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England v Germany Betting
World Cup Football Betting
Sporting predictions by Chris Clegg - Putting your money where your mouth is!
We're gonna score ONE more than you
Has the lack of fire-power scuppered England's chances in the World Cup?
Well, it has to be said that Wednesday was a great day for England fans everywhere. We did it. As Fat Les's inimitable words echoed around over 10 million English houses, pubs and streets at 3pm on Wednesday afternoon: ‘We're gonna score one more than you...ENGLAND!” Defoe et al did not disappoint; they did indeed score one more than the team ranked seventeen places below them in the world rankings; indeed the smallest country in the World Cup finals. In fairness, though, England could have scored significantly more goals; alas, they did not. There was another goal for Defoe, only to be ruled offside; affectionately nicknamed 'Shrek,' Rooney also scuffed a glorious opportunity onto the foot of the post. This all made for an agonising last few minutes as the players did their job of wasting the last few moments guarding the ball on the Slovenia goal line next to the corner flag.
Last Sixteen here we come: beer anyone?
The final whistle blew and we had done the job; just enough - we were in the second round, the last sixteen, 'nuf said!
For a long time during the second half, the other game in group C was goalless, which meant that England would top the group. After all the negativity and unrest in the camp, all was looking so very rosy. Hot-headed Fabio had chilled out the night before the match and offered the boys a beer, or two; the performance on the day had been more than acceptable, and England were sailing through to the next round.
Football's coming home?
As the celebrations begun and Baddiel and Skinner once again hijacked the jukebox, insisting for the umpteenth time that "football's coming home", news filtered through the alehouses and newly decorated red and white council houses of England that USA had scored and won their game and topped the group. Oh well, I suppose it doesn't make that much difference; if one is entirely honest with oneself, England only deserved to finish second based on their three performances, and some would argue were lucky to even qualify at all.
However, we know how passionate, and some might say, blindly patriotic, the English fans are. Many of whom had planned the route to the semi-final against Brazil, including, I hate to admit it, myself. We would play the team that finished second in group D, which I was convinced would be Serbia, or at worst, Ghana. Both of whom, England would be expected to comfortably beat (where have we heard that before?). We would then progress through to a quarter final against the winners of Uruguay versus South Korea. 16th against 47th in the world, respectively. England is officially the 8th best team in the world and therefore would be expected (or certainties in many English eyes) to win through to the semi-final with no undue concerns. Brazil would most probably await us in the semi-final where the competition would well and truly hot up.
Out of the window
Of course, the fact that USA managed a late winner against the Algerians means that the above scenario went out of the pub window quicker than the random Slovenian who decided to sing the national anthem louder than the English idiots who were booing it. It wasn't pretty.
What this all means is that England's path to the semi-finals, or beyond, is now decidedly more difficult, which is reflected in the bookies shortening England's odds to around 8/1 as opposed to the 6/1 they would have offered had we won the group (before the Slovenia match England were 11/1). As everyone in the world must know now, England face their old adversaries, Germany, in the last sixteen.
If England beat the team ranked two places above them in the world rankings, they will most probably meet the team ranked one place above them, namely Argentina: the team who are simply scoring for fun, in the quarter finals, and then... well, to talk of the possibility of meeting Spain or Portugal in the semis is a long way off. Perhaps we should now take one game at a time and savour the beautiful fact that we are still in this wonderful tournament...unlike the French...and the Italians.
Sweet Revenge?
Bring on Sunday afternoon, when a large part of England will come to a standstill to hopefully watch England beat the Germans. Revenge will be sweet, methinks...
England are 17/10 to triumph; Germany 9/5 and the draw is 2/1. Too close to call
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