BetUK Blog

Spain passed a big test by beating the Swedes and booking their passage to the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 in the process. After ripping apart Russia in their opening game, Fernando Torres and Co were made to work really hard for their second in Group D.

We always knew that the Spaniards possessed bags of flair and talent. What we didn’t know was if they had the resolve that is also needed to win a major tournament. I think we have the answer now.

Andy Murray is confident he will be fit for Wimbledon despite pulling out of his quarter-final with Andy Roddick at Queen’s Club because of a thumb injury.

The British number one sustained the injury when he fell during his win over Ernests Gulbis on Thursday.

With Wimbledon starting on 23 June, the Scot chose not to risk further damage by facing Roddick on Friday. But Murray said: “I hope to be playing again early next week and I don’t think Wimbledon will be a problem at all.”

The youngster is 16/1 with BetUK to take the Wimbledon Men’s Singles title.

Spain are the new favourites for Euro 2008 following Germany’s shock loss to Croatia on Thursday - the first real upset of the tournament.

The Germans had headed the outright market at 7/2 before kick-off but a goal in each half from Darijo Srna and Ivica Olic gave Croatia a deserved 2-1 win.

Lukas Podolski pulled one back but it proved too little too late for Germany and defeat against co-hosts Austria in their final group game will send Joachim Low’s men crashing out of the tournament.

Spain striker David Villa has made a sensational start to Euro 2008 with a hat-trick against Russia, prompting transfer talk that he will soon be on his way from Valencia this summer.

Obviously one of the big two in Spain will want to secure his services, with an outside chance that he could end up at Chelsea or Man Utd.

Commentators reckon he is now in the £25m bracket which excludes a lot of clubs, but both Barca and Real Madrid have that kind of loot and must be favourites to bag him.

Down the years there have been some great double acts, Abbot and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, Morecambe and Wise, Torvill and Dean and for the first two days of the US Open it will be Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. It’s not very likely that there will be too many laughs here.

The top two players in the world have been paired together (the last time it happened was at the USPGA in 2006) and at a little after 8.05am local time they will be locked in battle with the eyes of the golfing world looking on in anticipation. Chaperoning them will be Aussie star Adam Scott who makes up the unlikely threesome as they come face-to-face with a course some experts are describing as the most brutal set-up that has been prepared in the history of the second major of the season.

However, the South Course at Torrey Pines is a sort of homecoming for Mickelson and Woods as they both know it so well. The former was born and raised in San Diego and played a lot of his junior golf there, while he has also won the Buick Invitational, held at Torrey Pines, on three occasions. Woods has won five of the last six Buick Invitationals and also won a world junior title at the track.

The big question every golf punter is wondering is how Woods will play on his return to action following surgery on his knee as the course is not going to take any prisoners and is definitely not a place to be if you have only one good leg. Particularly as the world No.1 places so much stress on that part of his anatomy as he has such a fast swing speed. You can chance your arm on Tiger’s leg on BetUK.

The best-backed team in Euro 2008 finally get a chance to show us what all the fuss is about when Spain face Russia in their Group D opener today.

With a potentially dynamic forward pairing of Fernando Torres and David Villa set to start together, many are predicting this will be Spain’s tournament and manager Luis Aragones is expecting fireworks from the duo.

“We have Villa and Torres, who are very quick, who have quality and an eye for goal,” he has said.

“So it’ll be difficult for us to come out of the game without scoring,” Aragones added.

Torres is 7-2 with BetUK to score the first goal while Spain are clear 3/5 favourites to win their opener.

As Spain have a recent history of starting tournaments well – they thrashed Ukraine 4-0 in their World Cup opening match two years ago – many will be betting on a similar goalfest here.

Tiger Woods is drifting like a barge in the betting markets for the US Open this week after it appears that he’s not back to full fitness after a knee operation. Tiger can, of course, already be considered a ‘great’ but who would put it past him to prove the doubters wrong once again? He’s won 6 out of 11 tournament’s he’s played at Torrey Pines. The math could speak for itself by next Sunday evening.

This evening France make their debut in Euro 2008 and how they fare could depend on whether this old team gels. A journalist friend of mine tells me there has been some stroppy behaviour from Thierry Henry in the French squad because apparently the ball isn’t being “passed to him enough”. Very curious but l think Monsieur Va Va Voom needs to realise his all-conquering days at Arsenal days are over. Play with the other boys in the park Thierry and France might just go all the way.

The horse that wasn’t going to run, ended up winning the Epsom Derby. New Approach, the top 2-year-old last year, was not thought to be an entrant in the big race. His trainer, Jim Bolger, had consistently been saying that his horse would run in the Irish Derby instead.

But that changed when Bolger decided that New Approach should indeed contest UK racing’s Blue Riband event. The 3-year-old went off at 5/1 (he was available at more than 250/1 two weeks ago), the second-favourite, and won the race, worth over £800,000 in prize money, by a half-length. That’s a pretty good return for misleading the market in the way Bolger did.

Germany have been all the rage with punters during the build up to Euro 2008 and they have their first opportunity to live up to the hype in tonight’s Group B clash with Poland.

The Germans were priced up at 10/1 during the qualifiers but are now at 7/2 on BetUK to take the tournament.

They have also been backed in to 9/20 to bag three points against the Poles tonight while captain Michael Ballack is a 20/1 chance to be the tournament’s top goalscorer.

Will they live up to the hype?