Making a 2010 World Cup bet on England will be popular on Friday as the team plays Algeria in a Group C match.
England is heavily favored in World Cup betting to rout Algeria and anything less than an impressive win will be a disappointment to English fans.
England is laying 1.5 goals in the match and on the three-way soccer betting line they are huge favorites. England is -500, Algeria is +1000 and the Draw is +500 with a total of 2.5 under. Since ESPN is televising the U.S. Open on Friday, this match will be seen on ESPN 2.
England should have beaten the United States in their first match but the draw was not a disaster. If England wins this match against Algeria as expected and then defeats Slovenia in their final match they will probably still win Group C. England has lost only one of their last 14 matches in the group stage of the World Cup so it is unlikely they will lose against Algeria.
England has played to a draw in their opening World Cup matches a total of five times and they still made the knockout round in four of those five occasions.
The England offense didn’t do much against the United States but on Friday they should have more success. Look for Wayne Rooney to break out with a big game. He scored 34 goals in 44 appearances for Manchester United this season. Steven Gerrard scored the only goal for England in the draw against the United States. England is expected to get Gareth Barry back from injury and he could see action on Friday. The only question for England is in goal where Robert Green let in a weak one against the United States. It could be David James on Friday although head coach Fabio Capello was waiting to make a decision.
This will be the first-ever meeting between Algeria and England. The English have never lost against an African team with 11 wins and four draws. In the World Cup, England has kept a clean sheet in four of their five matches against African teams. Algeria has never kept a clean sheet in their seven World Cup matches and they don’t figure to do so against England.