FRIDAY JUNE 15th
I
cannot comment too much on the Italy- Croatia game as I only saw the
last twenty minutes and both appeared to settle for the point after the
equaliser, but I will watch the first 70 minutes later today. The Irish
again conceded early and it was match over from that stage, in a
complete mismatch.
I didn't see the start of the opening game, as I was at Queens Club to watch some play from the Aegon Championships,
I left before the rain came, but conditions all day were tough, very
windy, which I am told didn't really come across on television. I was
praying that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was going to come through, as he was
really struggling to judge the wind and I wanted to oppose him today,
but Ivan Dodig beat him in three
close sets and the Croatian, who was clearly in no rush to get off court
and watch his country play, handled the conditions much better and now
meets Sam Querrey, who won this
event in 2010. The American clearly likes it at Queens Club, which suits
his big serve, but he has not played much on the surface since, missing
much of 2011 after surgery, he had a similarly close battle with Julien
Benneteau yesterday. Exchange odds are around 1.45-3.15 in favour of
the US player and whilst I would opt for Querrey if forced to choose, I
do believe it will be close and that Dodig has a chance, in conditions
which are going to be very similar, there is a strong chance of rain and
again these swirling winds of around 30km are forecast around the
middle of the day. I only saw a few games from Querrey's match, but
Dodig appeared to
handle the weather better yesterday.
The
pair have met once before at Wimbledon in 2010, Querrey came into the
game as Queens Club champion, so was clearly near the top of his game
and won 6-2 5-7 6-3 7-6, the fourth set tie break went to 22
points and so Dodig, who was performing at a much lower level then, came
very close to taking the match into a fifth set. The Croatian player
stepped up a level after that, forced his way into the top 100 and last
year made the final of a grass court event in s'Hertogenbosch, I looked
into that and the tournament was played in very similar conditions with
lots of delays for rain. I can understand why these conditions suit him,
he is hugely focused and hungry and plays every point as though it is
his last. He has a big serve, at Wimbledon he was right up there with
Querrey's which is considered one of the biggest on
tour and there will be plenty of free points for both today. but he can
mix it up more than the US player, on serve I mean and he was prepared
to adjust to the conditions yesterday, as opposed to Querrey looking to
play through them. I like the
"over" 23 games @ 2.0 with Pinnacle Sports....there is some over 22.5
games at 1.80 with two or three bookmakers which is a very similar quote. Dodig is a fighter, he has come up through the ranks and will scrap for every point today, example of those battling qualities is that he beat Rafael Nadal, 1–6, 7–6, 7–6 after recovering from 1–6, 1–3, a situation when most would have given up . He sees a big serve well, won a five setter over Ivo Karlovic and was the only player to take a set off Novak Djokovic at last year's Australian Open.
EURO 2012
ENGLAND - SWEDEN
No
real holding player for Sweden in the opener and with the suspect
defence that we discussed beforehand, they were always going to struggle
to keep a cleansheet, this gave Ukraine quite long
spells of possession, they broke quickly through Yevhen Konoplyanaka
on the left and Andriy Yarmolenko on the opposite flank and the movement
of Andriy Voronin and intellegence of Andriy Shevchenko, was the
difference between the two teams. Shevchenko got all the plaudits, but
Voronin's performance was no less valuable. Despite all this,Sweden were
unlucky to lose IMO and Zlatan Ibrahimovic looked what he is, the real class
act on show, he could have scored three, should have had two and his
clever play dragged Tymoshchuk ( charged with marking Zlatan) all over
the pitch, into positions he didn't know existed. Both Ukraine goals
came from crosses.....REST OF THE PREVIEW IS RESTRICTED
FRANCE- UKRAINE
We
have already discussed how the Ukraine goals came against Sweden and
having seen England also score from a header, I doubt their tactics will
change too much. I suspect they will be looking for a point, probably
happy to sit back, let France dominate possession and try and break, get
those balls into the box and attempt to steal a goal. France’s
midfield was good at retaining possession, but took few chances against
England, but they were content with a draw and to simple see out the
game and the frightening conditions ,especially with two games coming up
in quick succession. What they
missed was a .... REST OF THE PREVIEW IS RESTRICTED
US OPEN GOLF
Only
six of the 156 man field broke par yesterday and only one, leader
Michael Thompson ( who he ?), by more than a single stroke, I hope he
enjoys his moment in the limelight, as it will not last long !
The
top 60 plus ties and any golfer within ten strokes of the lead will make the cut, at present that would be 108 golfers ( !), which would be a
logistical nightmare and could potentially be even worse, as Thompson
will surely come back to the field.
However, we
have some very big names in danger of missing the cut, which is
currently set at +6 , including Rory McIlroy ( defending champion) and
Zach Johnson at +7, Bubba Watson and Peter Hanson +8 and Luke Donald +9,
right on the cusp at +6 are Lucas Glover ( winner in
2009), Steve Stricker, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott.
All
of these will want to play the weekend and each will feel a little
embarrassed by their opening rounds, so expect them all to be very
focused today. Also, whilst +7 sounds and indeed is terrible, it is
"only" seven strokes behind 7th place and any under par round today,
should get you back into, if not exactly contention, then in position to
make a run over the weekend.
Some players have a history of doing this, Luke Glover opened with a 76 last year and then shot 69 in Round 2 and in his championship year of 2009, shot 64 on Friday.
The two I would like to discuss are ....... REST OF THE EMAIL IS RESTRICTED
Contact: gowi8@btinternet.com
Above is a censored copy of today's notes, the full edition runs to some 1,800 + words and costs less than a cup of coffee, if you found something of interest in the edited previews above, you would probably benefit greatly from reading the full notes on a daily basis. If you sign up, the June and July copies are free, still some 45 + copies, so delaying your decision is just costing you money.
Contact: gowi8@btinternet.com
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