ENGLAND v PARAGUAY - THE BEAN PREVIEW

England 4/7 - Paraguay 11/2 - Draw 12/5

England kick off their World Cup campaign with a tricky tie with the South Americans Paraguay. This will be the third ever meeting between the two nations, with the English being victorious on both occasions.

Their first meeting came at Mexico 86 in the round of sixteen where England romped home comfortable winners 3-0. Their most recent fixture was a friendly at Anfield in 2002 where the European team thrashed the Paraguayans 4-0 in front of an excited Kop end.

England are boosted with the news that Steven Gerrard is declared fit for the match after the Liverpool midfielder had suffered a back complaint. Michael Carrick is on stand by.

Wayne Rooney has been given the green light to play in this year's tournament, but is nowhere near match fitness so Sven Goran Eriksson will most likely play Owen and Crouch up front after they showed good communication against Jamaica.

Paraguay will be without influential striker Jose Cardozo who was injured in a recent friendly. They have however received good news that their other star striker Roque Santa Cruz has announced he is fit to play after recovering from a troublesome knee injury.

England are renowned for being slow starters in tournaments. In the last five World Cups the English have only won two of their opening games and they were very unconvincing against Tunisia in 1998. They did however thump France 3-1 at the start of the 1982 tournament in Spain.

In the last two World Cups Paraguay have drawn their opening match. With that form it is highly probable that this meeting will end up in a score draw. You can currently get odds of 11/2 for 1-1 and 16/1 for 2-2.

You cannot discount England from winning though. They are second favourites to win the cup for a reason and with their past form against Paraguay you would have to believe it will be a comfortable victory for the Three Lions. If you think any of the previous scores will reoccur then you can get odds of 10/1 for 3-0 and 25/1 for 4-0.

One thing England have in abundance at the moment is goals. In their last two games they have scored nine goals, with lanky striker Peter Crouch claiming four of them. He is currently a good price for first goal scorer later today at 6/1.

England's midfield dynamos of Lampard and Gerrard are both currently priced at 13/2 but the best value is 40/1 for Rio Ferdinand who has been due a goal in the first team for some time now. As mentioned before Roque Santa Cruz is fit to start, and for him to bag the first goal of Group B you will be looking at odds of 10/1.

My prediction - It will either be a thumping win for England or a scrappy draw. I am going for the latter 1-1

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