England v Ghana: Keep it simple and back Kane in 9/2 Bet Builder

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England off to a flyer

The second half of the 4-2 win over Croatia has England fans believing that this could be a special World Cup.

In truth, the first 45 was mixed, the team lacking coherency for a large chunk of it. You sense, Euro 2024 Gareth Southgate England would have disappeared even further into themselves, almost grinding to a halt.

But Thomas Tuchel's side pressed the 'boost' button, struck early after the break and ran out deserved winners. England finished with an xG of 2.89 to Croatia's 0.71 and had more than twice as many shots and shots on target as their opponents.

Ahead of this one, England are clear third favourites to win the World Cup at 6/17.00 behind France and Spain.

Ghana grateful to grab victory

With England and Croatia fancied to take the top two spots, Ghana knew they had to beat Panama to have a realistic chance of going through to the knockout phase.

They got the win - but only just. With the game four minutes into stoppage time, Caleb Yirenkyi turned in Brandon Thomas-Asante's cross to break the deadlock.

Even then, Ghana had to hang on for dear life in the remaining few minutes and two shots on target in the entire match and just 38% possession showed that the win was far from convincing.

England massive favourites

England are just 2/111.18 to rack up a second win while Ghana are big 13/114.00 outsiders to pull off a shock. The Draw is 11/26.50.

After the Three Lions beat Croatia in what was always considered the pivotal game in who would finish top, England are just 1/331.03 to win Group L. Ghana are 14/115.00.

1st England/2nd Croatia is still the favourite final finishing order at 4/91.44 while 1st England/2nd Ghana is 11/53.20.

When are England's Group L Games?

See below for the dates and times of Englands matches in the group stage of the tournament:

Ghana may be tough to break down

Ghana are managed by Carlos Queiroz and that should tell us what type of match England can expect.

The 73-year-old Portuguese is famous for producing sides with tactical discipline and we certainly saw that in the narrow win over Panama.

Queiroz only got the job a couple of months ago so it was obvious that he would take his usual pragmatic approach and produce a side playing fairly risk-free football.

Not great news for Antoine Semenyo who, under a different manager, would surely have more freedom.

To sum up, if Panama had 62% possession against Ghana, England are going to have an awful lot of the ball.

What they do with it determines where the best bets lie.

Kane goal in modest win looks best for Bet Builder

After scoring four of the six goals against Croatia and threatening more, it's easy to think England rack them up once more against inferior opponents.

But that may be easier said than done against a safety-first opposition.

England should get it done and very likely with a clean sheet but I'm not predicting a big scoreline.

Therefore let's look at England to win but under 2.5 goals which pays 5/23.50.

After a double against Croatia and the only goal in the warm-up friendly against New Zealand, I'll take Harry Kane to get on the scoresheet again. He's 4/61.67 anytime.

Combine those two elements - Kane to net in a low-scoring win - and it's a 9/25.50 shot.

Two goals for Kane will cost Betfair £200,000 - read all about it here

Duo can test goalkeeper

If Ghana, as expected, put lots of bodies between England's attackers and their goal, Tuchel's men may have to look for different routes.

That could be shots from distance or full-backs roaming forward and getting in the box.

So that's why I like the idea of both Declan Rice and Nico O'Reilly having 1 Or More Shots On Target.

In England's opener Rice pulled the trigger from distance, forcing Dominik Livakovic to palm his shot away, while the Croatian stopper also had to scramble away O'Reilly's close-range header.

A Bet Builder on both pays exactly 3/14.00.

Notable winners on Betting.Betfair so far at the 2026 World Cup...

- Mark Stinchcombe's stunning 38/139.00 Bet Builder in South Korea v Czechia
- Paul Higham's 9/25.50 Bet Builder in Mexico's MD1 defeat of South Africa
- Paul also tipped 13/53.60 (Canada v Bosnia) & 15/82.88 (Brazil v Morocco) draws
- A 6/17.00 winning ACCA for Mark on Sunday at the World Cup
- Andy Robson's 9/110.00 five-leg ACCA as Germany wallop Curacao
- A 13/53.60 winner for Paul as France beat Senegal with both teams scoring
- Paul's at it again, an 11/43.75 winning Best Bet in Switzerland v Bosnia
- An 11/26.50 winner for Jimmy The Punt as Jonathan David scores 2+ goals
- Paul's 2/13.00 headline tip in Germany v Ivory Coast was a winner
- Jack Critchley delivered a 5/16.00 goalscorer treble on day 13

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