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World Cup gambling at the sportsbook on Sunday in the round of 16 may easily be a semifinal or final but Germany and England competed on Sunday with the loser being removed from the 2010 World Cup gambling and bets.

With the English the slightest of favorites, the World Cup betting odds were about as close as you are able to get on this match.

World Cup wagering has favored Germany and England in each of their group matches and neither squad has been excessively impressive. England was actually unsatisfactory in their three group games however they did enough to get through as the 2nd place squad from Group C behind the united states. Germany was not very impressive either but at least they did get two victories in Group D.

England may have more skill but so far in this World Cup they haven’t yet shown much of it. At least in the last match versus Slovenia, Wayne Rooney looked better, though he has not landed yet. He was the 1 player who could make a big difference on Sunday.

Germany and England have a history of playing great World Cup matches. England won 4-2 when they met back in the 1966 final at Wembley. Geoff Hurst won a hat trick for England in that final. Four years later it was Germany defeating England in the quarterfinals. The teams met in 1990 in the semifinals and the competition went to a penalty shootout that Germany ended up winning 4-3.

And now Germany has virtually thrashed the English team to a 4-1 victory in the 2010 World Cup.

While it was considered that the similarly-matched teams may come down to penalty time in a close competition, that just wasn’t the situation. The English defense was sloppy and the Germans came out fast to a 2-0 lead before the English squad obtained their point.

Then, England’s Frank Lampard made a goal that could have brought the competition to a tie. Unfortunately for the English squad, the goal was not spotted by the referee. The ball bounced two feet behind the line at the goal, but lacking delay, the German goalie simply picked it up and threw it back into play. That effectively tricked the referee into thinking the ball had not crossed the line and the English squad was denied their point.

Germany might feel the decision atones for 1966, when the English team was famously awarded a third goal even though Geoff Hurst’s shot looked to bounce down on the line.

England’s coach Fabio Capello believed that goal might have been a turning point for the English squad, and they may have wound up winning the contest after that. In the second half, nonetheless, a superior German squad just ran away with the match. Germany’s Thomas Muller landed twice to take Germany to a 4-1 lead, giving England their biggest ever World Cup loss.

Germany will take on Argentina in the last eight on Saturday. They have now reached at least the quarterfinals at every World Cup since 1954.

On Friday, June 11th the host nation of the 2010 world cup South Africa takes on Mexico in the start of World Cup odds this year. A sum of 32 teams will be competing for the World Cup title with Spain and Brazil the two faves. Just seven teams have ever landed the championship out of the total 18 World Cups which have been played in history. Four years ago it was Italy winning the World Cup as they conquered France in a penalty shootout.

Check out current World Cup probabilities at SBG Global.

2010′s World Cup really only has five teams that are significant contenders. Spain is packed with expertise and they’ve got an simple group with Switzerland, Honduras and Chile. The Spanish team has the talent to win their first World Cup wagering with players like Fernando Torres, David Villa, Xaba and Cesc Fabregas. The main problem for Spain is that they may take on a hard round of 16 match vs the second place squad from Group G that should be Brazil or Portugal. Brazil is the most likely champion of Group G yet if they somehow slide and finish 2nd, wouldn’t it be a substantial jolt to watch the 2 faves, Brazil and Spain playing in the round of 16? Brazil has received the World Cup a total of 5 times plus they are a serious threat to win it again this year. They’ll battle in a tough group with Portugal and Ivory Coast but they’re likely to not have any trouble progressing to the round of 16 particularly given that Ivory Coast likely has no shot given that foremost scorer Didier Drogba is out with a trauma.

England is the third choice in the wagering odds behind Spain and Brazil. They are nicely coached with Fabio Capello and they’ve got Wayne Rooney. Whether their goalkeeper is good enough is the question. Argentina is in the mix considering they have the best player in the world in Lionel Messi. The team is coached by Diego Maradona and that’s likely more of a downside than an upside. The Netherlands is the other possibility to win the World Cup. They might have their best team since 1988.

Italy is the defending champ and has won the World Cup probabilities four times however they look to be far weaker than they were four years ago and have no genuine scoring threats. Germany has won the title 3 times nevertheless they are less of risk this year devoid of captain Michael Ballack who is hurt.

France, Portgual and the USA could be interesting choices if you’re looking for darkhorse candidates. France has still got Thierry Henry, Nikolas Anelka, William Gallas and Franck Ribery whilst Portgual has Cristiano Ronaldo. The USA has Tim Howard and Landon Donovan so they can’t totally be forgotten.

Hello everyone. Welcome to the second part of my European Championship preview article of the season. Well I correctly predicted that England & the Republic of Ireland would win on Friday but Northern Ireland surprised me by winning 1-0 away. By all accounts it was a backs to the wall away win. Well done lads. Scotland managed a 0-0 draw away after I said they would lose & Wales lost 1-0 after I said they would win. We now move on to the second round of games. Wales & Northern Ireland aren’t playing so that leaves three games. Hopefully I should be able to get all three games correct to boost my average. 

Just a last note regarding the “News of the World” & “The Sunday Mirror” who have printed this Sunday details (alleged) of Wayne Rooney’s personal life. Great timing lads. These people are really not on our side are they? They just do so much damage.

Good Luck everyone. 


Match 1: Switzerland – England: (Group G): (Tuesday September 7th: 7.45pm): 

England won on Friday as I predicted but I didn’t expect them to win so well in their 4-0 thrashing of a very poor Bulgarian side. Well done Defoe for his hat trick. I wouldn’t read too much into this result as it says more about Bulgaria than it does England. England now face a Swiss side that they last played in a competitive game in Euro 2004 when England won 3-0 thanks to a brace from Wayne Rooney. Switzerland have managed to qualify for the last four International Tournaments. As already mentioned they qualified for Euro 2004 but went out at the group stages after only failing to gain the one point. At Germany in the World Cup of 2006 they fared better by qualifying out of their group & only going out to Ukraine on Penalties after a 0-0 draw. This was only Switzerland’s second ever appearance at a World cup after their first in 1994 in the USA. They Qualified for Euro 2008 as co-hosts but only won one game to go out at the group stages. Finally at the last World cup this summer they caused one of the shocks of the tournament by beating Spain 1-0 in their opening game but it was a bit of a fluke as was proven by Spain winning the World cup & Switzerland going home after failing to win a game after that victory. This is Switzerland’s first game in the group as they played a friendly on Friday night against Australia. The game ended 0-0 which should give England heart for Tuesday. I think England will win but it might be close as teams tend to raise their game against England & besides England aren’t that good despite Friday nights victory. I will be watching down the pub, which is probably a good idea when you are watching England as the beer takes away the pain. Ha. 

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


Match 2: Scotland – Liechtenstein: (Group I): (Tuesday September 7th: 8pm): 

Scotland started with a 0-0 draw on Friday night. To be fair to Scotland their opponents decided to go for a draw from the first whistle & Scotland were simply not good enough it seems to break them down. They now face Liechtenstein at home in a game they should win & to be honest they need to. Liechtenstein lost their first group game 4-0 at home to World & European champions Spain. Liechtenstein didn’t play their first competitive game until 1981. Their history is not too good. They have never qualified for a tournament or even come close but they have improved in recent years since their first competitive win in 1998 against Azerbaijan when they won 2-1 in a UEFA Championship qualifying game. In 2006 they drew a World Cup qualifier against Portugal away 2-2. An amazing result for them. In the last couple of years they have managed 2 victories against Luxembourg & a 3-0 win against Iceland. On the other side of the coin they are the only side to lose to San Marino when they lost 1-0 in 2004. Can’t see a shock here but Liechtenstein will be competitive & it might take Scotland a while to break them down. 3-0 then but Scotland’s big games in this group are obviously against Spain. 

Result Prediction: Scotland to win
Score Prediction: Scotland 3 Liechtenstein 0 


Match 3: Republic of Ireland – Andorra: (Group B): (Tuesday September 7th: “Dublin” – 7.45pm): 

The Republic had a great start to their group campaign by winning in Cyprus 1-0 (as I predicted). They now face Andorra who they should beat which will of course give them 6 points & top position in the group. Andorra only played their first game in 1996 when they lost 6-1 at home to Estonia. This result set the pattern for the future. They have suffered some heavy defeats including 8-1 to the Czech’s in 2005 & 7-0 to Croatia the following year. They have only ever won three games, two of them in friendly games. Andorra very rarely score more than one goal per game even if they do manage to find the net. Andorra lost their opening game 2-0 at home to Russia & it’s not true that the Russians brought on their T34 tank as a second half sub to cement the result. Ha. The republic will win this game & to be honest the only question is how many goals they will score? The big games like Scotland will come later when they play Russia home & away. 

Result Prediction: Eire to win
Score Prediction: Ireland 3 Andorra 0 

That’s all until The end of the week folks when I will bring you the next round of the Premiership. 

Douglas Martin
5th September 2010
dap martin@hotmail.co.uk 

The 2010/11 English Premier League football season officially kicked off on Sunday with Manchester United grabbing the first available piece of silverware on offer by beating Chelsea 3-1 at Wembley for the FA Charity Shield. A disappointing result for fans used to Chelsea football gifts of two trophies last season.

The football match started with a fast pace as both sides went out to win. We saw early chances come and go with no goals resulting. Paul Scholes may be getting old but he enjoyed a man of the match performance as he controlled the midfield and continually picked out passes with accuracy and preciseness. Manchester United gifts used the full width of the pitch through Antonio Valencia in attack while Chelsea’s Michael Essien and Florent Malouda were largely responsible for(p) for their positive forward moves.

Goals from Ecuadorian Antonio Valencia (41), Mexican Javier Hernandez (76) and Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov (90) secured the Community Shield for Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester side, in front of 84,623 fans, with Chelsea getting a consolation goal scored by Ivory Coast forward Salomon Kalou. The Chelsea football score was disappointing.

A lot of substitutions were used throughout the match and Manchester fans got to see Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez make his competitive debut and score a quite incredible goal that actually went off his face and in. It is a goal worth watching in slow motion, you don’t often see a goal “faced” in.

It was noticeable that from the beginning of the match large sections of fans from both sides were booing the England players when they touched the ball. The idea of Chelsea and Manchester United fans specifically targeting only England players with booing again brings the club v country debate to the forefront of football.  First it was Ashley Cole, then John Terry, Wayne Rooney and even Fabio Capello as the crowd let the underachieving players who failed to show their England  gifts know exactly how they felt concerning England’s poor World Cup display over the summer. The lackluster effort from the fans in their displays of disapproval were ultimately washed out by a sort of ‘call and response’ cheering from the opposition fans. When United would boo, Chelsea would cheer. The gesture, although passionate and honest, was a waste of time and had little lasting effect on the game itself as it progressed. All England football fans were pretty miffed by the players poor performance at the world cup, but I am not sure that the way to express this is by booing them at a club match, particularly as there is an international friendly against Hungary coming up to boo them at.

The 2010 World Cup probabilities begins on Friday, June 11th as the host nation South Africa takes on Mexico. Spain and Brazil are the two favorites among the total of 32 teams that will be contending for the World Cup championship. Just seven teams have ever won the championship out of the total 18 World Cups which have been played in history. 4 years ago it was Italy winning the World Cup as they conquered France in a penalty shootout.

Check out current World Cup odds at SBG Global.

2010′s World Cup really only has five teams that are significant contenders. Spain is full of talent and they have an effortless group with Switzerland, Honduras and Chile. With participants like Fernando Torres, David Villa, Xaba and Cesc Fabregas, the Spanish squad has the talent to win their first World Cup wagering. The main concern for Spain is that they may confront a tough round of 16 match vs the 2nd place squad from Group G that will be Brazil or Portugal. Brazil is the probable champ of Group G but if they in some way fall and finish 2nd, wouldn’t it be a big jolt to watch the 2 faves, Brazil and Spain playing in the round of 16? Brazil has received the World Cup a total of 5 times plus they are a true threat to win it again this year. They are going to battle in a challenging group with Portugal and Ivory Coast but they should not have any difficulty progressing to the round of 16 primarily given that Ivory Coast probably has no shot now that major scorer Didier Drogba has gone out with a trauma.

England is the third choice in the gambling probabilities behind Spain and Brazil. They’ve got Wayne Rooney and are nicely coached with Fabio Capello. Whether their goalie is good enough is the question. Argentina has the best player in the world in Lionel Messi, which brings them into the mix. The team is coached by Diego Maradona and that is most likely more of a bad thing than a good thing. Another contender to win the World Cup is the Netherlands. They might have their finest team since 1988.

Italy is the defending champ and has taken the World Cup odds 4 times nevertheless they look to be far weaker than they were 4 years ago and have no true scoring threats. Lacking captain Michael Ballack, who is injured, Germany is less of a threat this year despite having landed the title three times.

France, Portgual and the United States may very well be interesting choices if you’re looking for darkhorse candidates. France has still got Thierry Henry, Nikolas Anelka, William Gallas and Franck Ribery whilst Portgual has Cristiano Ronaldo. The United States can’t be totally discounted since it has Tim Howard and Landon Donovan.