Continuing from their joyous turnaround against Croatia, the hype train is in full motion for England once again, with it influencing the bias of the entire nation. It’s fair to say that there’s enough reason to be in favour of your own country being successful in key football fixtures, but it was a massive statement when England were beginning to feature in a lot of fans’ football tips for this weekend, as it proved just how far we’d come with our faith of the England setup.
The top place finish in a group which consisted of England, Spain and Croatia showed an ounce of resilience from the Three Lions, but is their current pricing by the bookies as favourite for the UEFA Nations League a sign of their quality, or just an indication that the teams they’ll be playing won’t be all too difficult in the first place?
Current pricing for the UEFA Nations League finals despite being pitted against 2016 European Championship winners Portugal, a resurgent Netherlands, and an undeniably unpredictable Switzerland, the football odds are the shortest for England to win the UEFA Nations League. These sides are far from easy to defeat and based on their exit to Croatia in the World Cup, it would appear to be misguided to consider any team as being anything close to an inferior side; the bookies have already taken over 40% of bets from people who are backing England to win the tournament over the other three sides in contention.
In their must-win game against Croatia, England conceded to go against the script, leaving the defensive players in the starting eleven looking lost as they scrambled in front of Jordan Pickford’s goal, only to assist Andrej Kramaric with scoring the opener. At this point, any football tips for this weekend when the game was being played were falling by the wayside due to so many fans backing England, but the late turnaround saw goals from Jesse Lingard and Harry Kane to secure the win which took them to the finals in Portugal. The location of the UEFA Nations League finals has inspired some bets for Portugal, who will be playing with a home advantage, but not enough to get anywhere near the bets being placed on England.
The Southgate Effect
In disposing of egos and going for a working unit rather than a couple of world class players operating in a broken machine, Gareth Southgate has been able to form an England team that is down to earth, rather than one that is struggling to find its feet. His capabilities as England manager have been seriously questioned even with the recent success and the promising semi-final finish in the last World Cup, but it’s uncertain as to whether he’d hold his ground when the Three Lions square up to any genuinely threatening side in a competitive final.
If you’re considering adding England to your football tips for this weekend – or even feel tempted to back them to win the UEFA Nations League outright – you’re likely to be one of the many fools across the country who see them as being the best current international football team in circulation. As much as it’s fantastic to see the England national team finally reaching the expected heights, it would be wrong to not doubt them wherever they go, as they’re still far from matching the intensity, consistency and ruthlessness of teams like France, Spain, Portugal and even faltering nations like Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
