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| France | | | | Italy | | | | Portugal | | | | England | | | | Holland | | | | Spain | | | | Czech Republic | | | | Germany | | |
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Euro 2004 fancies Italy, Portugal, Spain, Holland and England may all have designs on winning this summer's Championships - but bookmakers Victor Chandler simply can't see past favourites France.
Accordingly, the firm quote the reigning European champions at 3/1 to retain their crown with the firm's spokesman Ian Marmion expecting to see those odds diminish sharply between now and the Lisbon final on July 4.
"With Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet leading the attack and Robert Pires and Zinedine Zidane providing the ammunition, I simply cannot see any other side outscoring the French over the duration of the tournament," he said.
"Critics point to the fact that keeper Fabien Barthez looks increasingly vulnerable and that their defence is ageing but eight wins from eight Euro 2004 qualifying matches suggests things aren't too bad at the back."
France make their Euro 2004 debut against Group B opponents England on June 13 with Marmion anticipating a tight game in Lisbon.
"If it was a straight knockout match I'd fancy the French but because it's a group game we can expect to see a more cagey affair and that might point to a draw.
"France and England will be expected to qualify from the group ahead of Croatia and Switzerland and both sides could well be more preoccupied with not losing the match."
Chandler chalk Sven Goran Eriksson's England up at 15/2 to go all the way in Portugal this summer but Marmion said that punters looking for a big priced outsider could do worse than take a look at 28/1 Sweden.
"Henrik Larsson could turn out to be one of the players of the tournament and represents outstanding value to be the tournament top scorer. And they are well capable of qualifying from a Group C that contains Denmark, Bulgaria and Italy."
Article created on 02/06/2004 12:23Send this article ( VICTOR CHANDLER EURO 2004 BETTING ODDS ) to a friend
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