SOCCER

European Championship Betting Guide: Monday 6/14/21

Another day brings three more matches to the Euro 2020 table, highlighted by a relatively even battle of dark horses in Group D and the first contests of the tournament for Group E.

For all the odds on Euro 2020, FanDuel Sportsbook has you covered. For advice on what Monday’s fixtures could offer, read on!

Scotland vs. Czech Republic

Hampden Park | Glasgow, Scotland | 9am EDT
The Pick: Scotland +180

Monday’s opening match for the lesser lights of Group D is basically a pick’em at this point, so let’s make the case for each.

Steve Clarke’s Scotland were bang average in qualifying – five wins, five losses, and a -3 goal differential – but the lads in tartan and white gutted their way through the Nations League playoffs and booked their place in the team’s first major tournament since 1998 with a pair of dramatic penalty shootout wins over Israel and Serbia.


On the other hand, the Czech Republic didn’t need the playoffs to qualify, as they finished second to England in Group A thanks to a perfect record at home that included a 2-1 win over the Three Lions in Prague.

Led by West Ham’s Tomáš Soućek and Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick, the Czechs have a number of in-form players in their starting XI. Plus, they’ve been here before; the country has featured in every European Championship since the break-up of Czechoslovakia in 1993.

Still, Scotland is playing on their home pitch in Glasgow, and they defeated Jaroslav Šilhavý’s side twice in Nations League games in the fall of 2020.

Add in the Czech’s shaky results of late -- they’ve won just twice in five outings this calendar year, a set of results highlighted by a chastening 4-0 defeat to Italy in a pre-tournament friendly earlier this month -- and the Scots might be the pick here.

Poland vs. Slovakia

Saint Petersburg Stadium | St. Petersburg, Russia | 12pm EDT
The Pick: Poland -130

If you’re looking for a reason to take the long-shot in this match, Exhibit A is Poland’s entirely average results in the last seven months.

Under new Portuguese manager Paulo Sousa, the Eagles have been an entertaining watch -- more pressing, more passion -- but the former Fiorentina coach’s arrival has yielded just one win in five attempts. Notably, three of those five results were high-scoring draws, including a wild 3-3 World Cup qualifier against Hungary in March and a 2-2 friendly against 2016 Euro sensations Iceland just days ago on June 8.