Brazil World Cup 214 - England face their destiny with Uruguay

Looking back on yesterday I was not surprised to see the demise of Spain. Last week I wrote about the fact I didn't feel Spain would be interested this time around or indeed get out of the group and so it proved. They were not a patch of the team that won the last World Cup or the Euro Championships. Chile will now play Holland to see who wins the Group, that should be a very interesting game as the team finishing second in this Group could face Brazil in the round of 16.

Equally unimpressive were Brazil against Mexico. They very much seem to be a 1 man team and if I was part of the Brazil setup I would be very worried about playing Chile next! The dutch did their best to throw away a perfect start against Australia but ultimately class told against the lowest ranked team in the competition to walk away with a slim victory.

For me Germany are the stand out team so far, Argentina have yet to kick into gear and Chile have been superb. Also I suggested recently that Ronaldo wasn't 100% fit and so it proved yesterday when he limped out of training and could be missing for the rest of the tournament, that being the case I think that cements Portugals failure at this tournament.

Today sees England take on Uruguay, so much has been said about Rooney this week, will he won't he play. If he plays behind Sturridge I think we will win, Suarez seems to be a certain starter although there have to be questions over his fitness as well. Diego Costa and Ronaldo both came here with injury doubts and neither player has been at the races, the same I think will be said of Suarez after tonights game. Its desperation time for Uruguay knowing that defeat will pretty much end their tournament.

I take England (11/10) to win this one and will also take a punt on 2-0 (17/2). England are not big scorers in World Cup games so can't see the margin being any bigger, however they are full of confidence despite the set back to Italy.

In the early game Columbia play Ivory Coast, the African nations have been poor during this World Cup shown again last night my Croatians demolition of  Cameroon. The South American teams seem to be very strong, as such I can only see one result from this game and that is a Columbia win (23/10).

In the late game Japan play Greece. Greece were very poor against Columbia and I cannot see that changing against Japan. Japan despite losing to Ivory Coast did put up a good show and I can see this ending in a scoring draw.

One last thing! You know things are bad for the Spain Manager when you see that last night he came out of the stadium to board the bus and tried to get onto the Chile bus! How times change!!!!!

Good luck with your betting today.

Brazil World Cup 2014 - Group B Review - Spain to miss out

GROUP B

Current World Cup holders find themselves in Group B with their World Cup 2010 Final opponents The Netherlands. In my view the Dutch have improved since that day, infact their kick em and hit em tactics they employed in that game seem a distant memory and was ill-advised at the time! The Spanish team is 4 years older and could be considered an "ageing" team, that said they are still a quality outfit, and given the Champions League was contested by the 2 Madrid clubs suggest that they will still be a force to be reckoned with. However in the heat and given a number of the team have UEFA Championship winners medals and World Cup medals will they be as hungry to do it all again? 

Chile are the interesting team here, ranked above the Netherlands in the FIFA rankings and from the South American continent they must be considered a threat to this group. Australia make up the quartet, I fear they will struggle to get a goal let alone a point against these 3 teams. 

I don't think this group is a given for Spain, despite being ranked 1 in the world they could be vulnerable to teams with more to gain. Spain are 1/6 to qualify from their group, this is incredibly short given the quality of Chile and the Dutch. Spain play The Netherlands first in this group, whoever fails to win that game will be struggling to qualify, I just have a sneaky feeling it will be Spain that will struggle and could be another previous winner to come back and struggle at the next competition. 

I can see The Netherlands winning this Group and Chile going through in second place. 

Predicted finishing positions

The Netherlands

Chile

Spain

Australia

The Netherlands at 3/1 and Chile at 4/1 to win the group are huge prices, I would avoid the spanish at 4/6 as they are too short and could well struggle from the start!