One Year To Go - Euro 2008

This time next year, the UEFA European Football Championship will already be in full swing. From June 7th to 29th, 16 teams will be vying for the title in Austria and Switzerland.

After it all kicked off during Sweden v Denmark (some nutter tried to banjo the referee), we at WINunited.com think it's going to be one of the most exciting and entertaining Euros yet!

At the end of the day, the most important question will be who will make it through the qualifying groups into the finals!

Keith Hayes, European soccer expert at WINunited.com gives his views on the qualifying group stages so far:

"Group A has been blown wide open after Armenia's shock win over group leaders Poland. Early favourites Portugal and Serbia capitalised on the Poles' ricket to keep hopes of qualification alive after both nations had shockers earlier in the group. Finland also picked up 3 points as the Poles lost, but having played one more game than the Serbs and Portuguese, I'm sure they will be lucky to Finnish (!) in the Top 2.

Displaying precious little of their World Cup pedigree in the opening stages of the qualification process, Italy have now won 5 in a row in Group B, convincingly or otherwise and now find themselves at the front of the grid. The French have only slipped up to the group's valiant and skilful dark horses (Scotland....and my boss is Scottish) so far, and they top the group. However, the French and Italians go head to head in the next round of matches so I suspect the Jocks, who only trail the Italians by one point, will still be there or thereabouts when it's time for a scrap!

Turkey sounded off a warning to their Group C rivals after coming away from Athens with an impressive 4-1 win over Greece. The Greeks though, capitalised on a Turkish slump in form following the clash to return to the top of the Group. Norway and Bosnia- Herzegovina are tied on points with Turkey, although with a game in hand, the Greeks are my fancy.

The Germans are runaway leaders of Group D, dropping just two points along the way. Germany always seems to qualify for finals! Although it's still mathematically possible for Slovakia and Wales to qualify, I doubt whether they will hold out much resistance, leaving the way clear for the Czech Republic to fight off the Irish challenge for the last remaining spot.

Teams hoping to escape Group E with an invitation to next year's shindig in the land of cowbells and mullets face an unenviable task! Croatia and Israel top the group, with seeded favourites Russia and England completing the quartet of potential qualifiers. Pressure on Steve McLaren, cruelly renamed McDonut courtesy of The Sun, is sky high, so he really must show us that he knows what he's doing! Croatia, Israel and Russia are hardly likely to usher his team into the Finals, though.....

Northern Ireland have been the bookies' darling so far, having taken points off the favourites to mount a surprising challenge for qualification. Losing Lawrie Sanchez should ensure that the wheels fall off though....The aftermath that followed the attempted lamping of referee Herbert Fandel by a Danish fan has resulted in Sweden being awarded a 3-0 default victory, taking the Swedes above Spain into top spot. The Danish players may well feel cheated by this nutcase's actions, but they are going to have to get over it and quickly if they stand a chance of catching their Swedish neighbours and the Spanish as they race towards the tape.

Group G has developed into a three horse race, with Romania, Bulgaria and the Netherlands still unbeaten. Neighbours Romania and Bulgaria are currently top of the tree in the Group; however the Dutch have a game in hand. All three teams face each other again in a subsequent round of matches, leaving the race wide open.

WINunited.com offers bets on all major sports events with great coverage of UK football. Bets on the latest media events and politics are also part of the portfolio. The poker page offers attractive and unusual tournaments such as the "Bankvault" and the "Killer Freeroll".

Make or break for England

England manager Steve McClaren face a make or break test against Estonia in Tallinn today. Defeat or even a draw would leave England perilously close to a failure to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals and McClaren insists he is not even contemplating the repercussions. England were booed in their last qualifier against Andorra, and Frank Lampard was singled out for stick in Friday's qualifier against Brazil, but McClaren stressed there is only one answer. He said: 'I am more determined to get it right than anybody. What you have to do to answer your critics is by putting in performances, we have done that in the last two games. 'It hurt me that we didn't get the right results but we're aiming to put that right tonight.' Asked about the booing of Lampard, McClaren replied: 'It's what you do on the field. Frank knows that and answered it on Friday, I praised him and Stevie G (Gerrard) and [Brazil coach] Dunga did the same, that's great respect from a coach such as him.'

Soccer - The World's Most Popular Sport

Soccer is perhaps the world's favorite spectator sport, popularly known as "Football" in Britain and other European countries. This game can be as frustrating as golf, as physical as football and hockey, as erratic as baseball, and as exciting as basketball. No simple word can describe the popularity of the game, with a global television audience of 49 billion people for the 2002 World Cup alone. The game is exciting and highly addictive to watch and play. Professional game rules require 11 players per team, 10 playing the field and one goalkeeper. With the use of a round ball, the matched is player with the two teams wearing shirts of different colors with distinctive soccer patches. The game is divided into two sets, each for 45 minutes long with the referee adding "extra time" based on time being wasted or play being stopped during the original 45 minutes. Usually, the extra time will be about one-to-three minutes. A maximum of three substitutes may be used in any match played in an official competition organized under the auspices of the World Governing body Federation International Football Association (FIFA), the confederations or the national associations. However, in other competitions the rules must state how many substitutes may be nominated, from three up to a maximum of seven. The decision regarding a match ending with a tie score usually depends on the actual type of game being player. There are times when the just simply ends in a tie score after the regular 90 minutes game plus any added time. On the other hand, a game ending with a tie score may lead into an overtime with an allotted time of extra play leading to penalty kicks, this usually occurs during a deciding game of a tournament. Each team is given five attempts to score on the opposing goalkeeper, the team with the highest score wins the game. During a game, players are only allowed to wear soccer equipment and are prohibited to wear anything that may harm him as well as the other. This includes any kind of jewelry and other accessories. The basic soccer equipment of a player include a jersey or shirt with their distinctive soccer patches; shorts, if thermal under shorts are worn, it has to be the same main color as the shorts; stockings; and footwear, soccer shoes, boots, cleats. There are instances that players may use extra equipments such as shin guards and headgears. The shin guards protect the leg below the knee and are completely covered by the stockings. These are either made of rubber, plastic, or similar substances. While the head gear are available to protect younger players when heading the ball. For goalkeepers, they must wear a color that separates him from the other goalkeeper, players, the referee and the assistant referees. There are four important details that one should know about the game before he is ready to play soccer. The first is that only the goalkeeper is allowed to use his hands, and this is only within the confines of the marked-off area surrounding the goal. When a player uses their hands on a ball, the opposing team gets a free kick from the spot of the violation. The second vital information that you should remember about the game is that players are generally penalized for rough or unfair play with the use of cards. A yellow card is considered a stern warning, while a red card signifies a serious violation. Once a player receives a red card it means that he had been ejected from the game and cannot be replaced and that leaves the player's team with less players. Meanwhile receiving two yellow cards will equal to a red card, meaning the player will receive the same penalty.