By Gareth Jones

Published at 15:02, Monday, 02 July 2012

SO just one game to go and the wasteful Evening Mail sports desk still haven’t hit the target.

Gareth Jones

We’ve come pretty close to correctly predicting Euro 2012 scores on a number of occasions – several times being just one goal away from glory. But it doesn’t matter how close you come, you have to find the back of the net – just ask Robin Van Persie, or Ashley Young, or the much-fancied Germans.

The charity challenge has already been lost – with Ladbrokes Barrow manager Margaret Tucker correctly calling two results in the tournament, with the Czechs beating Greece 2-1 and France and England drawing 1-1. As well as giving away a free £1 bet to all readers for each day of the competition, the bookies donated a £5 correct score charity bet each day as well, with St Mary’s Hospice the beneficiaries. All we had to do was put our so-called football expertise to good use, but we have fallen way short, for which we do apologise.

And now, with just tomorrow’s Spain v Italy showpiece to go, and 18 failed predictions later, we have one last chance to redeem ourselves. One positive is that there’s nothing more than pride at stake, the pressure is off.

The problem is though, we backed holders Spain to retain the trophy with a £25 bet at 11/4 before it all began, but the way Italy disposed of England and then
Germany, the momentum is with the Azzurri. We can see Italy stunning the Spanish and claiming the glory, as they often seem to do at times of domestic strife (Spain ‘82 and Germany ‘06 spring to mind).

We can’t tempt fate and bet against the Spanish, however, and that is why, we are sticking with our pre-tournament prediction and backing Del Bosque’s men to sneak home with a 1-0 win, while Ladbrokes have gone for the Balotelli-inspired Italians to take it 2-1.

Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk