Bet on England

Hi Chris here again and it is the day of the big one.

England fans have been pouring in and the excitement and anticipation is there for all to see.

My hotel is just ten minutes away from the stadium and it is buzzing. There are plenty of ‘football people’ milling around and I’ve already had a chat with Wayne Rooney’s agent Paul Stretford. He’s giving nothing away as to when and where Wayne will make an appearance for England but, if it was up to the man himself, he’d be playing this afternoon!

Sven-Goran Eriksson has said Wayne will make an appearance in the group stages, and my sources reckon he’ll play some part against Sweden.

If England are not already through to the knock-out stages before facing the Swedes there is a good chance he will start, otherwise he’s likely to be named on the bench.

As long as Peter Crouch and co can do enough to get us through the initial stages, it’s a major boost to know he’s on the way back. Once he is firing on all cylinders there is not a team in the tournament who will not fear England.

The atmosphere in the stadium promises to be incredible and I’m sure the fans making their way in will be rewarded with a good result.

I’m putting my shirt on Michael Owen to give the lads the perfect start.

Many pundits have been talking about Argentina as potential winners of this tournament, but I can’t understand why. If things aren’t going right for them there is always a question mark over the Argentines’ discipline and that will always be a crucial factor.

That said, coming up against Didier Drogba and the Ivory Coast shouldn’t provide the South Americans with too much trouble. Anyone who saw them get beaten in the African Nations Cup finals will agree they were not the greatest side.

They have done unbelievably well to book their ticket to Germany, but I can’t see them getting a result against Argentina as the likes of Crespo, Messi and Riquelme will simply be too much to deal with.

Riquelme is certainly one of the Cup’s stars in waiting in my opinion and I’m convinced he will get away to a cracking start to the tournament by helping them to a 2-1 win over the Ivory Coast.

While I don’t think Riquelme can fire them all the way to World Cup glory, Argentina will certainly get to the semi-finals.

Anyway, I’d better start getting ready for our game. Do you know what to take for butterflies?

Enjoy the game and I will be in touch tomorrow.

Chris