Wednesday 1 April 2009

World Cup Betting: England v Ukraine

So after the friendly fun on Saturday the serious stuff now starts again for England as the race to reach South Africa next summer intensifies.

Struggling strikers seems to be the theme of the week as one-by-one Fabio Capello has seen his attacking options drop like flies. That said, there is still no place for Michael Owen, with Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor called up instead.

But the manner of their victory on Saturday, plus the impressive start England have made in their qualifying group, mean the football odds are with the Three Lions. With Betfair currently they are 2/5 for the win.

Ukraine have travelled to England twice in the past, in May 2000 and August 2004. Both games ended in Englands favour, 2-0 and 3-0 respectvely. But both those occasions were friendlies, with points at stake expect a tighter outcome this evening.

I still fancy England to collect the points, even with our striker crisis. Capello is doing a decent job of uniting the squad and getting them to play as a unit, rather than the team of individuals we saw under McClaren and Eriksson. Becuase of that there is a greater resiliance and ability to cope with whatever is thrown at them - in this case the lack of strikers.

First goalscorer bets? Well I would go for the in-form (for England at least) Wayne Rooney, currently 9/2 with Betfair, or fellow scouser Steven Gerrard who is a rather inviting 13/2 to net first.
An outsider? Well John Terry is handy from set-pieces and at 22/1 I would be tempted to put a few quid on the England skipper to make his mark.

Prediction?

Well I think it will be harder than some people make out but I sense a 2-0 England win with current odds of 11/2

For all the latest football betting odds go to betting.betfair

No comments:

Post a Comment