Euro Betting – Iceland’s Run Hitting French Wall
France (-240) vs Iceland (+800), Draw (+350)
The most lopsided matchup of the Euro 2016 quarterfinals will see the surprise team of the tournament, Iceland (2-0-2), meet host France (3-0-1) at the Stade de France in Paris on Sunday (3:00 PM Eastern) with a spot in the final four on the line.
Iceland have put together an unthinkable run to reach the quarters. They drew against Portugal (1-1) and Hungary (1-1) while beating Austria (2-1) in the Group Stage, good enough for a runner-up finish in the quartet. That was unlikely in and of itself, with Iceland at 7/1 to advance to the knockout stage at the outset of tournament. But then unlikely turned to incomprehensible in the Round of 16 as they ousted heavily favored England, 2-1.
After falling behind 1-0 on an early penalty, Iceland were able to take advantage of some sloppy English defending to take a 2-1 lead into half. They were dominated in the possession department once again, but played solid defensive soccer in the second half, limiting the English scoring chances.
What Iceland is doing is looking less and less fluky by the day. The tiny nation of just over 300,000 qualified for the tournament by beating the Netherlands 2-1 in Amsterdam.
But their meeting against France is going to be the biggest challenge yet. Not only will they be facing the tournament favorites, but they’ll also be in hostile territory. That’s going to be a new dynamic for the scrappy underdogs, who have had a great deal of fan support in all their matches to date.
France have won three of four games thus far. In the Group Stage, they beat Romania (2-1) and Albania (2-0), while drawing Switzerland (0-0). Like Iceland, they fell behind in the Round of 16 on an early penalty, but rallied to beat Ireland (2-1) on the strength of two second-half goals.
Striker Antoine Griezmann played the hero, potting a brace just four minutes apart.
France have every tool in the box to dominate Iceland, and the hopes of an entire nation motivating them. Iceland’s story is great, but this is where it ends.
Pick: France (-240).
(Photo Credit: Football.ua, CC BY-SA 3.0, [https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19933761] vía Wiki Commons.)
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
