Group B Permutations
Qualifiers: England and one of Sweden or Trinidad and Tobago.
If England beat or draw with Sweden, then England top the group. If Sweden win, Sweden top the group. Sweden need at least a draw to definitely qualify.
If Trinidad and Tobago win and Sweden lose then Trinidad and Tobago can qualify if a three-goal goal difference can be made up. This would tie the two sides and scoring record will decide who comes second.
Group B has been a low scoring group, with only four goals scored in the four games so far. For all their criticism England have scored three of these and sit top of the group with two wins out of two and no goals conceded. They have already qualified and so the result against Sweden only affects who England play in the second round. As Group A finishes before Group B starts, England will know exactly which result will guarantee which opposition.
However finishing second in this group will almost guarantee a harder passage to the Final (should England get that far) so avoiding defeat against the Swedes is paramount. Both Germany and Ecuador are tough sides but England will probably be aiming to play the South Americans as Germany, with the history attached to it and their being in their own country, may be difficult for an under-par England team. Furthermore England's style of play means playing against a more open South American side may give the English a better chance of progressing.
The major news from the England camp is the absence of Gary Neville for the second game in succession as he is still recovering from a calf injury. He is yet to return to training and is also a doubt for the second round tie.
The prospect of suspensions are the major worry for Sven-Goran Eriksson as he looks to guarantee his strongest line-up for the later, more difficult knock-out stages. Steven Gerrard, who scored a wonderstrike late on against Trinidad and Tobago is likely to be rested, along with in-form striker Peter Crouch, who has scored six goals in recent matches. Frank Lampard manwhile, who is also on a booking, is expcted to start. Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen are to resume their successful partnership for England for the first time since beating Argentina last November, with both desperate for match fitness and goals. This is particularly true of the Newcastle man who has yet to fully recover from his end-of-season injury. He needs a goal to re-awaken his confidence. Whether either of them can get it from a team that is yet to concede in this World Cup and who only had four scored past them in qualifying remains to be seen. Sweden are certainly a tight unit and it will be difficult.
Another player who needs his confidence increasing is Owen Hargreaves. At the age of twenty-five he already has more than thirty caps and has had an impressive return to form with Bayern Munich at the end of the Bundesliga season. He will probably push forward against sweden, adopting Gerrard's midfield role.
Sweden are likely to be without the physical presence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in attack for the game which may please John Terry and Rio Ferdinand. A burly English-style striker, Ibrahimovic has scored many vital goals for his country, with a ratio of one goal every two games. A mainstay at Ajax and Juventus, Sweden will be significantly weaker without him and this is the Swedes' biggest fear. However in Marcus Allback they have a player of equally proven international pedigree and one who is no stranger to British football. His scoring ratio is similar to that of Ibrahimovic. Sweden are quick on the break so England must be composed lest they concede. Henrik Larsson meanwhile needs no introduction and will aim to delight the Scots by punishing the English.
Sweden coach Lars Lagerback has learnt a lot from the disappointment against Trinidad and Tobago and successive England performance against the Carribeans. Likely to defend deep against England, Lagerback believes that England will punish the Swedes if they attack them. This panders to their strength of counterattack football and he will invite England on to them. With the lack of sharpness shown in England's first two matches, plus against a far stronger defence, this may be a prudent policy by the Scandinavians.
The referee is Switzerland's Massimo Busacca, who took charge of England's 1-0 defeat in Belfast to Northern Ireland. England have not defeated Sweden since 1968.
The other game in the group is between Trinidad and Tobago and Paraguay with, amazingly, the prospect of the Caribbean side qualifying should they win and Sweden lose. The island side have been boosted by the return from suspension of defender Avery John, who got sent-off in the opening game against Sweden. With forty-eight caps he has vital experience to sniff out a Paraguian side who will be hungry for their first World Cup goal in 2006. He will replace Cyd Gray who picked up an injury to his leg in the 2-0 defeat to England. Scoring is not the forte of either team, as they are yet to manage it in the tournament so far. In qualifying, Paraguay only managed to score just over an average of one a game so they are not the most lethal up front. With Bayern Munich striker Roque Santa Cruz in their ranks though, they do possess a player with an impressive international pedigree and one who can be a tricky customer even for the most well-organised defences.
Paraguay however like to defend deep, and with twenty-three goals conceded in qualifying from eighteen games, the statistics do bear this out. They've only gone down 1-0 in both of their fixtures so far and can feel agreived to have done so. In the second half against England they more than matched a lethargic side whilst Sweden's late late show broke the hearts of many a South American. Like many sides in this tournament, they were let down by inaccurate passing in the final third of the pitch, which resulted in many of their attacks breaking down.
One player who will be aiming for a fanfare final performance is thirty-five year old Paraguian skipper Carlos Gamarra. He will notch up his one hundred and tenth and final cap against Trinidad and Tobago and will hope to keep a clean sheet. This is also Paraguay manager Anibal Ruiz's last game in charge and he too wants to leave on a high.
In other injury news, Julio Dos Santos will replace Carlos Bonet in midfield due to the latter obtaining a hamstring injury. With five goals already Dos Santos could pose a threat to the Trinidians. The Caribbean side have Dwight Yorke and Stern John in their side but with the nature of the two teams, it's hard to look beyond another 0-0 here.
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At last, we have a World Cup match with suitable odds for an arbitrage preview. And there'll be a lot more of these coming up as the games become ever increasingly tougher to call.
For those who are unfamiliar with the arbitrage system, we are going to back the three different possible outcomes of the match with three different bookies. We will show a very small loss of less than £20.00 when the game is over but we will qualify for up to a staggering £225.00 in bonuses and free bets, just for using the accounts.
The whole system hinges on the bonuses and free bets that you get so you can't do this if you already have an account at one or more of our chosen bookies. If that is the case, let me know and I'll try to find you an alternative bookie.
1. Open Your New Accounts
Open an account with
Open an account with Total Bet and make a deposit of £70.
Open an account with Bet 365 and make a deposit of £55.
You have temporarily laid out a total of £200. I stress temporarily...
2. Place Your Bets
Back England with £75 @ 11/8 with
Back the draw with £70 @ 17/10 with Total Bet.
Back Sweden with £55 @ 12/5 with Bet 365.
3. Collect Your Winnings
If England win you will collect £180.12 from
If it's a draw you will collect £189.12 from Total Bet, including your original stake back.
If Sweden win, you will collect £187.00 from Bet 365, including your original stake back.
As you will have noticed, you will make an initial loss on the match of between £11.00 or £19.82. Here comes the best bit...
4. Collect Your Bonuses
If England win,
Your new accounts with Total Bet and Bet 365 will each be credited with free bets of £25.00 each, with another £100 to follow as you place further bets.
5. The Summary
You are about to lay out £200 for the duration of the match and whatever the result, you will end up temporarily down by between £1.00 and £19.82. I stress temporarily...
You will collect free bets of an initial £50.00 and further free bets worth £100 to follow, as you use your new accounts, plus the £100 bonus from
If you don't think that England will win and would like the bet reworking so that the
Too good to be true? Well here's the catch for you. If you follow the instructions to the letter and it doesn't happen like we say it will, then we will refund any losses that you make. No strings, no catches, just a straight refund of your losses if you don't make what we say you will make.
As with any offer, there are obviously terms and conditions attached, available on the relevant sites. There is nothing unusual about the t's & c's from our chosen three companies but you should have a read anyway. And you should especialy read the Bet 365 offer conditions because there's a lot of information in there. We've reproduced them on our Bet 365 page.
If you already have one or more accounts with our chosen bookies, you won't be able to qualify for the free bets, which is what this whole thing hinges on. But don't worry. Just drop us a quick email and we will try to find you an alternative bookie.
Finally, the odds can change and even though this is rare, you should check them before placing your bets.
Don't forget that if this doesn't work for you, we will refund any losses that you make, provided that you follow the instructions to the letter and are not already an existing account holder at one or more of the three bookies that we have chosen.
Please feel free to mail us with any questions that you may have. We'll get back to you well before the match.
Harry Haverton
NB: YOU MUST CLICK ON THE BANNERS OR LINKS ON THIS PAGE TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE REFUND GUARANTEE.
