Everyone’s tipping England. Hot on the heels of Ken Early’s verdict, Paddy Power joins in the clamour – he reckons Fabio Capello’s men will find a way to scrape through to the quarter-finals.
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Well wouldn’t you know it? I mention the fact that Ghana have been a little wasteful in front of goal in South Africa and sure enough the Yanks shoot themselves in the foot, rubbish pun intended, by failing to make the most of their chances in the second half of normal time. Ghana go through and Africa fights on.
In the early game yesterday, I was feeling good that my 3-1 and Forlan to score predictions were going to come to fruition but the Uruguayan frontman looked a little tired after his efforts in the group games. He has plenty of time to rest up before their quarter-final with Ghana where his inspiration will be needed.
So, moving quickly through yesterday’s games with nothing even hinting at a joke and just the one lame pun, it’s time to get on to the serious business of today’s action.
Germany v England – a game which stirs all those usually dormant xenophobic tendencies. The tabloids have to be subtler in these pc times but there’ll still be plenty of references to World War II and bitter stereotyping of the Germans. Ho, ho but it’s all in good fun.
Paper selling and sensationalism aside, England scraped through their group with the bare minimum of skill and will really need to improve on their previous performances against Germany. Of course if any team is going to light a fire under the lacklustre Gerrard and co, then the Old Enemy is sure to be that team. Jogi Loew’s side started impressively but perhaps their final two group games are a better reflection on their abilities.
It’s hard to get away from the talk of penalties and considering how tight the prices are, it’s actually a likely outcome with both sides priced at 17/2 to progress after a shoot-out. Having spent all my bitterness on France, I’m free to get behind England and out of sheer familiarity, if nothing else, I think they’ll find a way to scrape through. That’s as specific as I’m prepared to get.
And then we have the less even Argentina v Mexico match to enjoy in the evening. Having tipped up Leo Messi to score in 90 minutes in every game so far, only to see him hit the bloody post in every game so far, I’m not to be deterred. He’s 6/5 to score in 90 minutes here – surely it’s only a matter of time. Few will be able to see past an Argentina win but Mexico play some tidy football and don’t be surprised to see them trouble a suspect Argentine backline. Maradona’s side should have too much in attack and from a neutral’s standpoint, all we can hope is that Messi isn’t man-marked out of the game again.
Gonzalo Higuain will return to the starting line-up and if you backed the Real Madrid frontman in the Top Goalscorer market, you’ll be hoping he adds to his total here. It’s 4/1 for the man who has a habit of being in the right place at the right time to open the scoring against Mexico. Argentina to win in 90 minutes at 4/7, over 2.5 goals at 11/10 and Messi to score in 90 minutes at 6/5. Let’s see how those three get on.
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