England will be interested observes when Australia take on Ghana at Rustenburg on Saturday. Assuming England and Germany top their group – one assumption appears safer than the other – then one of Ghana, Australia and Serbia will wait for Fabio Capello’s men in round two.
The safe world cup free bet money would appear to be on Ghana to be those opponents, as the Black Stars beat a disappointing Serbian outfit 1-0 in their opener on the same day the Socceroos were humbled 4-0 by the Germans.
However, world cup round of 16 betting odds are tight because the three rivals for second place in Group D are still closely-matched, despite those opening results. The FIFA world rankings are not always the best guide to teams’ relative strength, but Serbia and Australia’s respective positions of 15th and 20th suggest a recovery to oust 32nd placed Ghana is not beyond them.
Pim Verbeek’s team nonetheless need a drastic improvement. They were utterly outplayed by Germany, failing to get close enough to their opponents and exhibiting a shaky back line that was regularly pulled out of position.
They must also cope without best player and talisman Tim Cahill, suspended after his controversial red card against Germany. Little was seen of them as an attacking force in that opener and Verbeek might turn to Harry Kewell or Josh Kennedy in the absence of Cahill.
Ghana will also be without their star player. Michael Essien was ruled out of the tournament with injury and the Black Stars’ hopes of progress to the knockout stages were thought to disappear with him.
However, they coped admirably against Serbia, with Asamoah Gyan and Kwadwo Asamoah to the fore. A tight encounter beckons in this one, with a narrow Australian win the result that would help make the group competitive in the final round of matches.
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