We had confidence in the Mexicans to get one over the cheating French and controversial refereeing decisions or not (How does that feel, Thierry?); Javier Aguirre’s men paid us back in spades with a relatively comfortable victory over the insipid Les Bleus.
Now that the French are pretty much taken care of in the tournament, it’s time to turn our attention to another side not exactly beloved by football fans across the land, In-ger-land. Capello’s boys were quite frankly shocking against the USA in their World Cup opener and need a win to kick-start their campaign.
We think they’ll get over the line in the end, but the way they played against the USA tells us that they may well labour to victory over an Algerian side that were as bad against Slovenia as they were against Ireland at the RDS a few weeks back.
12 of the 20 games in South Africa so far have been draws at half time and we think that this one will be a stalemate at the break before Gerrard and company go on to claim victory. A draw at half time with an England victory at full-time is available for 11/4.
In racing, we’re looking to DORANSFIRTH in Down Royal’s two-and-a-half mile handicap hurdle at 7.20.
David Kelly’s charge is an interesting runner. Doransfirth put up some decent performances last winter, travelling well in races before getting bogged down on heavy ground, and his run at Thurles behind a useful opponent in Steviemac was a particularly good effort.
He caught the eye last time out at Punchestown, cruising up into contention in the straight, while the other horses were all under pressure. He folded quite tamely in the end, but he probably needed the run that day on his first start in six months.
With that outing under his belt, and with quick ground conditions expected to suit this son of Flemensfirth, we expect him to step up on previous efforts and come good today.
JOE’s Daily Double: Doransfirth (Down Royal, 7.20 @ 10/1) & an England draw half time/win full time against Algeria (11/4).
JOE’s horse-racing tips are provided by Ray Flanagan
