Euro 2012 Top Team Goalscorer – A Great Value Lucky 15

With Euro 2012 just a matter of hours away, I’d like to share my thoughts on one of the outright markets that for some punters may have slipped under the radar: Top Team Goalscorer.

This was a market brought to my attention when Ian shared his bet receipt for backing Lewandowski to be the highest scoring Pole. This selection has since been backed in massively and the value has disappeared. However, if you look across various other countries there is still huge value to be found!
I’d like to share some of my tips for who could grab the goals for their respective countries, which are as follows:

Group A

So, the secret’s out that Group A could already be a 2-horse race between Russia and one of the host nations, Poland and I agree with this perception. In my eyes, Russia should score a fair few goals on their way to qualifying from Group A but who will bag them?

Alexander Kerzhakov is the favourite at 7/2 and although his goalscoring record at both club and international level makes good reading I prefer the look of CSKA’s Alan Dzagoev at 8/1. An Attacking Midfielder and guaranteed starter, Dzagoev has been in scintillating form this season and was Russia’s top scorer in qualifying with 4 goals.

Kerzhakov is favourite for a reason but with competition for places from both Pavlyuchenko and Pogrebynak, the 8/1 for Dzagoev is too big to miss for a player who should play every minute of every game.

Group B:

The Group of Death has been harsh to Denmark, who qualified by finishing top of their group, ahead of Portugal no less. However, there is still money to be made on this well-organised, ever improving nation.

Nicklas Bendtner is the 11/4 fave to be top dog for the Danes, and leads the line admirably for his homeland. However, he is not a prolific goalscoring poacher who plays on the shoulder of the defence. Instead, he holds the ball up and looks to create space for the midfield to exploit.

Step forward, Christian Eriksen, the wonderkid of his country and my tip for top scoring Dane at 9/1. It may only take a couple or even a solitary goal to take the accolade as Denmark are up against it in Group B, and I believe Eriksen is capable of at least one special moment this summer.

Group C:
In Group C, I am going to look at a very competitive field; Top Spanish Goalscorer. With David Villa ruled out, a space at the pinnacle of the Spanish attack is now up for grabs, and there’s no shortage of top-class candidates.

Alvaro Negredo, Pedro and Fernando’s Torres and Llorente will all stake a claim to lead the line and this has again led me to look elsewhere for a top scorer who is going to definitely be involved in each and every game!

Andres Iniesta (14s), Francesc Fabregas (10s) and David Silva (8s) all have plenty of goals in them but Iniesta is my pick not only due to the price but he’s also a nailed on cert to be at the heart of the Spanish team throughout the tournament.

Group D:
Home is where the heart is and that’s also were my NAP of this market comes from. Wayne Rooney is the favourite for England, despite only being guaranteed 90 minutes of Euro 2012, at 11/2.

Wayne is closely followed by his two potential replacements Welbeck and Carroll, at 6/1 and 13/2 respectively. With an air of mystery surrounding just who Hodgson will pick as his main man for the first couple of games, the 13/2 available for Ashley Young to be top English scorer seems a no-brainer. First name on the team sheet and in fantastic goalscoring form I just simply can’t see anyone else pipping him to this one.

Recommendation

To both clarify and conclude my 4 selections are:
Russia- Alan Dzagoev – 8/1
Denmark- Christian Eriksen- 9/1
Spain- Andres Iniesta 14/1
England- Ashley Young 13/2

Personally, I am going to utilise a lucky 15 to include my 4 selections, so feel free to use this method and any of my selections or mix and match with your own. If you’re not convinced by the lucky 15 style you could of course just do a Yankee!
Other selections I like the look of:
Ireland- Aidan McGeady- 25/1
Sweden- Seb Larsson- 12/1
Italy- Fabio Borini- 12/1