The road to South Africa has been uncannily smooth for a side that couldn’t make it to the Euro 2008 starting line, with spread punters who got with Don Fabio’s side generally happier than those who didn’t.
They gave Croatia double trouble with a 4-1 smash and grab in Zagreb and a good old-fashioned 5-1 hiding at home as spread buyers of Three Lions’ total goals spread were left thinking ‘with games like these, who needs friendlies?’. Sporting Index’s total goals spread buyers who keep the faith for the Belarus game will feel safe in the knowledge England have averaged over three goals-a-game in Group Six. And, if that wasn’t enough for spread sellers to be cautious, then they’ll remember that two from Wayne Rooney and another from fellow Scouser Steven Gerrard helped their side breach the Belarusian goalkeeper’s net three times in Minsk. Despite neither man set to feature tonight, their deputies should be more than capable of filling their shoes. Meanwhile,
If there is one criticism of England under Fabio Capello, it’s that they take too long to break down minnows. It took them 49 minutes to score against Andorra in Barcelona, 52 to find a way past Kazakhstan at Wembley and then 40 away to them last weekend. Andorra boss David Rodrigo plans to frustrate the Three Lions tonight, although Betfair odds of 219/1 (actually down from 239/1 earlier today) show that he’s not expected to have much success. Here are some stats from our friends at chickendinner about tonight’s game:
» England have won their three previous meetings with Andorra without conceding a goal, scoring ten in the process.
» Andorra coach Rodrigo’s claimed that “England have always had problems when they have played against us and have been made to work hard to get the first goal.” However, they were beaten 5-0 on their last trip to Wembley in 2006 with the opening goal coming in the fifth minute from Peter Crouch.
» The minnows have lost their last 20 competitive games and their overall record in qualifying games is P58 W1 D2 L55. They’ve taken just a point from
After a miserable 5-1 victory over the weekend, it was nice to see England produce something close to decent footie. Rooney - now sprouting terrifying neck hair - had a stonker, the England fans were so passionate about the anthems that they insisted on being a verse out of time, and Heskey got a well-deserved 50th cap. Here’s what else we found out:
1. England will always concede a goal at some point - albeit a fantastic one.
2. Heskey and Rooney work together as a front TWO.
3. We need someone like Hargreaves in the middle hurtling around, yapping away. Too much backing off gave Belarus their goal.
Since the dawn of time, man has pondered whether Stevie G and Lampsie could play in the same team, and last night in the former Soviet nation of Belarus, an emphatic verdict of “sort of” and “err, not really” rang out in pubs across the nation.
Despite his very public fingernail biting earlier in the week, the man who Spoiler readers believed should be dropped played in no fewer than three positions and got his name on the scoresheet with a 30-yard belter. Well done, that man.
The big talk over at the Daily Mail this week is that 5 Live’s Alan Green is quite breathtakingly babyish, and he can’t even travel on the same flight as Mark Saggers to tonight’s Belarus game, because things have become so frosty between the pair. One or two well-placed friends of The Spoiler have also alluded to a somewhat self-important, prickly nature.
He’s also a man who has ruffled a few feathers over the years, notably Sir Alex Ferguson’s and Joe Royle’s - Royle said this of him to the Manchester Evening News:
“If Alan Green threw himself a birthday party and invited all his friends, he could hold it in a telephone box and still have room for gatecrashers.”
But what do you make of him? Let us know with a vote and a comment…
Don’t rush home from work, England take a while to get going
Our friends at chickendinner have been looking at ways for you to make money on tonight’s England match and believe that betting on the second-half containing more goals than the first is a sound bet. Here’s why:
» In each of England’s last five competitive games there have been more goals scored in the second half than there have in the opening forty-five.
» The margin by which the second-half has outscored the first has increased as the run has gone on:
World Cup Qualifier, 7.30pm, Setanta Sports 1, £10 Free Bet
Rather than just telling you why Wayne Rooney might score in Minsk, our friends at chickendinner have examined all ten likely outfield starters for England tonight and assessed each individual’s chances of scoring the opening goal:
Wayne Bridge - The left-back hasn’t scored in 21 months and his one international goal, against Iceland in 2004, was the sixth in that match.
Matthew Upson - He’s the only likely outfield starter without an international goal but his only goal in the last 22 months was an important one: West Ham’s winner against Manchester United last December.
Rio Ferdinand - Has only once managed to score in consecutive games in his career and even then only one was a first goal.
Wes Brown - Scored his first England goal at home to the Czech Republic
“If I’m honest, we became a bit of a circus in terms of the whole WAG situation,” said Rio Ferdinand at yesterday’s press conference, with a totally straight face.
What is he talking about? These clowns are the best around, with their endless shopping bags, enormous haircuts, and big moisturised faces! Enjoy some cheerful pictures of them after the jump…
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