James Middleton

Cristiano Ronaldo’s dragon-slaying exploits against Wales moved him to within one goal of Euro 2016 leading scorer Antoine Griezmann ahead of Portugal’s appearance in Sunday’s final. CR7 bagged the first in the Seleccao’s 2-0 semi-final win with a bullet header from close range, taking his tally to three for the … Read more

Germany: 39/20, The Draw: 2/1, France: 9/5 Shadowing Germany in the betting to win Euro 2016 is their semi-final opponent France but, intriguingly, it is the French who the bookies deem more likely to prevail when the duo collide in the last four. Didier Deschamps’ men are 37/20 second-favourites for … Read more

Odds: Portugal: 5/4, The Draw: 21/10, Wales: 29/10   Euro 2016 is the first football tournament featuring Wales in the semi-final stage. A stunning, but thoroughly-deserved 3-1 victory over Belgium booked them a berth in the last four, where they’ll face Portugal. Just how the Seleccao have ventured so far … Read more

Wales provided a Euro 2016 shock to rival Iceland’s eliminating of England in overcoming Belgium to reach the semi-finals. Their 3-1 win ensured them a place in history as the joint-best debutants at the tournament (they equaled Sweden’s performance at Euro ’92, though in truth, the effort of Chris Coleman’s … Read more

Portugal were the first nation to book a Euro 2016 semi-final spot, overcoming Poland in a penalty shootout after the teams couldn’t be separated in 120 minutes. Incredibly, despite being guaranteed a last four berth, the Seleccao have yet to win a match inside normal time and haven’t been ahead … Read more

Odds: Germany: 5/4, The Draw: 2/1, Italy: 3/1 Germany’s return to form in the final third against Slovakia sent out an ominous message to their Euro 2016 rivals, but will the obliteration of a tournament small fry in the last-16 instil the confidence to shake their almighty Azzurri hoodoo? Given … Read more

Odds: Poland: 3/1, The Draw: 2/1, Portugal: 5/4 Portugal’s Euro 2016 campaign so far bear similarities to the numerous tales of rookie casino goers who, disregarding any advice, strategy or instruction manual, tugged levers and bashed buttons on slots machines and ended up winning a fortune – they’ve no idea … Read more

Odds: England: 11/20, The Draw: 11/4, Iceland: 29/4 Iceland’s last-gasp winning goal against Austria was celebrated with similar vigour amongst sections of England fans as it was the supporters of the nation who scored it. The motivation for this shared elation was provided by Arnor Traustason, whose injury-time strike re-routed … Read more

Odds: Hungary: 11/2, The Draw: 27/10, Belgium: 65/100 One of Euro 2016’s surprise packages meets one of its more underwhelming outfits in this last-16 affair. Few fancied Hungary to qualify from Group F, let alone top it, while Belgium’s insipid pool E campaign did little to vindicate the hype that … Read more

Odds: Germany: 11/25, The Draw: 333/100, Slovakia: 17/2 Progression to the last 16 was Slovakia’s aim for Euro 2016, but pointers as to how they’d advance beyond the first knockout phase were seemingly omitted from the pre-tournament brief. The reward for drawing their final Group B match against England, a … Read more