London, UK -- Despite getting what appeared to be a relatively easy qualifying group, England have made hard work of their four games so far. Two 5-0 wins over minnows Moldova and San Marino have failed to mask their inadequacies and two 1-1 draws with Ukraine and Poland have left Montenegro to seize the initiative and top spot in Group H.
While Friday’s game against San Marino will surely result in a comfortable away win for Roy Hodgson’s men, Tuesday’s clash in Montenegro could define England’s campaign. The camp has been hit by the news Rio Ferdinand has pulled out of the squad and, with the likes of Aaron Lennon and Michael Dawson out, it could be a tough few days.
Those enjoying sports spread betting on England will now that England won all three of their previous encounters with San Marino by wide margins. Their last game ‘away’ to the Sammarinese – they play their home games in Italy – resulted in a 7-1 triumph back in November 1993. The team ranked joint-worst in the world scored first that day, but it would be a surprise if they even hit the scoresheet this time around.
The aggregate score from those three matches is 18-1 to England. Although the result in the corresponding fixture at Wembley in October was pleasing, the 5-0 scoreline arguably flattered an England side who struggled to break down the part-timers and it was only after half an hour the breakthrough came.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say a San Marino win would be one of the biggest upsets in football history but, for a team that has only ever won one match in their history, that outcome is more than a little unlikely and spread bettors will be looking at the supremacy and total goal minute’s markets.
England have failed to beat Montenegro in two previous meetings. Both games finished as draws but England’s last visit to the City Stadium in Podgorica saw the visitors squander a 2-0 lead and Wayne Rooney get sent off. The 2-2 result was enough to secure qualification for Euro 2012, though.
The Montenegrins have won their last three qualifiers, hitting ten goals but nine of those came in their two triumphs over San Marino. They lie 24 places below England in the world rankings with the Three Lions’ friendly win over Brazil keeping them in fourth spot.
There have been 14 yellow cards and one red card brandished in those two previous meetings.
Elsewhere, it’s a Battle of Britain on Friday with Wales looking to follow up their 2-1 win over Scotland up at Hampden Park. A late brace from Gareth Bale saw Wales beat Scotland back in October to move the overall head-to-head score between the two countries to 6-5 in Wales’ favour, with two draws.
Both teams have only scored in the same game five times and the Welsh have won four of the last five meetings.
It looks impossible for either side to make even the play-off zone with the two teams occupying the bottom two places in Group A. Scotland are the only team in the group yet to have recorded a win.
The Republic of Ireland haven’t impressed in Group C and face a tough assignment away to Sweden. The 6-1 hammering the Irish took at the hands of Germany was sandwiched between hard-fought wins over Kazakhstan and the Faroe Islands. Friday’s hosts will be buoyed by the stunning draw they achieved against Germany in their last qualifier. They came back from 4-0 down that night.
Ireland have won both previous meetings 2-0 and 3-0. Both matches were on home soil, though.
Northern Ireland will be really disappointed with how their campaign is working out. They have drawn winnable games versus whipping boys Luxembourg and Azerbaijan which means the brilliant 1-1 draw achieved in Portugal is likely to count for very little.
They host Russia who are only one of two sides – the other one being the Netherlands – to boast a 100% record in the European Qualifying zone after four games. Russia have won the only previous meeting 2-0.
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