Egypt V Algeria preview »
On Saturday, Egypt managed a 2-0 win at home to force this play-off, and the Pharaohs are now a step away from booking the final African ticket to the WC finals. If you had followed the qualifiers, there was once a time when Egypt had only 1 point to Algeria’s 7. Egypt started slow with a home draw to Zambia and a defeat in Algeria. Their [...]
France V Ireland preview »
What can I say? The Irish hosted a “manager-less”side at home and still failed to deliver! I mean, how could the team than managed to score TWO past Buffon fail to find the net altogether facing Lloris, who had just welcomed 5 into his net in the thriller vs Marseille the weekend before? Now it’s France’ ticket to lose, and if [...]
Ukraine V Greece preview »
Just as predicted, the 1st leg went under 2.5 goals (0-0), and again this will be my bet on the second leg. The Greeks have an aging squad in general that cannot afford to play open and speedy football, and travelling with nothing to fall back on means they will try their most to keep it tight in hopes they can hit one on the break and sleep [...]
Egypt V Algeria preview »
The heated propaganda from both sides prior to this game will leave it’s mark on the game no doubt, but we will push aside this detail –for the time being- and try to focus on the players on the pitch. Egypt knows they start the game with a 2 goals deficit. They must win by 2 in order to be level and then either try to get a third to [...]
England v Brazil Preview »
I wouldn’t dare back England with the likes of Gerrard, Lampard and Lennon missing in the midfield alone. I could go on listing others, but you probably know them all. What I’m getting at is Capello’s squad is furthest from being at full strength. However, I never trust the Brazilians in their friendlies. I mean, England is one of the [...]
Greece V Ukraine preview »
I’m going to be absolutely honest here: I have no idea who will advance of these two. Not even a vague idea of what to expect. What I do know though is that when Greece are on the pitch the game would go under 2.5 goals in 4 of each 5 games. This has not proved a successful choice in many of their latest games though. Even helpless [...]
Russia v Slovenia Preview »
The only official confrontation between these two before was in the road to 2002 Korea/Japan WC finals, and although Slovenia triumphed on the H2H scale (2-1 at home and 1-1 away) it was Russia that eventually topped the group with 23 points (dropping only 2 points in all other 8 games) to Slovenia’s 20 points. This time around, if the [...]
Ireland V France preview »
On face value, one must admit the French players are much more skilled than their Irish peers. Simply put, Ireland has no one to compare to Franck Ribery or Karim Benzema, so France should be declared clear winners on that department. However, neither are the Irish players totally without talent nor do they lack the determination and fighting [...]
Portugal v Bosnia Preview »
Perhaps the bookies should reconsider their ridiculous pricing regarding this game, although I doubt it will change my mind. At the time of this write-up, the best price you can get on Portugal to win is 1.57 (Pinnacle), while you can get 4.20 on the mere draw (Expekt). For the away win you can get as high as 8.00 (Ladbrokes or Stan James) which [...]
Denmark V Sweden Preview »
The Scandinavian derby will most probably end in a draw, I’m almost sure. The hosts will be happy to keep the 3 points gap between them and their guests, and with a 5 goals advantage as well they will be practically qualified even if they lose at home to Hungary on Wednesday. Sweden will not be happy though unless Portugal fails to win over [...]
Ukraine V England Preview »
England have already booked their ticket to South Africa, but the English pride will probably still prevent them from taking it any less seriously, and even if the players think about taking it easy Capello won’t let them. The Ukraines need all 3 points or they will stay behind Croatia with just one game to go for each, so they do not have [...]
Russia V Germany Preview »
A real decisive game with the home side sitting just one point behind their visitors at the top of the group., and considering only one fixture remain for each side after this one (and a relatively easy one I might add), the Russians will be automatically qualified to the finals with a win, while a draw is enough for the Germans to book their [...]
