Soccer Betting: Englands Euro Cup hopes on the ropes

Unfortunately, as online soccer fans saw, the team lost 2-1 in this soccer betting match-up and now Russia controls its own destiny.  But the English side didn’t just lose, they blew a 1-0 lead in the second half and now the entire hopes of the nation rest on Russia losing one of its next two soccer games and England winning its qualifier at home against Croatia on November 21.  The soccer betting odds of that are slim.

England jumped out to a 1-0 in the 29th minute when striker Wayne Rooney volleyed in the soccer game’s first goal.  The lead stuck until the 69th minute when Russian sub Roman Pavlyuchenko blasted in a penalty kick.  Just four minutes later the sub knocked in another goal and easy English victory turned into a defeat in a matter of minutes.

The penalty called on Wayne Rooney provided a bit of controversy among the online soccer fans that were watching this soccer betting match as replays clearly showed that the foul was committed by Rooney outside of the box and therefore should not have resulted in a penalty kick.  Still it was the second goal on this soccer game that broke the camel’s back and England can only blame themselves for not escaping Moscow with a 1 point draw at the very least.

At present Croatia leads the group with 26 points and has yet to lose in the qualifying round with an 8-0-2 record and has already clinched its spot in the soccer betting finals.  England sits in place with 23 points and Russia sits in third just two points back with 21.

However, Russia has two qualifiers left to play as opposed to England’s.  Also in favor of Russia is the fact that their two remaining soccer games are against minnows Israel and Andorra, whereas England must defeat the top team in the group.  Israel could pose a surprise challenge to Russia as this team has played tough throughout the qualifying process, but for England that’s hardly fail-safe insurance against failing to qualify for the soccer finals.