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Best Result last time out: 

“Both Wales & Scotland losing in their last Euro Championship qualifiers as I said they would – Not particularly hard predictions I might add” 

Hi everyone, How are you in these tough financial times purely brought about by the banks. Cheer yourself up with some football I say. So here we are on another International programme but this time it is Friendly fixtures. My record at predicting results for International games is 9 correct out of 16 games this season which is up with my record of 50% in the world cup & last season. Better than the Premiership this season but nowhere close on correct scores. 

Anyway, enough of the idle chat & on with the predictions. 

Back with the Premiership on Thursday. 

Match 1: Scotland – Faroe Islands: Tuesday 16th October 2010: (Aberdeen – 8pm): 

Scotland should win this game but it is rather a pointless game in my view as it will probably not tell the Scotland manager any more about his players than he already knows. Scotland did really well in their last game against Spain when they surprised the World Champions by coming from 2-0 down to bring the score level half way through the second half. Spain eventually ran out 3-2 winners after getting over the shock of Scotland’s fight back but it was a good effort by Scotland & one that nobody had thought possible (including me). 

Scotland are looking like they won’t qualify from their Euro Championship group as they have now lost two games already but at least they seem to be improving. 

The Faroe Islands picked up their first point in their Euro Qualifying group when they held Northern Ireland to a 1-1 draw. They had previously lost all their games so a point was welcome but not to the Irish. The last time these two sides played on Scottish soil Scotland won 6-0 but I can’t see a repeat of that scoreline as the Scotland manager has made many changes to his side in order to look at new players. 

A Scotland win then. 

Result Prediction: Scotland to win 
Score Prediction: Scotland 3 Faroe Islands 0 

Match 2: England – France: Wednesday 17th November 2010: – (Wembley) 8pm: 

England had a very disappointing 0-0 draw at home with Montenegro in their last game but to be fair I did predict that Montenegro might be hard to break down & that was the case. England should still qualify from their group (I Hope). They now face a friendly against France who actually managed to have a worse world cup than England which shows how bad it was. 

France have started their European Qualifying group with 3 wins out of 4. They lost their opening game at home to Belarus 1-0 but have since recovered to win their last three which now means they are top of Group D. In their last three qualifiers they have not conceded a goal so England might have some trouble breaking down the French defence but to be honest this is a friendly & not a Competitive game so the game will be not as serious. 

England to win & it looks like both sides will be going to Poland for the Next European Championships which if they meet will result in a French win just like it was in the opening game of Euro 2004 when England scored early and sat back to pay the price. 

Result Prediction: England to win 
Score Prediction: England 2 France 1 

Match 3: Northern Ireland – Morocco: Wednesday 17th November 2010: – (Belfast – 7.45pm): 

Northern Ireland will be very disappointed that they were only able to draw 1-1 away with the Faroe Islands in their last Euro Qualifier, especially as they had made such a great start to their qualifying games. They have now dropped to 4th place in the table & need to start winning again in the group. To their credit they did hold group leaders Italy at home. I suspect that the games against Estonia will be crucial to their chances of qualifying for Poland. 

They now face Morocco in a friendly that they will hope to win to continue their unbeaten run as well as maintaining morale. Northern Ireland have a very bad recent record in friendly games as they have lost all 4 friendly games in 2010 without even scoring a goal. 

Morocco won their last game 1-0 away to Tanzania in early October. Prior to that they have drawn three lost two & won just the one. Not a particularly impressive record so Northern Ireland should be hoping to gain a win. Could be a crap game but Northern Ireland should just win. 

Result Prediction: Northern Ireland to win 
Score Prediction: Northern Ireland 1 Morocco 0 

Match 4: Republic of Ireland – Norway: Wednesday 17th November 2010: (7.45pm): 

The Republic drew 1-1 away in Slovakia in their last game which was of course a Euro Qualifier. They are now 2nd in their group behind Russia who they have already lost 3-2 at home to. I think that the republic will qualify for the playoffs but I really can’t see overhauling Russia at the top of the group. The republic have played three friendly games so far this season & they won two of them beating Paraguay 2-1 & Algeria 3-0. The one they lost was 1-0 to Argentina 1-0, so no disgrace there. 

Norway are top of their group on nine points after winning their opening three games. Their most impressive win so far was the 1-0 win against Portugal. Norway lost their last friendly game against Croatia 2-1 away in October. Of their other three friendly games in 2010 they have beaten France & Slovakia & lost to the Ukraine. A mixed bag then in terms of results in friendly matches. 

I think that the Republic will win this game but it will be close. 

Result Prediction: Republic to win 
Score Prediction: Republic 2 Norway 1 

That’s all for now. See you all on Thursday for the next chapter of the Premiership. 

Good luck 

Douglas Martin 

16th November 2010 

After a lackluster performance in their opening game of the World Cup wagering vs the Yanks, the English are mad, as well they ought to be. England qualified for the 2010 World Cup odds competition with plenty of ease wrecking its qualifying group competitors. It also climbed the FIFA world standings and prior to defender Rio Ferdinand followed only Spain (4:1) and Brazil (5:1) in the soccer betting probabilities at the sportsbooks. Its lineup is loaded with EPL stars and world class skill like Stevie Gerard, Frank Lampard and debatably the best striker in the world, Wayne Rooney.

Yet the best the English may muster was a 1-1 draw at the online sportsbook versus an substandard US squad. Worse, the US’ only goal came on a horrible gaffe by the English goaltender who granted the ball to slip through his hands on a regular save and watched as it dribbled into the goal.

But England needs to have bounced back from the comparable World Cup betting humiliation and save 3 points from Algeria. Algeria looked fairly weak during its 1st game, a 1-0 loss to Slovenia. Granted Algeria played most of the soccer wagering match down a man following its star striker was shown a red card in the first half, but it was clear that this squad was not of the same class as Ye Olde’ Englande.

In this sports wagering game, it was expected for the English to score early and often. Wayne Rooney should have been able to find much more space against a below average Algerian defense and manage to break free of his defenders considerably more easily than he did versus the US.

England knew how critical these 3 points are and it may not only let them get away. A tie puts them on the brink of elimination from the group, and the squad’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage of the World Cup odds contest would be all but snuffed out. They might find themselves in a 4 way battle only to advance from the group stage and this squad is simply too talented to find itself omitted of the Final 16 of the World Cup betting.

The only way to gamble this World Cup wagering competition was on England to win it (1/4), though the payout isn’t much.

Regrettably for England, which was a hugely favored squad going into the World Cup, Algeria held them to a tie. England’s continuously unimpressive performance in the World Cup 2010 is represented by the final score of 0-0. To date in this tournament, they basically have not been aggressive enough.

Coach Fabio Capello was horrified at the team’s performance. His remarks that “this isn’t the England I know” are most likely echoed by the countless fanatics. At the same time, he recognized that the strain of the World Cup may be affecting the team’s ability to score at their usual levels.

Even the Algerian coach, Rabah Saadane, was surprised at England’s weak effectiveness. He had suspected they would be better, and they just weren’t at their greatest throughout Friday’s match.

The majority of the recognition in Group C will be on England and the U.S. but not to be omitted in World Cup probabilities at the online sportsbook are Slovenia and Algeria.

The victor of past Sunday’s game may pretty well get out to an early lead in the group since England and the U.S. played to a tie. The Group C faves in the sportsbooksare tied 1-1 Saturday after a blunder by England goalie Robert Green permitted a Clint Dempsey shot to trickle into the net.

Slovenia was posted as the favorite by World Cup wagering probabilities in the competition against Algeria.

World Cup probabilities on the 3-way soccer line showed Slovenia at +120, Algeria at +220 and the Draw at +220. The total on the match was two with the over at -125. This should happen to be a low scoring game since neither Slovenia nor Algeria has much offense. Slovenia is coached by Matjaz Kek and directed by Milivoje Novakovic. Novakovic had 5 goals and five assists in the qualifying group. What Slovenia does pretty nicely is play defense. In their ten World Cup group qualifying matches, thy allowed just four goals. Slovenia ended second in qualification behind Slovakia and they moved on thanks to a 2-game playoff win against Russia. Slovenia has 23-year-old Valter Birsa who can be a contender in the midfield. If he can set up Novakovic for a goal that may be enough for Slovenia to win this game against the World Cup probabilities since Algeria might not score.

Algeria is directed by midfielder Karim Ziani, defender Antar Yahiam left wing Nadir Belhadj, striker Rafik Saifi and goalie Lounes Gaouaoui. Algeria defeated Egypt to make it to the World Cup so they have the ability to give the other teams in Group C some trouble. If Algeria had to score a goal and win vs Slovenia in World Cup betting they would have needed Ziani to get some space and locate one of his wingers.

This was the inaugural game between Algeria and Slovenia in World Cup odds. Algeria is unbeaten in their opening games in earlier World Cups as they beat West Germany 2-1 in 1982 and played to a 1-1 tie with Northern Ireland in 1986. It’s been 24 years since they previous went to a World Cup. Slovenia had never won a game at an international competition as they have four losses and two draws in 6 games.

Sunday’s game, nevertheless, proved to be a lucky 1 for Slovenia, who won the game 1-0. It was the first ever World Cup win for Slovenia, the littlest nation in the championship with a population of around two million.

Robert Koren, the Slovenian captain, struck a long-range shot that Algeria goalkeeper Fawzi Chaouchi miscalculated and allowed to bounce into the goal off his arm in the 79th minute.

This victory in fact positioned Slovenia in 1st place for the group, above both the United States and England. The game that followed between the United States and Slovenia on Friday resulted in a 2-2 tie.

This is turning out to be rather an unusual season for the Slovenian team.