England go into the World Cup as one of the most fancied teams according to the World Cup odds and the further they progress the more their odds will shorten.
Click the link below to back England at the best available odds.
Although England have not won the World Cup for 34 years they have one of their best squads ever and more importantly, one of their best managers ever.
England fans were celebrating when the draw was made, the only slight worry could be USA but England have beaten them all three times the teams have met since 1994.
With the draw already determined it seems England have been given a fairly charmed route into the Semi Final, coming up against none of the favourites until then. The most likely opponent for England in the semi final is Brazil, England have not beaten them in twenty years.
England will probably concede against USA and they are too short a price against Algeria so the game against Slovakia is best for a win 'to nil', with England's best defence they are unlikely to concede against relatively weak strikers.
Over the past year England have started playing much better in the second half of games and seem to struggle to break many smaller teams down who defend well. In recent history England have gone into half time 0-0 against minnows such as Jamaica and Andorra but gone on to win the game.
Wayne Rooney is the focal point of all England attacks and scored twice as many as the next best scorer in qualifying. He is England's best player, best goalscorer and will probably score in every game England score in.
| Date | Team | Scores | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06/09/08 | Andorra | 0:2 | England |
| 10/09/08 | Croatia | 1:4 | England |
| 11/10/08 | England | 5:1 | Kazakhstan |
| 15/10/08 | Belarus | 1:3 | England |
| 01/04/09 | England | 2:1 | Ukraine |
| 06/06/09 | Kazakhstan | 0:4 | England |
| 10/06/09 | England | 6:0 | Andorra |
| 09/09/09 | England | 5:1 | Croatia |
| 10/10/09 | Ukraine | 1:0 | England |
| 14/10/09 | England | 3:0 | Belarus |
England won all but one game in qualifying and considering they had to travel to both Ukraine and Croatia that is some achievement, quite rightly they are one of the favourites in the World Cup Odds.
| Goalkeepers | Robert Green (West Ham United), Joe Hart (Manchester City), David James (Portsmouth) |
| Defenders | Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Ledley King (Tottenham Hotspur), John Terry (Chelsea), Matthew Upson (West Ham United), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa) |
| Midfielders | Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), James Milner (Aston Villa), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City) |
| Forwards | Peter Crouch (Tottenham Hotspur), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) |
| Player | Games (Sub) | Goals Scored | 1st Goals | Last Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wayne Rooney | 9 | 9 | 1 | 2 |
| Peter Crouch | 3 (1) | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Frank Lampard | 10 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Jermain Defoe | 1 (4) | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Steven Gerrard | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Theo Walcott | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Joe Cole | 1 (1) | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Emile Heskey | 6 (1) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Shaun Wright Phillips | 1 (4) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Gareth Barry | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Rio Ferdinand | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| John Terry | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| England Goal Stats | England Result Stats | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Games | 10 | No. Of Games |
10 |
| Goals | 33 | No. Of Games Won |
9 |
| Conceded | 6 | No. Of Games Drawn |
0 |
| First Goals | 9 | No. Of Games Lost |
1 |
| Last Goals | 9 | No. Of Games Winning At Half Time |
6 |
| Over 2.5 | 8 | No. Of Games Drawing At Half Time |
3 |
| Under 2.5 | 2 | No. Of Games Losing At Half Time |
1 |
| Clean Sheet | 4 | ||
| None Scored | 1 | ||
| Year | Stage of Exit |
|---|---|
| 2006 | Eliminated on penalties against Portugal in Quarter Final |
| 2002 | Eliminated in 2-1 loss against Brazil in Quarter Final |
| 1998 | Eliminated on penalties against Argentina in first Knockout Round |
| 1994 | Did not qualify |
| 1990 | Eliminated on penalties against West Germany in Semi Final |
It does not take many goals for a player to shorten in the Golden Boot odds and Wayne Rooney is well capable of scoring two or three goals in the group stage. That would see him dramatically shorten and then he can be laid off for a nice profit.
Although England developed a habit of leaking a single goal in their qualifying matches that will have been down to attacking tactics against weaker sides and also the fact that first choice of pairing of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand rarely managed to play together. With an Italian manager and a strong defence England will be very hard to break down at the World Cup and their is money to be made on England in the World Cup odds.