The clock is starting to tick for Romania in Euro 2016. A team which had high hopes of at least getting into the knockout rounds really only has 180 minutes to amass at least three, if not at least four points to get the job done. This match against Switzerland won't be easy, but it will almost certainly end up being the difference between who finishes second and who finishes third in Group A.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Romania +250
Switzerland +125
Draw +220
Over/Under 2 (over -115)
ODDS ANALYSIS
Switzerland has three points on its side already in Euro 2016, but it now only has two wins in its history in the Euros. Looking back at what the Swiss have accomplished in the European Championships certainly doesn't put confidence in you as a bettor, but that price of +125 insinuates they're taking three points from this duel almost as often as they aren't going to.
Romania is the longest shot on the board of the three potential decisions at +250, while a draw would pay +220.
The total is just a tick beyond a flat two goals, a mark which is fairly standard for this level of competition.
TOURNAMENT UPDATE
Even though it was a rocky road for both teams to get where they ended up, the results were exactly what we expected to see from the opening match day in Group A.
Romania put up a better fight than most would've expected against the French but still ultimately lost 2-1. Switzerland looked great in the opening half hour or so against Albania and deserved to be up 1-0 at that point, but in the end, this was a pretty iffy result the rest of the way, as the team wasn't able to build on that when arguably the worst team in this tournament was reduced to 10 men for almost a full hour.
LIVE BETTING
The real shock of the tournament thus far is that Romania's defense was stout and able to keep the French off the front foot for much of the 90 minutes in the opening match.
Sure, the French had a nice advantage in possession at 59 percent, but that margin could've been significantly worse. Looking at heat maps, you'll see that the ball really was never in threatening positions all that often. Even the goals that were scored by France weren't convincing. Olivier Giroud's first was off of a rather inauspicious ball into the box which was poorly played by Ciprian Tatarusanu. The second goal by Dimitri Payet was a world class strike in which he was marked well. Sometimes, strikers with world class talent are going to do world class things.
Switzerland has no talent of the sort. The finishing was awful against Albania for the most part, and the Swiss attackers will find their opportunities against this Romania defense limited as long as the men in yellow hold their form well as they did under immense pressure against France.
QUICK PICK
Do we really think that Romania is going to win this match more often than not? No, we don't. But in a soccer match of this caliber where motivation could be a big factor and one goal could end up deciding the whole match, we're certainly willing to take our chances with two teams that seem pretty evenly matched on paper.
We like this Swiss team, but we don't think it looked nearly as impressive against Albania as that 1-0 score line would suggest. It wasn't comprehensively the better team on the field, and not even when it had 11 men against Albania's 10 did it ever really look that convincing. There's a nice overlay here where we can take some advantaging, and backing the Romanians in a match they'd love to have to pretty much ensure safety into the next round seems like the sharpest play to make.
Euro 2016 Odds: Romania 1, Switzerland 0
Access live betting lines from your mobile device at BookMaker Sportsbook! You can wager on sporting events as they unfold on television with BookMaker’s live betting platform. Real-time spreads, totals, props and moneyline odds are all available by clicking here, so start betting with BookMaker today! The matchup between Romania and Switzerland will kick off on Wednesday, June 15, 2016 at 12:00 p.m. ET. This fixture from the Parc des Princes in Paris can be seen live on ESPN.
