The Dutch will be European champions, that much is already certain. With a 1-0 win in the final against France, after knocking the English (who else?) out of the tournament in the semi-finals on penalties (how else?), final score 4-3. Final opponents France, on the other hand, spoiled the party for the hosts and sent Germany home with a 1-0 win in the semi-finals in the Munich Football Arena, formerly known as the Allianz Arena. There will be surprises in the preliminary rounds, for example Albania will hold defending champions Italy to a 0-0 draw. The Italians will still make it to the quarter-finals, where they will face England and lose 2-4 on penalties (!). We would love to know who missed their penalty, but that is not what is important when predicting the European Championship. Unfortunately, clairvoyance has its limits.
The world of betting games is as wonderful as it is strange. Wonderful because even a match like Slovakia – Romania can bask in the glow of attention. The game must, please, end 0:0, so you will be trembling in front of the TV and hoping for no goal. The more boring, the better – at least for your own wallet. So that the old Alfredo di Stefano saying can be refuted: “A 0:0 is like a Sunday without sun.”
The guessing game is strange and at the same time wonderful because of the names that the participants give themselves. Will “De blinde Hess” come out on top in the end? One would also like to know whether “LaGrandeMerde” will be rooting for the French or not, while the affection of “Marzipan Belgrad” is not difficult to guess. “Oinky” is possibly a Schweini fan (or even Schweini himself), “Blausockendandler, immer zu Langsam” seems to be in a football identity crisis, and “Guzzifuzzi” and “Hexischnecksi” would at least sound onomatopoeic and make a nice guessing group.
The former Chancellor and her favourite result
An old tipper’s wisdom is: don’t bet on landslide victories. Unless you predict a 7:1 against Brazil. The “standard result” approach is more promising, which was once chosen by the colleague who predicted a 2:1 for the home team for an entire Bundesliga season and won the money championship with ease. This approach is Angela Merkel-approved, by the way. The former Chancellor, football locker room visitor and Schweini-understander (is she perhaps “Oinky”?) bet, when asked, as good as always to a 2-1 for Germany.
Not a bad tip, but statistics show that in the past 30 years, the second most common result at the European Championships has been 2-1. The most common result is 1-0. As in the upcoming Netherlands-France final. Unless it ends 7-1.