...For one of those corrupt events, if you get my meaning
Anyway, my feelings about the laughable FIFA aside, England play Switzerland and finally may seal their qualification in what has been the longest drawn qualification process for yonks
Unfortunately only game five is being played, but should England beat Switzerland and Montenegro beat Bulgaria then it will officially knock out Wales and all but confirm the two top spots, simple as that
I don't see very good odds - Montenegro are not worth evens, they may win, but they are ultimately unreliable, despite their form
In slightly more fun groups, Germany have two away games in Austria and Azerbaijan, already with a five point lead two wins will effectively cement their obvious victory, personally I think Germany at 2/5 in Austria is pretty decent odds
Belgium v Turkey is crucial to these two teams - a home win is required to keep the Flemish in the hunt for second, this is a punt but Belgium at 5/4 is a reasonable tip as the Turks have been a bit off lately
Group B is typically Irish - three teams on 10 points after five games, Russia and Slovakia have pretty simple home games, the Irish need a result in Macedonia, to be honest it's not looking good with Russia having four home games left and Slovakia three
Group C is still open for Northern Ireland, Italy will cement their position with a win over Estonia and Slovenia have three to gain from the Faroes - that's it...two games (ok, three, but one is pointless)
The muddling French lead group D but still face the tougher tests, the trip to Belarus is probably the game of the round actually - I can dream, can't I? Belarus have won in France so I quite like 13/2 odds for the home side, they also have a home tie against Luxembourg, so that'll keep the pressure on
Bosnia remain in the hunt, playing Albania and then travelling to Romania - I doubt it'll come to anything, France are surely top two, but they do love to try!
The Dutch have won six of six, but have a rest and haven't got a huge lead just yet, but are surely group winners, San Marino will be handing three points to Finland and Hungary, Sweden are going to Moldova and then face neighbours Finland - grudge match?? Not really, second is Hungary or Sweden - do you really care?
Group F remains tight, and will remain so until the end - Croatia at 1/3 over Georgia isn't bad, Greece have their own banker, and arguably so do Israel, so it's probably as you were - Croatia and Greece all the way
Skipping to H, where Norway are ahead of Portugal, which is nice - all I can say is hooway the Norge! A draw would be very nice in Lisbon, Denmark are probably out of it at this point but should be able to beat their cousins in Iceland and may be able to screw over Portugal in October - worrying times for the greasy one even if they beat Noway
It all comes down to Denmark - assuming Portugal win all three easier games they will go in on 16 points, if Norway can beat Cyprus and Iceland they would realistically need a point in Copenhagen
Draw at 4/1 anybody?
In Scotland's mini-group there's a whole one game, Lithuania at 1/2 is not that bad, if uninspiring, Spain win the group, yay
It's time to qualify
3 Jun 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)