Germany’s attack may expose England’s poor defence

England face Germany on Sunday in the 2010 World Cup last 16 and there will be real hope among English fans that the Three Lions can exercise the demons of Euro 96 and Italia 90 and beat Germany in a knockout match at a major international tournament.

They will, however, have their work cut out against a strong German attack that will welcome back striker Miroslav Klose (7/1, Boylesports) from suspension.

Lukas Podolski (8/1, VictorChandler), Mezut Ozul (14/1, Ladbrokes) and Thomas Muller (14/1, Ladbrokes) will provide pace and movement behind Klose that England’s defence could struggle to cope with.

Against Slovenia, England played well, but their defence still looked weak, with last ditch tackles and blocks from John Terry, Glen Johnson and Matthew Upson all as important to the victory as the winning goal from Jermain Defoe. Unless there is a dramatic improvement on Sunday, then England will definitely concede and, thus, have to rely on their strikers to out-score the Germans.

England are 17/10 (BetFred) to beat Germany, and if Wayne Rooney (6/1, VictorChandler) can re-discover his form and Jermain Defoe (8/1, Bet365) plays as he did against Slovenia, then they have a chance. It is, however, a big ask to score twice against a side that has only conceded one goal in three matches at the World Cup and that was only after Germany were reduced to ten men against Serbia.

Germany are 19/10 (ExtraBet) to beat England and on form they should arguably be a lower price than that, although with a draw (9/4, SkyBet) a strong possibility the best bet on the game is probably taking Germany on the ‘draw no bet’ option at even money (VictorChandler).

Recommendation

Draw No Bet – Germany (Evens, VictorChandler)