INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL
USA/Brazil, Sunday 7.30pm, BBC Three, Betfair £25 Free Bet

The reaction of the American media to their national side ending Spain’s 35-game unbeaten streak may have been unbearable but it would have been just as bad - if not worse - over here if England had done it. The USA have made this pretty meaningless tournament worth watching and they will fancy their chances of winning it after seeing Brazil stumble past South Africa last night in the other semi-final. The bookies don’t though and some of the trends identified by our friends at chickendinner make it easy to see why:
1. Brazil have won 14 of their 15 matches against USA (one after extra-time). The USA’s one win over the holders came in the 1998 Gold Cup Final, with former Everton winger Predrag “Preki” Radosavljevic scoring the winner.
2. USA haven’t scored against Brazil in three previous Confederations Cup meetings, with Dunga’s side beating them 1-0 in 1999 and 2003 and winning 3-0 against them last Thursday.

Tags: Betfair, Bob Bradley, Brazil, CONCACAF Gold Cup, Confederations Cup, Dunga, England, Everton, Final, free bet, International Football, Mexico, Predrag Radosavljevic, Preki, South Africa, South America, Spain, Special Offer, Statistics, Trends, USA
Posted: June 26th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING PREVIEW
England/Andorra, 8.15pm, ITV1, Free Bets, Best Odds

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:
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» 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

Tags: Andorra, Belarus, Betfair, David Rodrigo, England, Fabio Capello, free bet, Germany, Iceland, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Peter Crouch, Portsmouth, Special Offer, Three Lions, Wayne Rooney, Wembley, World Cup Qualifying
Posted: June 10th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn