San Marino vs England Betting 22/03/13

Football22/03/2013

March 22, 2013
Jack Teague

San Marino vs England Betting Preview

Friday sees the return of the World Cup qualifiers and the first competitive match for England since October. The game should provide little challenge for the Three Lions as they come up against the joint 207 th ranked team in the world San Marino. England came out 5-0 winners in October and are expected to repeat the scoreline once more as they look to chase Tuesday's opponents Montenegro at the top of the group.

San Marino's Recent Results:

Montenegro 3-0 San Marino San Marino 0-2 Moldova England 5-0 San Marino San Marino 0-6 Montenegro

In San Marino's first four games of the group they haven't scored a single goal and conceded 16. Since 1990 they have competed in every qualifying for the European Championships and World Cup but are yet to win a competitive match.

San Marino's only ever victory came back in 2004 when they shocked Liechtenstein 1-0 in a friendly, thanks to an early goal from Andy Selva. They are currently on a run of 52 straight losses, the longest in their history, beating their previous record of 49.

Last time out against England they managed to hold on for 35 minutes before England opened the scoring and ended up capitulating in the second half to a 5-0 loss. San Marino are 6/5 to restrict England to less goals than in October with Bet365 .

England's Recent Results:

England 2-1 Brazil (Rooney, Lampard) Sweden 4-2 England (Welbeck, Caulker) Poland 1-1 England (Rooney) England 5-0 San Marino (Rooney (x2), Welbeck (x2), Oxlade-Chamberlain)

England will struggle to come out of this game with anything positive because expectations of a crushing defeat are so high. However, it will be crucial for the team to gel ahead of Tuesday's match against group leaders Montenegro.

The talk ahead of the match has been about the inclusion and withdrawal of Rio Ferdinand, as well as the withdrawals of Gary Cahill and Michael Dawson, all opening the door for Steven Taylor, Steven Caulker and Joleon Lescott.

England head into these games off the back of an impressive 2-1 win over Brazil at Wembley in February. In a tight game England more than pulled their weight and managed to pull off a memorable win against the South Americans for the first time in 23 years.

With San Marino's record it is no surprise that England are 1/100 favourites to win on Friday night. Even with England's defensive changes they should have no problem fending off any San Marino attacks considering they are yet to score in this campaign. Before their two goals against Malta last year they went 20 games without scoring and England are priced at 1/10 with Bet365 to keep a clean sheet .

Last time the sides met, San Marino's lack of fitness compared to that of England's saw them crumble in the second half. With England's tendency to start slowly the second half will likely be the highest scoring half of the game and is good value at 21/20 with William Hill .

Considering England's incredibly high price to win, another small value bet is for England to win both halves at 1/6 with Coral and Paddy Power .

With the dominance of England you'd have to expect there to be a number of corners. In October England amassed 17 corners, helped by their 33 total shots on goal. Bet Victor are best priced on England to win over 9.5 corners at 10/11 .

There's only one winner in this one but it may not be as big a thrashing as many are expecting.

Prediction: San Marino 0-4 England - Best priced at 5/1 with a number of bookmakers.

Jack Teague Jack is a sports writer covering football, cricket and NFL, and provides readers of Free Bet Finder with regular winning tips. Follow me
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