ENGLAND v ECUADOR - THE BEAN PREVIEW

England 2/5 - Draw 11/4 - Ecuador 7/1 (Sky Bet)

England's knockout campaign begins with a tough battle against the mountainous country of Ecuador from South America in the round of sixteen. There has only been one previous match between the two teams, which was a warm up match for England before the 1970 World Cup; England comfortably won 2-0.

Sven Goran Eriksson has hinted that he will play a 4-1-4-1 formation, which he has only used once before in an unofficial game against Belarus. This will mean Peter Crouch will remain on the bench and Michael Carrick will play in a holding midfield role. Owen Hargreaves will keep his spot in the team and replace Jamie Carragher at right back. Rio Ferdinand is declared fit to play after an early departure against Sweden.

Ecuador have their whole squad to choose from after resting players in their last match against Germany. Agustin Delgado and Carlos Tenorio both have two goals each and will be leading the attack for the Ecuadorians, who are playing in their first ever World Cup knockout game.

England go into the match as huge favourites, even though they have not really been impressive in their performances in the World Cup so far. The bulk of the goals have come from midfielders, and it will be the most likely source for the first goal today. Gerrard is 6/1, Lampard is 7/1, Joe Cole is 9/1, Beckham is 12/1 and Michael Carrick is 33/1.

The majority of their Ecuadorian goals have come from their forwards. Delgado is 10/1 and Tenorio is 12/1. The other goal that has been scored by the South Americans has come from Kaviedes and the current odds for him to score first are 14/1.

In England's last second round match in a World Cup they beat Denmark 3-0 four years ago. For the same result the odds are 8/1. But with the lack of depth of strikers, I can only see England winning by an odd goal. A 1-0 win has odds of 11/2 and 2-1 is 7/1.

Ecuador are a hard working team, and score most of their goals at set-pieces, which is worrying for England as they had a torrid time against Sweden at corners and throw ins. A 1-0 win for Ecuador has odds of 11/1 and 2-0 is 40/1.

My prediction - 2-1 at 7/1

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