posted June 23, 2008 at 13:06 EST in Soccer Articles

Italy snuck into the second round by beating the French in their last group play match. The Italians also needed help from the Romanians who did them a great favor by losing to the Netherlands two nil in their last match. There’s a reason that the Italians haven’t won the European Championship since 1964. They don’t seem to play with the same sort of fire in the Euros as they do in the World Cup. Maybe that’s okay but if I’m a fan of the Italians I really couldn’t be happy with their performance so far in this tournament. Yes, they made it to the quarterfinals, but they had to really hustle in order to do it. They are an iffy online betting proposition at best.

As for the Spaniards, they were nothing less then terrific in their three group play matches. They were fantastic in dominating Greece, Sweden and Russia in their group. They have a solid chance to carry that domination over into this huge match between two international powerhouses.

Here are the BetUS online sportsbook betting odds for this match.

Spain pk - 140 + 140 O 2 - 120 O 1 - 125

U 1 - 105

Italy pk + 120 + 185 U 2 Ev O 1 + 110

U 1 - 140

Draw + 215

The Spanish look like the team to beat in this match-up. The Italians did okay versus the French but they aren’t playing nearly as well as the Spanish who appear to really have it together in this tournament.

I’m going to have to make an online wager on Spain to win this game straight-up at + 140. To me, getting anything above even money on the Spanish is a good bet. The Italians just don’t seem like the best international team in the world right now.

It’s not so much about how they’re playing but how they are reacting to things that are going wrong in their matches. They’re sort of playing as if goals should come to them - - as if because they are the world champs they deserve to make it to the finals.

I’m not buying it. The better team in this match is Spain. That’s who I’ll be wagering on.

I’m going to make an online bet on Spain to beat Italy at the BetUS online money-line odds of + 140.