England’s mission in Montenegro on Oct 7th is to earn a win or a draw to make sure they finish on top of Group G in Euro 2012 qualifying. Montenegro has to win their last two games to take the group as England has a six point lead on them heading into the match.

England is king of the group at the moment with five victories and two draws for 17 points. Montenegro has a total of 11 points which they earned through three wins a loss and two draws. There are still several scenarios possible in this group as England could finish either in first or second while Montenegro could end up first, second or third.

The winner of the group automatically qualifies for Euro 2012 while the second-place finishers have to go through a two-legged playoff fixture. If Montenegro can beat England they’ll have the opportunity to win the group four days later when they take on Switzerland in an away game. However, if Montenegro fails to beat the Swiss then England still wins the group.

The other scenario would see Montenegro finishing in third place if they lose their last two games and Switzerland wins their last two, away against Wales and at home to Montenegro. Switzerland could also overtake them for second place if Montenegro draws England and Switzerland wins their two games and even if Montenegro beats England and the Swiss pull off two wins and edge out Montenegro by goal difference.

Group G Standings

It’s all quite confusing at the moment, but one thing’s for certain on Friday and that’s England winning the group on a win or draw. Even though England and Montenegro could end up with 17 points each, Montenegro would edge them out on the basis of head-to-head competition providing they win this game as their first matchup ended in a 0-0 draw at Wembley last year.

England finally looks to have some strength up front with Danny Welbeck, Wayne Rooney, Andy Carroll, Bobby Zamora, and Darren Bent up front. Jermaine Defoe, Peter Crouch, Michael Owen, and Daniel Sturridge are excellent strikers who didn’t make the team. It’d be ridiculous for manager Fabio Capello to go with just one striker considering his options.

Welbeck has five goals in his last six games and Rooney is off to a flying start and leads the EPL. Midfielder Frank Lampard is also hot with four goals in his last two games, including a hat trick against Bolton on the weekend. Capello had the sense to drop the vastly overrated Rio Ferdinand, who’s nothing but a liability in the back four. They will miss Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard who’s out with an injury though.

Predictions for Montenegro vs England

Montenegro will have defender Savo Pavicevic in the squad after he missed last month’s game against Wales due to a suspension. Milan Jovanovic, Miodrag Dzudovic, and Marko Basa are all back as well after missing the Welsh game because of injury.
Both teams control their own destiny, but Montenegro has the tougher task of having to win both of their games. England might not beat them here, but should do enough to get the draw they need to qualify for Euro 2012.

Sportsbook William Hill has the odds of a Montenegro win at 4/1 and an England win at 8/11 with a draw at 5/2

Full Squads:

Montenegro:


Goalkeepers: Mladen Božović (Videoton FC), Srđan Blažić (Panetolikos GFS)


Defenders: Marko Baša (LOSC Lille Métropole), Milan Jovanović (PFC Spartak Nalchik), Stefan Savić (Manchester City FC), Radoslav Batak (FK Mogren), Savo Pavičević (Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC), Miodrag Džudović (PFC Spartak Nalchik), Luka Pejović (Jagiellonia Białystok)


Midfielders/Forwards: Elsad Zverotić (BSC Young Boys), Milorad Peković (SpVgg Greuther Fürth), Mitar Novaković (FC Amkar Perm), Vladimir Božović (FC Rapid Bucureşti), Mladen Kašćelan (ŁKS Łódź), Nikola Drinčić (FC Krasnodar), Marko Ćetković (Jagiellonia Białystok), Petar Grbić (Olympiacos FC), Simon Vukčević (Blackburn Rovers FC)

England:


Goalkeepers: Scott Carson (Bursaspor), Joe Hart (Manchester City FC), David Stockdale (Ipswich Town FC)


Defenders: Leighton Baines (Everton FC), Gary Cahill (Bolton Wanderers FC), Ashley Cole (Chelsea FC), Phil Jagielka (Everton FC), Phil Jones (Manchester United FC), Micah Richards (Manchester City FC), John Terry (Chelsea FC), Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur FC)


Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City FC), Stewart Downing (Liverpool FC), Adam Johnson (Manchester City FC), Frank Lampard (Chelsea FC), James Milner (Manchester City FC), Scott Parker (Tottenham Hotspur FC), Theo Walcott (Arsenal FC), Ashley Young (Manchester United FC)


Forwards: Darren Bent (Aston Villa FC), Andy Carroll (Liverpool FC), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United FC), Danny Welbeck (Manchester United FC), Bobby Zamora (Fulham FC).

Ireland and Slovakia share the top of the group with Russia with all three countries sitting on 13 points. They all have four wins, a draw, and a loss. However Ireland and Russia have a plus five goal difference with Slovakia at plus two. Russia faces Macedonia at home the same day, making this game all the more important for Ireland and Slovakia.

The last time they met in Euro 2012 qualifying in October the match ended 1-1 in Slovakia. Ireland beat them 2-0 at home and fought to a 2-2 draw in Slovakia in Euro 2008 qualifying as well. Ireland has four wins and a draw in their last five matches overall with Slovakia winning three and losing two in their last five.

Ireland will be counting on Robbie Keane to lead the attack like he usually does. Keane recently joined the Los Angeles Galaxy after leaving England’s Tottenham Hotspur. He’s Ireland’s all-time top scorer with 51 goals in 109 matches.

Irish manager Giovanni Trapattoni left Marc Wilson, Jon Walters, and James McCarthy out of the squad of 25 as punishment for not joining the team in May for the Carling Nations Cup. All three of them also pulled out of the squad earlier in August when Ireland was set to take on Croatia in an international friendly.

However, Trapattoni hasn’t closed the door on them completely and they could be recalled in the future. In addition, Wigan have said that McCarthy wasn’t able to join up with the squad earlier in august because he was suffering from an ankle injury at the time. But Trapattoni said that all players should report to the squad even if they’re injured so they can be checked out by the team’s own medical staff.

Predictions for Ireland vs Slovakia on Sep 2nd

Ireland are on a hot streak right now and with Russia likely to take three points against Macedonia they need this game badly. Slovakia is in the same boat so it should make for a dramatic match. They might not win the match, but Ireland won’t lose it. Look for a win or draw for the Irish. Find more Euro 2012 predictions here.

Sportsbook William Hill has the odds of an Irish win even at 1/1 at with a Slovakia victory at 16/5 and a draw at 21/10.


Republic of Ireland squad:


Goalkeepers: Shay Given (Aston Villa FC), Keiren Westwood (Sunderland AFC), David Forde (Millwall FC).


Defenders: John O’Shea (Sunderland AFC), Kevin Foley (Wolverhampton Wanderers FC), Stephen Kelly (Fulham FC), Stephen Ward (Wolverhampton Wanderers FC), Richard Dunne (Aston Villa FC), Kevin Kilbane (Derby County FC), Sean St Ledger (Leicester City FC), Darren O’Dea (Leeds United AFC).


Midfielders: Glenn Whelan (Stoke City FC), Darron Gibson (Manchester United FC), Keith Andrews (Ipswich Town FC), Andy Keogh (Leeds United AFC), Aiden McGeady (FC Spartak Moskva), Damien Duff (Fulham FC), Stephen Hunt (Wolverhampton Wanderers FC), Liam Lawrence (Portsmouth FC), Keith Treacy (Burnley FC).


Forwards: Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy), Kevin Doyle (Wolverhampton Wanderers FC), Shane Long (West Bromwich Albion FC), Simon Cox (West Bromwich Albion FC).


Slovakia Squad:



Goalkeepers: Ján Mucha (Everton FC), Marián Kello (Heart of Midlothian FC).


Defenders: Peter Pekarík (VfL Wolfsburg), Martin Škrtel (Liverpool FC), Ľubomír Michalík (Carlisle United FC), Ján Ďurica (FC Lokomotiv Moskva), Kornel Saláta (FC Rostov), Tomáš Hubočan (FC Zenit St Petersburg), Marek Čech (West Bromwich Albion FC).


Midfielders: Karim Guédé, Igor Žofčák (both ŠK Slovan Bratislava), Juraj Kucka (Genoa CFC), Vladimír Weiss Jr (Manchester City FC), Miroslav Stoch (Fenerbahçe SK), Miroslav Karhan (FC Spartak Trnava), Róbert Jež (KSP Polonia Warsaw), Marek Hamšík (SSC Napoli).


Forwards: Filip Hološko (Beşiktaş JK), Filip Šebo (ŠK Slovan Bratislava), Erik Jendrišek (SC Freiburg), Róbert Vittek (MKE Ankaragücü), Stanislav Šesták (MKE Ankaragücü).

UEFA announced the prize money on June 17th after holding a two-day long executive meeting. The organization also called on FIFA to make some reforms in the next three months due to constant allegations of corruption in the world soccer governing body.

The total prize money offered by UEFA for the 16 teams at Euro 2012 now stands at 196 million euros (US $281.55 million). In the last tournament (Euro 2008), which was won by Spain, the total prize money was 184 million euros. All 16 teams will be guaranteed eight million euros for just making it to the championship tournament. A million euros will be earned for every win in the group stage while a draw is worth 500,000 euros.

A win in the tournament’s quarter-final stage will net teams two million euros, and a win in the semi-finals will be worth three million. The championship-winning team will win an additional 7.5 million euros and the runners-up will be paid 4.5 million euros.

UEFA also announced the third-place teams in the group stage will make a million euros bonus money. A UEFA spokesman said this will motivate teams if the top two places in the group have already been decided before the group games have been completed. FIFA also said that players who reach 100 caps for their national teams will be awarded an official medal and commemorative cap by them. In addition, the 2013 European Champions League final will be held in England to commemorate the 150th birthday of the country’s football association, which was the first to be launched in the world.

In related news, FIFA vice president Jack Warner resigned on June 20th, and all bribery investigations against him have been dropped. However, critics have said this further implicates FIFA as it appears Warner will be left alone as long as he resigned from the organization. Warner and executive member Mohamed Bin Hamman were under suspension over bribery allegations and Chuck Blazer is also being investigated by the organization’s ethics committee.

Warner’s resignation comes after UEFA urged FIFA to reform the organization by September following the worst corruption crisis in the organization since Sepp Blatter took over as president 13-years ago. Blatter has now promised to clean up FIFA, and it appears Warner’s resignation could be a start. Blatter has also extended invitations to singer Placido Domingo and American statesman Henry Kissinger to join a new type of ethics committee.

UEFA released a statement which said it’s following the FIFA bribery scandal closely and expects them to keep its promises and to show some positive results or action by September of this year.

Bosnia is entering the game on a downer after being thumped 3-0 in Romania on June 3rd in a qualifier. They have two wins, two draws and a loss in their past five games overall while Albania has a win, two losses and two draws. Neither of these teams is in top form at the moment and if one of them can grab all three points at this stage it will be a huge lift to them. Bosnia was suspended from international football by FIFA for two months and was reinstated just a few days before their loss to Romania.

This will be the second competitive game between the two countries with the first one ending in a 1-1 draw back in October in Tirana on 8 October. Vedad Ibisevic scored for Bosnia with after 21 minutes with Klodian Duro evening the score in first-half injury time. Albania led the group after that game, but were then beaten 2-0 away by Belarus and then returned the favour by beating Belarus 1-0 in March.

Albania and Bosnia have also played two friendlies against each other with Albania winning 2-0 on 1995 and the second being a 0-0 draw in 1996. Their first meeting in 95 was Bosnia and Herzegovina’s first official game as an independent nation.

This is a huge game for both countries as they’re still in with a shout and Euro 2012 could be a possibility for the winners. A draw would hurt their chances as all three points are really needed by each team. This should make it a competitive game, but it could get a little defensive if both squads are afraid to make a mistake. After losing 3-0 to Romania just a few days ago look for Bosnia to rebound and take this game by a goal.

Germany has a seven point lead over second-place Belgium and also has a game in hand. They’d have to collapse totally not to make Euro 2012 and Azerbaijan is already out of it, so this could be a bit of a mismatch or a dull contest at best. The only team that could catch Germany would be Turkey if they won all of their remaining games.

Azerbaijan is managed by former German manager and player Bertie Vogts, who was on the World Cup-winning squad of 1974. Somebody threw a roll of toilet paper at him during a press conference after their loss to Kazakhstan on June 3rd. The 64-year-old has been in charge of the team since 2008, but has just two wins in competitive matches with them. Vogts said he would have left the team a long time ago, but is friends with the country’s federation president. Azerbaijan’s three points in qualifying were earned in a 1-0 win at home against Turkey.

Germany has called under-21 members Lewis Holtby and Sebastian Rudy up to the team as midfielders Simon Rolfes and Sami Khedira are injured. Striker Lukas Podolski should be ready to play as his ankle injury is healed. The Germans will also have to do without several other players as backup keeper Tim Wiese is out along with Sven Bender, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose, Marco Reus, and Christian Trasch.

Azerbaijan has won one and lost four out of their past five games overall while Germany has three wins a draw and a loss. They were beaten 2-1 by Australia in a friendly in March at home and were held to a 101 draw at home by Italy a month earlier.

Germany hammered Azerbaijan 6-1 in their first qualifying encounter and has scored 12 times in three games against them overall. Look for Germany to keep their unbeaten streak alive in Euro 2012 qualifiers as they should be able to beat the hosts by at least two goals.

Finland sits in fifth place in the six-team group with six points from two wins and three losses. They also have a game in hand over the rest of the group and could move into a third-place tie with Hungary if they can beat the Swedes. Both Sweden and Finland played on June 3rd, with Sweden winning 4-1 in Moldova and Finland taking a 1-0 win in San Marino.

Sweden heads into the match with three wins, a draw, and a loss in their past five games overall while Finland has won two, lost two and drawn one, including an 8-0 win over San Marino.

John Elmander scored twice for Sweden against Moldova and Mikael Forssell had the goal for Finland against San Marino. Forssell is the player to watch for Finland as he has six goals in the qualifying campaign so far. If the Swedes can keep him in check then Finland will struggle to score goals.

Sweden should start the same lineup as June 3rd as everybody made it out of the game healthy. They’ll probably stick to their 4-4-2 formation with Isaksson in goal. Finland left Jari Litmanen out of the squad last game and Teemu Tainio retired from international football. Finland will likely go with a 5-5-1 formation with Hradecky in goal and Forssell playing up front as the lone striker.

Sweden vs Finland Betting Predictions

Sweden still has a realistic chance to make Euro 2012 while Finland doesn’t really. This will motivate Sweden as they have a lot more to play for. It could be a close game, but Sweden should come out on top to put some pressure on the group leaders Holland for the rest of the campaign. Finland has to win to have any chance at all of making Euro 2012, but that chance will likely be extinguished here.

A win here would give Germany an excellent chance at making the tournament as they lead the group with 15 points from five wins in five games. Austria desperately needs the points as they have seven points with two wins, two losses, and a draw. We will provide all readers with tips and updates for Euro 2012 betting and other news regarding the tournament.

There could be fireworks when these two neighbours meet in Vienna and Germany won’t underestimate the Austrians as there are many of them playing in the Bundesliga.

Germany won’t know if midfielder Sami Khedira of Real Madrid will be fit enough to play until just before the kickoff. He’s been out of action with a thigh problem, but is hoping to pass a late fitness test. However, it’s doubtful that top striker Miroslav Klose will be able to play as he’s also sidelined with an injury. To make things worse, fellow striker Lukas Podolski could also miss the match if he doesn’t pass a late test. It also looks like Bastian Schweinsteiger, Sven Bender, and Christian Traesch could also miss the game.

Austrian midfielder Paul Scharner doesn’t think his team can realistically make Euro 2012 and said he’s hoping they can focus on upsetting the Germans in their two matches against them. Marc Janko, Austria’s captain added that the squad has trained hard and they have nothing to lose as they’re the underdogs to the powerful Germans.

However, a win could put Austria back in contention as they’re only three points back of second-placed Belgium and also have a game in hand. Belgium trails Germany by five points and don’t play again until October.

Even with a long injury list, Germany is the more talented squad, but Austria has a good attacker in Martin Harnik, who was born in Germany, and he’ll need to be in top form for Austria to pull out three points.

Germany beat Uruguay 2-1 in a friendly last week and has a lot of momentum and motivation heading into this match. However, the Germans aren’t perfect and that was proven a few months ago when Australia beat them 2-1 in their own backyard in a friendly.

Predictions for Austria vs Germany

A draw doesn’t really do Austria much good here, but it’s better than nothing. A win would put them level with Belgium and they should be going for all three points. However, it’s unlikely the Austrians will attack and they’ll likely be too defensive minded. Germany should create enough opportunities and bury a couple of them to win by one or two goals. Bet on this game online at Betsafe!

Regarding this World Cup betting site we are not just going to let it sit around and die. We understand that the website name BetOnWorldCup2010.com is not going to cut it when it comes to the 2014 World Cup so the most likely scenario is that we are going to move this site over to a new website name. Don’t worry though, you aren’t even going to notice the move.

Thanks for joining us for the 2010 World Cup and hope to see you all again in 2 years when the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup begins.