Betting Update; England v Sweden with the bookmakers making England their 11/10 favourites

Added: (Thu Jun 25 2009)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Whisper it quietly, but England are actually favourites for a major tournament this summer.

Stuart Pearce’s under-21 side have impressed many en route to the European Championship semi-finals, so much so that you won’t get bigger than 13/8 on the Young Lions winning this competition for the first time since 1984. They have already beaten pre-tournament jollies Spain 2-0, as well as Finland 2-1 in their opener, while a very convenient 1-1 draw with Germany in their final group match sent both sides thorough to this stage.

Now they face hosts Sweden in the last 4, with England a best price 6/5 in the match odds (1/2 to qualify) with the Swedes at 14/5 (and 34/20 to qualify). Pearce sent out a much weakened XI in their final group match, knowing that they had already qualified, so the first team will have had a break of over a week to ensure freshness for this game. This is in contrast to Sweden, who lost 2-1 to Italy in their 2nd group match and this meant they needed to beat Serbia in their final game – which they did 3-1. However, despite being the tournament’s top scorers with 9 goals, I still think that Sweden have a lot of questions to answer. After all, 8 of these goals came against two of the competition’s weakest sides (Belarus and Serbia) while in their other group match against Italy, they struggled badly. The hosts were 2-0 down from the 53rd minute and a last minute consolation goal gave the 2-1 score line a flattering look for the Swedes, who were largely out-played in the game. England appear to be just as good as the Italians, if not better, which puts me in the Three Lions camp here.

It’s rare that match odds offer value but if you can get the 6/5 on England then I advise that you take it – Sweden may be on home turf but don’t forget these are still the tournament outsiders (4/1 now) who lost 2-1 to the best team in their group and have very few proven talents in their side. Having said this, the watching scouts will surely have been impressed with forwards Marcus Berg (5 goals) and Ola Toivonen (2). But England’s first team will be rested and refreshed for this and on paper they are the superior side – I believe they are good enough to sew this up in 90 minutes.

Recommended Bets - 1.5 pts - England, 6/5


• All prices correct at time of writing.

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