HelpBets.com - Everything You want to know about Euro 2008

Franck Ribéry - star of the Team

Frank Ribery – a French footballer born on 1st April 1983 in Bolougne. He is a midfielder. Ribéry began the career in US Boulogne where he played in the season 2001-2002. Olympique Ales was the next team in Frenchman career. It was a pretty weak team for Ribbery so he left the club and joined much better Stade Brestois 29. Thanks to good performances in this club, Frank signed a contract with Metz which has been in the first league. Also here he proved that he can play on a very high level and for half of a season he moved to Turkish Galatasaray. It was this club in which he achieved his first success – he won Turkish Cup. Just a half year after that he changed the team again, this time for Olympique Marseilles. He played greatly there as well so no wonder that he drew interest of clubs such as: FC Barcelona, Arsenal London, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Juventus Turin, Inter Milan or Manchester United. The battle for him was won by Bayern Munich and this is the team where the Frenchman plays currently. Ribéry played in World Cup in Germany in a match against Spain, where he was one of the best players of the national team. What is interesting, the footballer hadn’t played in the national team before the tournament even for a minute. His call-up was literally forced by fans. We should point out that France won vice-championship of the world. So far Ribery made 24 international appearances scoring 2 goals.

France - National Team

Player	Club	Position	Age	Value
Sébastien Frey	AC Fiorentina	Goalkeeper	28	20,000,000E
Grégory Coupet	Olympique Lyon	Goalkeeper	35	6,000,000E
Steve Mandanda	Olympique Marsylia	Goalkeeper	23	6,000,000E
William Gallas	Arsenal Londyn	Defender	30	18,000,000E
Eric Abidal	FC Barcelona	Defender	28	17,000,000E
Patrice Evra	Manchester United	Defender	27	15,000,000E
Sébastien Squillaci	Olympique Lyon	Defender	27	15,000,000E
Willy Sagnol	Bayern Monachium	Defender	31	15,000,000E
François Clerc	Olympique Lyon	Defender	25	7,500,000E
Jean-Alain Boumsong	Olympique Lyon	Defender	28	3,000,000E
Lilian Thuram	FC Barcelona	Defender	36	2,800,000E
Franck Ribéry	Bayern Monachium	Midfielder	25	25,000,000E
Jérémy Toulalan	Olympique Lyon	Midfielder	24	20,000,000E
Florent Malouda	Chelsea Londyn	Midfielder	27	17,500,000E
Samir Nasri	Olympique Marsylia	Midfielder	20	15,000,000E
Mathieu Flamini	Inter Mediolan	Midfielder	24	11,000,000E
Lassana Diarra	Portsmouth FC	Midfielder	23	7,000,000E
Claude Makelele	Chelsea Londyn	Midfielder	35	6,500,000E
Thierry Henry	FC Barcelona	Forward	30	30,000,000E
Karim Benzema	Olympique Lyon	Forward	23	23,000,000E
Nicolas Anelka	Chelsea Londyn	Forward	29	22,500,000E
Bafetimbi Gomis	AS St Etienne	Forward	22	10,000,000E
Sidney Govou	Olympique Lyon	Forward	28	8,000,000E
Averages:			27.3	13,950,000E

Formations

France - Picks

Date	Time	Team	Score	Team
9 June 2008	18:00	Romania	0-0	France
Pick:	2	Odd:	1.86: Betfair
This is undoubtedly a death group. Because team such as: France, Holland or Italy are one of the strongest in Europe. Romania has very faint chances for qualification to quarter-final and their morale are surely not high. Adrian Mutu himself will not lead his team to even a single victory. France however is a very strong team with talented and experienced players who have already played, among others on WC in Germany. If France wants to go out of the group, then it should surely defeat the team of Romania, and if this possible with the biggest difference in goals, because it might decide whether or not they qualify.
13 June 2008	20:45	Netherlands	4-1	France
Pick:	1X	Odd:	1.5: Bwin
Holland in the first two rounds in team phase has two very tough matches and these will mainly decide about their further presence in the tournament. It will be surely an even match, played on very high level. Both teams will not want to lose any game, even if they had small chances for advancing to quarter-final. Frenchmen play may be different without Zidane but with or without him they are still superb team with strong position on international arena. Holland’s team has taken off with form recently and is on the winning strike. Robben, Sneijder and Nistelrooy had a very good end of the season in Real, not mentioning the rest, that is why in this game I am going to bet on Dutchmen ‘with support’.
17 June 2008	20:45	France	0-2	Italy
Pick:	2	Odd:	2.5: Expekt
Both teams don’t shine on these championships. If it was not for Italians draw with Romania they could already be leaving the tournament. However not used penalty still gives hope for advancing to quarter-final. They have already drew 1 : 1 with Romania and lost 3 : 0 with the team of Holland. Nobody here expected such play from World Champions. France, like Italians, weren’t able to beat Romanians and need to be satisfied with a draw which really complicates their situation. A draw in this match means knock-out for both teams. That is why both teams need to fight for a win which would bring them closer to quarter-final. Although both teams have the same goal balance 1 : 4, Italy seems to be a better team, what they proved in the match against Romania, which they drew very unlucky because a ref didn’t allow a rightly scored goal. In this match I bet on Italian national team because they need a win and good result form Holland to advance to the next round.