Paddy can’t help gloating after France’s poor performance, as he looks towards a day where Germany and England will both come out on top.
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Well I guess Greece do still have a little luck on their side. A red card, a deflected goal and suddenly they started to believe they could go on and win the game. And they did. I can’t see them getting anything from the game against Argentina but it was definitely a big improvement on their showing against South Korea.
Messi may not have scored but he came pretty damn close and I wasn’t a million miles away with my 4-0 prediction yesterday. I’m marking that one down as a win.
I did promise a little gloating if France lost but with Henry failing to even get on the pitch, I’d just feel a little xenophobic. Ah, what the hell? Ha, ha, ha, ha. Au revoir Les Bleus. Of course if they beat South Africa and Uruguay beat Mexico, then they could still go through and I’m going to look a little stupid. Wouldn’t be the first time.
So on to today’s games. One or two of Serbia’s players might have to cancel that Bentley they ordered and were planning to pay for with their fat new Premier League pay-check next season. Krasic was a major disappointment and if the star players don’t shine today they’ll be in trouble.
Germany did look good though, and my suspicion that Jurgen Klinsmann was little more than the annoying frontman for the Sebastien Loew-masterminded run to the 2006 final is looking like more than just a conspiracy theory. If they play with the same attacking intent against Serbia then they can book their place in the knock-out stages in style. Germany -2 goals is a risky but rewarding 5/1.
The US team struck a blow for the oil-covered pelicans of the Gulf Coast, apparently by smearing some of that oil on Mr Green’s gloves. They were quite literally handed that point but this is certainly a game Bob Bradley will have been targeting for a win.
Slovenia looked very limited against an equally limited Algeria and the extra quality of Dempsey and Donovan should prove the difference. They’re 21/20 in the match betting. I think it could be close but I fancy the Yanks. Is Yanks racist? Let me know.
And finally the game that’s going to dominate the back-pages of the red tops for the next few days. The hair-trigger reactions of the English media aren’t exactly helpful to the England team but over in South Africa the players won’t be affected by it and they can have few excuses for failure.
A top-quality manager, a strong squad and one of the easier groups, Capello should be looking to win their next two games and qualify as group winners. Algeria just aren’t very good, and anything short of a comfortable win will be a failure for England.
If Gareth Barry starts, allowing Lampard to play the attacking midfield role, and Gerrard is pushed up front to play behind Rooney, then I can see them winning at a canter. With that line-up I’d be confident of backing England -1 goal at 5/6. Maybe even -2 goals at 12/5 if I was feeling greedy.
