WC: Brazil remain favourites after 56 games

Bet UK has Brazil at 3.25 (9/4) with their South American rivals Argentina following behind at 5.50 (9/2), the same as hosts Germany. Bet UK has England at 7.50 (13/2), which is one of the most generous prices available – and one of the most realistic!

As the betting shows, the competition remains wide open: at this stage of the previous tournaments, there has usually been a more outright favourite.

The reason for this is that Brazil have been good but they have not been great. Like England, they have not yet reached their full potential and most of pundits’ money has been going on form teams like Germany and Argentina.

Germany and Argentina meet in the first quarter-final and the result will really shake up the betting, especially if it is a convincing victory. At the moment, the bookies cannot differentiate between the two teams and it would take a brave (or patriotic) pundit to have a wager on this game.

In my opinion, the best bet on the quarter-finals is the England-Portugal game. I will be betting on England, as Portugal are without both Deco and Costinha, two of their most influential players.

England are due a performance and Rooney is due a goal (as is Lampard with his 21 shots to date). Also, the game is a bit of a grudge game with the history and of course the Scolari issue.

In my opinion, since the last meeting, which England were unlucky to lose, England have got better and Portugal have got worse and it is for this reason that I will be betting on England (not too much though - England have to be the most unpredictable team left in the tournament). I predict a 2-0 win for England.

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