World Cup Soccer Betting – Qualifier Odds & Previews (Sep 10)
September 8th, 2008
World Cup betting continues on Wednesday night with another full raft of European qualifying fixtures.
Capello Gets Off to Disappointing Start With England
England were booed at halftime in a positively underwhelming 2-0 victory for England against Andorra, coach Fabio Capello’s first competitive game in charge. The pressure is on for a much improved performance away to Croatia on Wednesday night, but the omens aren’t good for Capello. His predecessor, Steve McLaren, lost twice to the Croats during Euro 2008 qualification, and the national side is unbeaten at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb.
England’s 2-0 defeat at the same venue in November 2006, included a howler for keeper, Paul Robinson, the beginning of the end for his England career. Elsewhere, however, much of the same eleven should be entrusted to restore pride to the Three Lions. Capello experimented against Andorra, handing starts to Theo Walcott, Glen Johnson, Joleon Lescott and Stewart Downing, but the Italian is expected to drop most of those players.
Croatia began their World Cup campaign with a convincing 3-0 home win over Kazakhstan, but won’t be at full strength against England, missing Eduardo (long term injury) and Portsmouth’s Niko Kranjcar, an influential creative midfielder. Nevertheless, the momentum is with Slaven Bilic’s side, and the manager himself has plenty of motivation, with the temptation of several Premiership managerial vacancies. PinnacleSports.com price the home side favourites on their World Cup Asian Handicap betting: Croatia 2.080 (0 & -0.5)*, England 1.855 (0 & +0.5)* – a market priced to less than 102%.
Elsewhere Les Bleus will be looking for a reaction at home to Serbia, having suffered a shock 3-1 defeat to Austria on Saturday: France 2.200 (-1)*, Serbia 1.769 *(+1)*. Romania also suffered a surprising defeat, losing 3-0 at home to Lithuania. Coach, Victor Piţurcă, will know that he must get a result in the Faroes Islands, or risk the end of his four year spell as national coach.
*=Odds subject to change after this blog was posted…
>>Check out PinnacleSports.com for the latest handicap WC Qualifier Odds
>>Check out BookieLabRat.com for September online sportsbook reviews and ratings
Entry Filed under: English Football,European Football,Sports Betting
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed