World Cup
2010-06-27 - Germany vs England
A Sports Betting Pick by Niko
FIFA World Cup: Round of 16
Sunday, 27th June 2010 – kickoff 16:00
Germany
Germany were relieved after their tougher then expected 1-0 victory over Ghana and secured the top spot in the Group D tougher then they thought it would happen. The team was on a huge pressure to progress as never before had happened Germany not to pass the group stages. Now with that pressure off, the Germans should be back at their best and produce a better performance then they did against Ghana.
Cacau made his first start in the team replacing Miroslav Klose who was serving his one match ban, and did a fairly good job, but Klose will be back again in the starting eleven for the clash against England.
Currently there are some problems in the team with injured players like Bastian Schweinsteiger who was replaced ten minutes before the end of the match against Ghana with a thigh problem. In case he is not fit his place will be taken by Toni Kroos. Also Jerome Boateng struggles with calf injury so he is doubtful. I expect Denis Aogo or Marcel Jensen to get chance to play at the right back position.
Coach Loew said that he fears Rooney might explode at this match since he has been quiet in the group games but now the motivation is different and the stakes are higher so the German defense will be very tight and cautious around English strikers.
England
England avoided early exit of the tournament in the group stages with the win against Slovenia and now they need to improve rapidly in order to go further in the knockout stages. The tournament starts now for England and they will probably find a way to raise their game.
A minor scare for the team was the knock in the ankle of Wayne Rooney who was substituted in the 70th minute against Slovenia but according to his words he feels ok and will be up and ready for this match. Defoe did a good job in the last match, not only scoring the goal but he is fast and moves a lot unlike Heskey who i think is more static type of attacker than Defoe.
James Milner was also great at the wing so he is also expected in the starting line up. His passes were accurate, he moved a lot and he had shown that he deserves place in the starting eleven once again. Aaron Lennon has ankle injury and have not trained the past days so Milner is the first option there.
Joe Cole made his first appearance at the tournament in the match against Slovenia, but he had a bit more defensive role then he is used to and probably he will wait his chance from the bench again.
Some good news is the return of Ledley King to trainings after his groin injury but i think that he will miss this match since he is still not fit, but should be in contention if England reaches the quarterfinals.
Head to Head
Some statistics about this fixture is that these teams have played 31 total matches between each other with Germany winning ten times, England sixteen and six matches have ended in a draw.
This will be the first meeting between these nations at the World Cup since 1990 when West Germany beat England on penalties in the semi-finals and eventually became World Champions.
Another interesting fact is that from the last four matches, three have ended in extra time. Not only that, but Germany have been involved in four penalty shoot-outs at the World Cups and have never lost a single one of them!
The Betting Verdict
This will be without doubt a classic match and too bad one of the teams has to go home that early. It would have been better if they had to play among each other later on, but either way this will be a huge match for both sides and i am really looking forward to it.
I think that in this match England will start a bit aggressively and much more devoted then they were in the matches from the group. England will attack, but Germany`s defense is much more stable and they will probably hold on the first half. As the time passes Germany will open up more and will try using their chances.
We should probably see lots of “run-and-gun” chances in the second half but the more time passes the bigger the chances for Germany having on mind their discipline in the game and mental strength in matches like these.
I think that there will not be a winner after regular time and that this match will end in a draw. In the extra time anything is possible, but if this match goes to penalty shoot-out probably the Germans will win.
The Pick :
Germany 1-1 England
