BILLY BUNTER

Weblog: The football punter

Russians could have last laugh against Poland

IN the days before on-line punting you'd never have had a punt on Jakub Blazszsz... - you know the one I mean, to be first scorer.

I think they call him Kuba and so they should. You'd have given up trying to stick his moniker on a betting slip, wouldn't you?

Reminds me of the gag about the Polish bloke who goes to the opticians.

Optician covers one eye and says to the feller, ‘can you read the bottom line?'. The Pole goes, ‘read it? He's a neighbour of mine'.

I can only apologise for that; watch a few retro Seventies specials on Dave and before you know it I've turned into Barry Cryer.

And Group A's no laughing matter anyway. Well that's not entirely true is it, since Greece and Poland kindly laid on an hour-and-a-half of slapstick on the opening night before the Russians were all smiles at having to take on the Czechs.

Cue a customary over-reaction to the Czechs' nightmare in Wroclaw and you can now avail yourself of some juicy prices about Michal Bilek's boys against a desperately ordinary Greece.

I'll have some of that and I also have to say that the Russians don't look a bad bet either.

Lots of pretty young Polish girls dancing in red-and-white frocks clearly brought the best out in Kuba and co for half an hour or so on Friday night, but once the party atmosphere had subsided and they remembered why they are ranked below Libya, Jamaica and, heaven forbid, Wales, they soon stopped swanning around and the Greeks should have had them.

Expect no mercy from the Russians.