The second round of group play matches is underway in Germany as Euro 2024 continues on Thursday. Slovenia and Serbia will kick off first at 9:00 am ET in Munich, followed by Denmark facing England at noon ET from Frankfurt.
The final match of the day features two of the last three winners of this event, with Italy, the 2020 champions, playing against Spain, who won back-to-back Euros in 2008 and 2012. Serbia (-140) and England (-150) are both odds-on favorites to win today, while Spain is plus-money (+120) to win against Italy.
Earlier in the tournament, Slovenia and Denmark drew 1-1 during a game in which Christian Eriksen scored for the Danes in the 17th minute. It was a significant moment for the player and all who saw his life-threatening situation at Euro 2020. The Slovenians leveled the match in the 77th minute and the result held at one goal apiece.
England and Italy both captured one-goal victories against Serbia and Albania, respectively. The English team received criticism for their 1-nil win but secured three points nonetheless, and the Italians bounced back from a first-minute goal allowed to start their tournament in winning fashion.
Spain cruised to a 3-0 victory over Croatia in their first match, slotting three goals past Dominik Livakovic in the first half and holding on despite losing the possession battle.
A quick reminder for Americans who are excited about early-day, televised betting action: odds for these matches are similar to hockey regulation bets.
A game that ends in a draw does not mean your moneyline bet pushes; it will be graded as a loser. Keep that in mind, especially when betting favorites or seeing a line that looks too good to be true for one side in these matches.
Our best bets for the exciting day of European competition are outlined next.
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The knock on England after that narrow victory over the Serbians was the amount of chances they allowed to a side that didn’t end up converting any for goals.
Denmark’s scoring combination of Eriksen and the young Rasmus Højlund both had scoring chances with a Post-shot Expected Goal (PSxG) rate of 0.8 or higher, but only Eriksen converted his.
The English were fortunate that Serbia did not level the match against them in the first round of group play, and we expect these sides to combine for at least three goals at plus-money odds this afternoon.
Spain’s goal margin in their first match against Croatia was exceeded only by host Germany’s 5-1 dispatching of Scotland, but it should have been a much more even result.
Croatia had two shots with at least a 0.9 PSxG, but each was saved by Spanish keeper Unai Simón, including a penalty attempt in the 80th minute.
Numerous chances from just in front of the Spanish goal were not converted by a Croatian side that deserved better according to the numbers, and we expect Italy to experience a regression from Spain in match two. The game has a total swayed toward the under, according to oddsmakers, and we envision a 1-1 result in Gelsenkirchen.