Italy v Sth Korea: The initial lean is to Italy, even allowing for the co-hosts massive advantage in playing on home territory in front of the raucous Red Army. Hard to decipher just how big a help that will be _ the Italians are well accustomed to performing in a hostile enemy territory.
The biggest concern however is the likely re-arranging of the Azzurri's defensive line-up with Cannavaro suspended and Nesta struggling terribly with a foot injury. It seems like Maldini will be moved into a more central role with Panucci and Iuiliano in support.
But it's difficult to trust injury reports coming out of the Italian camp and/or the media given what's gone before.
If Maldini is played as a central defender I think it actually benefits Italy _ he has been exposed on the left flank as age captures up with the majestic skipper and his physical presence may be better utilised where he may do the marking job on Perugia's Ahn Jung-hwan, by far Sth Korea's most demanding player physically in terms of size and strength.
Guss Hiddink has worked wonders with the co-hosts who were deserved group winners. They play a high-energy style and have superb technique throughout the side.
My chief concern is that they lack the killer touch. Against 9-man Portugal they almost blew their 1-0 win and still appear to be a little shot-shy.
Yet to be decided by Trappatoni if Inzaghi will start up front again or if Del Piero did enough in the dying stages against Mexico including his equaliser to be named, with he or Totti being pushed into the second forward role alongside Vieri.
Italy have been shaky in group play _ so what's new? If a couple of line-calls had gone their way they may have been 3-0 at this stage and hot favourites. I'll back their experience and the attributes of Vieiri and maybe Buffon to sneak them home.
Am also going to play the over as a large contrarian play. The under is 5-1 in the playoffs to date and this has all the hallmarks of a tight defensive struggle; hence the -145/-150 line at many books.
I'm going to punt that the opposite to what almost everyone expects to happen occurs.
Probable teams:-
South Korea (4-4-2): 1-Lee Woon-jae; 22-Song Chong-gug, 4-Choi Jin-cheul, 20-Hong Myung-bo, 7-Kim Tae-young; 21-Park Ji-sung, 6-Yoo Sang-chul, 5-Kim Nam-il, 10-Lee Young-pyo; 18-Hwang Sun-hong, 9-Seol Ki-hyeon
Italy (4-4-2): 1-Gianluigi Buffon; 2-Christian Panucci, 15-Mark Iuliano (or 13-Alessandro Nesta), 3-Paolo Maldini, 4-Francesco Coco; 19-Gianluca Zambrotta, 6-Cristiano Zanetti, 17-Damiano Tommasi, 10-Francesco Totti; 7-Alessandro Del Piero (or 9-Filippo Inzaghi), 21-Christian Vieri.
PLAY ITALY -.5 -113/$1.88
PLAY OVER 2.5 GOALS +130/$2.30
Japan v Turkey) The hosts haven't lost at home for a year and deservedly start favourites after winning their group.
Again, home advantage should be huge but the Turks have far more big match experience, making the Euro 2000 finals while many of the squad have plenty of experience from Champions League games with Galatasaray.
While Hakan Sukur has been Turkey's biggest disappointment to date, he may fancy his chances of finding form against Japan's aerially suspect back four. One of his team-mates to shine instead has been the skilful, livewire Hasan Sas.
They have two suspensions. Midfielder Emre Belozoglu could be replaced by Okan Buruk, if he had recovered from a thigh strain, or utility man Ergun Penbe, while in defence Alpay Ozalan is likely to return from suspension for the banned Emre Asik.
Japan have no such problems. Instead, key players Inamoto and Nakata must deal with the expectations of the home fans.
Probable teams:-
Japan: (3-5-2) 12-Seigo Narazaki; 3-Naoki Matsuda, 17-Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, 16-Koji Nakata; 20-Tomokazu Myojin, 5-Junichi Inamoto, 7-Hidetoshi Nakata, 21-Kazuyuki Toda, 18-Shinji Ono; 11-Takayuki Suzuki, 13-Atsushi Yanagisawa.
Turkey: (4-5-1) 1-Rustu Recber; 4-Fatih Akyel, 3-Bulent Korkmaz, 5-Alpay Ozalan, 20-Hakan Unsal; 22-Umit Davala, 8-Tugay Kerimoglu, 10-Yildiray Basturk, 18-Ergun Penbe, 11-Hasan Sas; 9-Hakan Sukur.
Match referee : Pierluigi Collina (Italy)
Linesmen : Maciej Wierzbowski (Poland), PAUL SMITH (NEW ZEALAND).
Have no real feel for the side wager here; but will go contrarian again on the total. While Recber is a fine keeper, Turkey have shown late defensive lapses in group play but plenty of trickery going forward thru Sas and Basturk. Sukur is overdue to make a mark while Yanagisaw will again work hard to create the openings and layoffs up front for his advancing support in Inamoto, Suzuki and Nakata.
PLAY OVER 2.5 GOALS +125/$2.25
GL all
btw, everyone with an interest in this game should read TTM$ outstanding analysis of the Azzurri
The biggest concern however is the likely re-arranging of the Azzurri's defensive line-up with Cannavaro suspended and Nesta struggling terribly with a foot injury. It seems like Maldini will be moved into a more central role with Panucci and Iuiliano in support.
But it's difficult to trust injury reports coming out of the Italian camp and/or the media given what's gone before.
If Maldini is played as a central defender I think it actually benefits Italy _ he has been exposed on the left flank as age captures up with the majestic skipper and his physical presence may be better utilised where he may do the marking job on Perugia's Ahn Jung-hwan, by far Sth Korea's most demanding player physically in terms of size and strength.
Guss Hiddink has worked wonders with the co-hosts who were deserved group winners. They play a high-energy style and have superb technique throughout the side.
My chief concern is that they lack the killer touch. Against 9-man Portugal they almost blew their 1-0 win and still appear to be a little shot-shy.
Yet to be decided by Trappatoni if Inzaghi will start up front again or if Del Piero did enough in the dying stages against Mexico including his equaliser to be named, with he or Totti being pushed into the second forward role alongside Vieri.
Italy have been shaky in group play _ so what's new? If a couple of line-calls had gone their way they may have been 3-0 at this stage and hot favourites. I'll back their experience and the attributes of Vieiri and maybe Buffon to sneak them home.
Am also going to play the over as a large contrarian play. The under is 5-1 in the playoffs to date and this has all the hallmarks of a tight defensive struggle; hence the -145/-150 line at many books.
I'm going to punt that the opposite to what almost everyone expects to happen occurs.
Probable teams:-
South Korea (4-4-2): 1-Lee Woon-jae; 22-Song Chong-gug, 4-Choi Jin-cheul, 20-Hong Myung-bo, 7-Kim Tae-young; 21-Park Ji-sung, 6-Yoo Sang-chul, 5-Kim Nam-il, 10-Lee Young-pyo; 18-Hwang Sun-hong, 9-Seol Ki-hyeon
Italy (4-4-2): 1-Gianluigi Buffon; 2-Christian Panucci, 15-Mark Iuliano (or 13-Alessandro Nesta), 3-Paolo Maldini, 4-Francesco Coco; 19-Gianluca Zambrotta, 6-Cristiano Zanetti, 17-Damiano Tommasi, 10-Francesco Totti; 7-Alessandro Del Piero (or 9-Filippo Inzaghi), 21-Christian Vieri.
PLAY ITALY -.5 -113/$1.88
PLAY OVER 2.5 GOALS +130/$2.30
Japan v Turkey) The hosts haven't lost at home for a year and deservedly start favourites after winning their group.
Again, home advantage should be huge but the Turks have far more big match experience, making the Euro 2000 finals while many of the squad have plenty of experience from Champions League games with Galatasaray.
While Hakan Sukur has been Turkey's biggest disappointment to date, he may fancy his chances of finding form against Japan's aerially suspect back four. One of his team-mates to shine instead has been the skilful, livewire Hasan Sas.
They have two suspensions. Midfielder Emre Belozoglu could be replaced by Okan Buruk, if he had recovered from a thigh strain, or utility man Ergun Penbe, while in defence Alpay Ozalan is likely to return from suspension for the banned Emre Asik.
Japan have no such problems. Instead, key players Inamoto and Nakata must deal with the expectations of the home fans.
Probable teams:-
Japan: (3-5-2) 12-Seigo Narazaki; 3-Naoki Matsuda, 17-Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, 16-Koji Nakata; 20-Tomokazu Myojin, 5-Junichi Inamoto, 7-Hidetoshi Nakata, 21-Kazuyuki Toda, 18-Shinji Ono; 11-Takayuki Suzuki, 13-Atsushi Yanagisawa.
Turkey: (4-5-1) 1-Rustu Recber; 4-Fatih Akyel, 3-Bulent Korkmaz, 5-Alpay Ozalan, 20-Hakan Unsal; 22-Umit Davala, 8-Tugay Kerimoglu, 10-Yildiray Basturk, 18-Ergun Penbe, 11-Hasan Sas; 9-Hakan Sukur.
Match referee : Pierluigi Collina (Italy)
Linesmen : Maciej Wierzbowski (Poland), PAUL SMITH (NEW ZEALAND).
Have no real feel for the side wager here; but will go contrarian again on the total. While Recber is a fine keeper, Turkey have shown late defensive lapses in group play but plenty of trickery going forward thru Sas and Basturk. Sukur is overdue to make a mark while Yanagisaw will again work hard to create the openings and layoffs up front for his advancing support in Inamoto, Suzuki and Nakata.
PLAY OVER 2.5 GOALS +125/$2.25
GL all
btw, everyone with an interest in this game should read TTM$ outstanding analysis of the Azzurri
