Football Tips: An 11/2 shout tops our best Slovakia v Romania bets

Our footie tipster Andrew Cunneen has a trio of picks in mind.

Slovakia v Romania Betting Tips

Short-Priced Fancy: Under 0.5 First Half Goals
Value Play: Romania to Win
Long Shot: Over 3.5 Goals

Wednesday, June 26: 17:00 – Slovakia v Romania
Euro 2024 Group E match – Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt
TV: BBC Two/ RTE Player

We’re at the stage of the competition where the bloke with the calculator is the most popular in the room.

Permutations is the buzzword on everyone’s lips, and it’s considerably worse this time around given UEFA have decided to potentially reward teams who finish second bottom in a group of four. Wild stuff, but we can only do what we can do.

Some groups are cut and dry, and we need not think too long and hard on them – and then there’s Group E.

By an industry-leading model, all four teams have at least a 60% chance of qualifying, while none have more than an 83% chance of qualifying. Confused yet?

Enter Slovakia v Romania – a game that absolutely nobody knows what a draw is worth, or how big a price a loss would be to pay.

Short-Priced Fancy: Under 0.5 First Half Goals

This is an exercise in survival.

Everyone will be looking at the scores around them, wondering if they’re currently doing enough.

There does lie a situation where a point is enough for both of these, and given Belgium will be hotly-fancied to beat Ukraine, it seems likely in fact.

If one of these teams did launch an offensive and provoked the other into a game of actual football, we could be in for an awful ‘what-if’ moment.

Nobody wants to be remembered for being the ‘big-brain’ who brought about a needless elimination from a major tournament when all they had to do was to figuratively play the game rather than literally.

Should a move need to be made with Ukraine taking the lead over Belgium, then maybe we do see a goal in the second half – but the first 45 should be a snorefest.

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Value Play: Romania to Win

Why? Because in a game with evenly-matched sides, I’ll take the bigger price.

Romania’s opening day display will live long in the national sporting memory, and it showed they’re not messing about.

None of the European press believed for a second that they’d be winning this group, and yet they’re currently atop the admittedly-small mountain at this stage.

I think Slovakia caught Belgium cold, and benefitted massively from the comedy show that is Romelu Lukaku.

In the cold light of day, is it more impressive to hammer a team you should, or to come away with an undeserved shock? I’ll take the Romanians.

Long Shot: Over 3.5 Goals

What happens if Belgium are going one way, then they’re going another?

These two will be forced in and out of action more quickly than a vape in a moody relative’s house.

And given the manic nature of their games so far, I’d not be surprised to see this be hammer and tongs if urgency is needed.

It’s a real long shot to be required, but should Belgium do a Belgium, this becomes a runner.

Slovakia v Romania Tips

Short-Priced Fancy: Under 0.5 First Half Goals
Value Play: Romania to Win
Long Shot: Over 3.5 Goals

All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.

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