Greece v Czech Republic: Low-scoring Group A affair in prospect

With two wins and two draws from the previous four meetings of the sides, it is somewhat surprising to see Greece as 11/5 underdogs against Czech Republic on Tuesday.

The Greeks kicked off their Euro 2012 campaign with a draw against host nation Poland, and the stalemate will see some interest at 11/5 in this game too.

Czech Republic meanwhile, were soundly beaten 4-1 against Russia in their tournament opener, and realistically need a victory at 7/5 to maintain a chance of qualification from the group stage.

It would seem that goals will be hard to come by in the match, with the previous four encounters between the nations reaping only two strikes.

They have met once previously in European championship competition, when Greece triumphed 1-0 en route to shockingly landing the title, and a repeat of that scoreline is 7/1 on Tuesday.

Alternatively, the Euro 2004 victors can be backed at 5/4 to win or draw a game featuring two or less goals, whilst the Czechs are 3/1 to win a game where the net bulges on such few occasions.

Disciplinary issues were rife in Greece’s tournament opener meanwhile, and so some punters may take an interest in card markets on this game.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos was dismissed against Poland, before the hosts’ goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny saw red in the second half too.

Papastathopoulos’ likely replacement, Kyriakos Papadopoulos, could be worth a bet at 7/1 to receive the first card of the game, whilst Petr Cech is 40/1 to be the first name in the referee’s notebook.

Dimitris Salpangidis may have done enough to warrant a starting berth for the match, after scoring and winning a penalty for the Greeks in their opening tie, and he is 8/1 to open the scoring.

For the Czechs, Milan Baros is 7/1 to break the deadlock, and boasting a Golden Boot award from the 2004 renewal of this competition, he may be worth investment.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.