World Cup 2010 / maxliu / 14 October 2009 / Leave a comment

England third favourites to triumph in South Africa after securing comfortable win. Meanwhile, drama in Italy brings in big prices...

"Capello will have learned little from this victory and England remain third favourites, behind Brazil and Spain, to win the World Cup at [7.4]."

Two goals from Peter Crouch secured a comfortable 3-0 win for England in the final game of their World Cup 2010 qualifying campaign.

The home side traded no higher than [1.22] before their match against Belarus and their odds remained below that mark after Crouch put them ahead inside four minutes.

It seemed that England might run away with it but the visitors dug in, launched a number of promising attacks and frustrated Crouch and Gabriel Agbonlahor for the remainder of the half.

Sean Wright-Phillips sealed victory after the break when he found the net following substitute David Beckham' short corner.

After 76 minutes Crouch tapped in the goal which adds further weight to his bid for a place in Fabio Capello's starting line-up. Those who backed Over 2.5 goals at [2.64] were rewarded as England rounded off what has been a highly impressive qualifying campaign.

Capello will have learned little from this victory and England remain third favourites, behind Brazil and Spain, to win the World Cup at [7.4].

In terms of betting, the nights real drama came in Italy's 3-2 win over Cyprus. The Cypriots led 0-2 until Alberto Gilardino put his side back in it on 78 minutes. Gilardino then went on to complete a hat-trick to give Italy, who were backed at [85.0], remarkable victory.

Before Gilardino got on the scoresheet Cyprus had been backed as low as [1.08].

The Republic of Ireland, who are already through to a World Cup play-off, drew 0-0 at home to Montenegro. The draw for the play-offs will be made next Monday (19.10.09) and the other teams involved are Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia and Ukraine.

Northern Ireland, who failed to make the play-offs, ended a decent campaign with a 0-0 draw away to the Czech Republic. The draw was matched at 5.6 and Nigel Worthington's side's clean sheet was backed at a high of [16.0].

Wales were matched at [1.76] as they beat Liechtenstein 0-2.

Tags: Alberto Gilardino, England football betting odds, England World Cup odds, Fabio Capello, Italy, Peter Crouch, Republic of Ireland, Shaun Wright-Phillips