Euro 2008 FREE Shirt Offer...

As I said yesterday the bookies are starting the clamour to have your bets for Euro 2008 placed with them and PartyBets have come up with what I believe will undoubtedly be THE BEST OFFER around. If you fancy nailing your colours to the mast for this tournament then before you head out and spend your hard-earned on that new shirt take a look at this. Not only could you win hundreds of pounds but even if your bet goes down you've got the shirt to show for it. You could say it's a 'Don't lose the shirt off your back' special from one of the most competitively-priced bookies around.

Any customer who opens a new account with PartyBets up until 6th June and places a £40 bet on the outright winner of Euro 2008 will receive a voucher for a brand, spanking new FREE replica shirt of the team of your choice from the tournament. It really is as simple as that. Once your bet is placed, PartyBets will send you a code within 48 hours, you head along to the Subside Sports website, choose the shirt you want, enter the code and voila..it's yours, FREE GRATIS!



This kind of free shirt offer has been done before by bookies like Gamebookers and Canbet, and proved to be massive. I've no doubt this one will be the same and if you don't already have a PartyBets account then now is the time to get one.

Click here to head to PartyBets, click the Euro 2008 banner at the top of the right hand menu, open your account and claim your free shirt...EASY!

They think it's Raul over...

Spanish coach Luis Aragonés has decided on the 23 players who will attempt to turn his country from being the perpetual under-achievers of the past into European Champions and shocked many in the country by leaving out Real Madrid's Raul Gonzalez.

Raul, who has 102 caps and 44 goals for his country, scored 18 goals in Real Madrid's championship winning side and has been ceremoniously dumped and replaced by Real Zaragoza striker Sergio García (no, not the golfer), who's side were ironically relegated on the final day of the La Liga season. Aragonés, who has proven he is not afraid of controversy in the past, has also chosen not to take Valencia pair David Albelda and Joaquín Sánchez, while has included uncapped midfielder Santiago Cazorla of Villarreal. Aragonés also became the only manager who will pick a player with a woman's name when he chose Villarreal's Capdevilla, first name...JOAN!

The 23 players chosen to finally turn the Spaniards from zeroes to heroes are...

Goalkeepers
Iker Casillas Real Madrid
Pepe Reina Liverpool
Andrés Palop Sevilla

Defenders
Sergio Ramos Real Madrid
Álvaro Arbeloa Liverpool
Carles Puyol Barcelona
Carlos Marchena Valencia
Raúl Albiol Valencia
Juanito Real Betis
Joan Capdevilla Villarreal
Fernando Navarro Mallorca

Midfielders
Marcos Senna Villarreal
Xabi Alonso Liverpool
Xavi Hernández Barcelona
Cesc Fábregas Arsenal
Andrés Iniesta Barcelona
Rubén De la Red Getafe
David Silva Valencia
Santiago Cazorla Villarreal

Forwards
David Villa Valencia
Daniel Güiza Mallorca
Sergio García Real Zaragoza
Fernando Torres Liverpool

On his surprise decision to leave out Raul coach Aragonés said, "I have chosen the players in relation to how they have performed over many games. I'm the one, for better or worse, who has to choose and I have chosen."

International Friendlies...

The UEFA.com Fantasy Football competition gets into full swing this midweek when the first phase of international friendlies before Euro 2008 commences get underway. To be in with a chance of winning tickets to the big tournament now is the time to get your entries in and pick up points right from the start.

Here is a list of this midweek's friendlies, with the Euro 2008 finalists in bold and links to the news pages of the Euro 2008 website for all the latest team news...

Belarus v Turkey
Romania v Russia
Denmark v Czech Republic
Austria v Holland
Poland v USA
Portugal v Greece
Sweden v Brazil
Switzerland v Germany
France v England
Scotland v Croatia
Spain v Italy

Looking at these fixtures and with ten of the sixteen Euro 2008 finalists facing each other it could pay to pick your line-up from the likes of Turkey and Czech Republic who will be facing sides who aren't planning for the summer and may well be building towards the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. The other side who should come out on top, and where I will be finding the backbone of my team is from Holland, who face Euro hosts and expected, quite rightly so, whipping boys of the tournament.

Get picking your team and don't forget to get them entered into the YOYWTW Super League by using the code 52-10...GOOD LUCK!