minutes as they pulled one back, but the Slovaks held firm and they are now in a great position to make it through to the knockout phase. Napoli's Marek Hamsik is their key man as he proved again against Russia with a goal and an assist. He sits just behind the lone striker and Eric Dier will have to be at the top of his game to contain him. England With 45 minutes gone in Lens on Thursday things were looking bleak for En...

Russia v Wales Monday June 20, 20:00 BST Live on ITV 4 Russia It's been a miserable tournament for the Russians on all fronts thus far as their fans have disgraced them off the field and the players haven't done much better on it. They were thoroughly outplayed by England in their opener but somehow scraped a point , however they weren't so lucky next time against Slovakia as they were beaten 2-1. The pressure is now on Leonid Slutsky and while he can rightly point to some key injuries, there's no hiding from their abject displays thus far. Nevertheless, a win here would probably see them through to the last 16, but it will take a huge improvement from the attacking players who have all looked poor. Wales When Gareth Bale 's free kick hit the net in Lens on Thursday it seemed that the Welsh were on the verge of securing qualification to the knockout phase of the tournament. A second-half comeback from England has left things in the balance th...

Switzerland's last victory against France was in May 1992 (2-1 in Lausanne). Since then, they have failed to win any of their six games against their neighbours (D3 L3). The draw is 3.00 . France are unbeaten in their three previous meetings with Switzerland in major tournaments, winning against the Swiss at EURO 2004 and World Cup 2014, and drawing in the 2006 World Cup. They are 2.00 to win again. There were seven goals between the teams in their last meeting at the 2014 World Cup (France 5-2 Switzerland), more than there had been in the four meetings prior (6 goals). Over 5.5 goals is 26.00 . The seven goals between France and Switzerland at the 2014 World Cup all came from different players. Both teams to score is 2.00 . France's only previous game at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy ended in an 8-0 win against Jamaica back in June 2014. They are 3.30 to win half-time/full-time. This is the third time France have opened up a EURO with two wins, afte...

Defending champions Chile suffered an opening group game defeat to Argentina but have clawed their way to the quarter-finals and now tackle in-form Mexico, who are so far unbeaten and boast a four-game advantage in previous fixture head-to-heads.  Juan Carlos Osorio’s Aztecs enter at 6/4 to triumph, while La Roja are 33/20 to prevail and edge closer to retaining their crown, with a stalemate after 90 minutes being 15/8 to occur. Javier Hernandez struck in the win over Jamaica and has looked sharp throughout the tournament, with the former Manchester United hitman set to provide a genuine threat to Chile, while Hector Herrera and Oribe Peralta have also been impressive. For the Chileans, Alexis Sanchez will hope to add to double over Panama, including an absolute thunderbolt strike, while Bayern Munich midfielder Arturo Vidal, who also dispatched twice against Bolivia, could help hurt Mexico. Mexico v Chile Sunday 03:00 BST Live on Premier Sports Mexico have scored and conceded ...

Portugal v Austria Saturday, 20:00 Live on BBC1 Portugal  Negatives: the result. The fact they only scored one goal from 26 shots. Guilty of a lapse in concentration to concede Iceland's goal. The absence of a Plan B when they had 40 minutes to get a winning goal. Positives: for the most part they looked  organised  and well-drilled. The fact they created so many chances to start with. The fact that there's no need to panic, a draw is a draw and Austria's loss means that topping the group is very much still a possibility. Having been injured for most of the season, it's hardly surprising Joao Moutinho didn't look fully fit. He could be replaced by one of the two young guns- William Carvalho or  Renato Sanches , who looked lively in a 20-minute cameo. Fernando Santos could do worse than try to find a place in the starting XI for the mercurial  Ricardo Quaresma , possibly at the expense of Joao Mario.  Cristiano Ronaldo needs to let his feet do the talking ...

Iceland v Hungary  Saturday June 18, 18:00 Live on BBC One Iceland  Iceland made plenty of headlines when drawing 1-1 with Portugal. They were the smallest nation in terms of population  to ever take part in the Euros, their fans perfected the art of synchronised chanting and (quite rightly) they took offence to Cristiano Ronaldo's claim they were a country with a 'small mentality'. Former Rotherham United striker (not words I often write when discussing a European Championship)  Kari Arnason  went as far as saying Ronaldo wasn't a 'gracious human being.'' But amidst all this nonsense that gets the world of Twitter up in arms, it was perhaps  Chris Waddle  (formerly of Worksop Town, sorry I couldn't resist) who said what we are all thinking 'Honesty, endeavour - that's what Iceland are all about. They were getting a football lesson in the first half but they never threw in the towel. They've got their rewards.'' That said,  Opta  te...

Belgium v Republic of Ireland Saturday June 18, 14:00 Live on ITV1 So, as predicted, Belgium are 'in crisis' and they've drifted to win Euro 2016, but what we have to ask ourselves is how low will they go?  The Republic of Ireland were desperately unfortunate not to give this column a winner at  3.50  against Sweden.  I thought that they played superbly, with Jeff Hendrick an unlikely star and Sweden mighty fortunate.  In my Group Preview, I stated that Belgium could regret the role of  Marc Wilmots , and yet I felt that a gifted group of players could overcome his ineptitude.  I'm not sure that's the case now, and they absolutely have to beat the Republic to breathe life into their Euro 2016 campaign. Wilmots was schooled by Antonio Conte, and now we're waiting to see whether  Martin O'Neill  can do the same.  I doubt it. For all Belgium's frailty, they were unfortunate not to at least score against Italy, and the Republic will need to...