James Moore: Losing streak
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Your support makes all the difference.Today's bets: Danny to score first for Portugal against North Korea 17-2 (Bet365, Victor Chandler); England to get booed off on Wednesday 6-4 (William Hill)
What's the chance England get booed off after the Slovenia game? Pretty high you'd have to say given their lamentable display on Friday and the petulant reaction of Wayne Rooney in response to the fans' entirely understandable displeasure.
The cloying sense of entitlement these players show and their sloppy, disdainful attitude on the pitch does not bode well for Wednesday's crunch game. There's been a debate about booing in over the last couple of days, but the finger-wagging often comes from the legions of ex-players employed by broadcasters, who have forgotten what it's like to be fans. They fail to understand that people who take second mortgages out to get to the tournament might expect something in return from the multi-millionaires whose wages they pay. Unless there is a dramatic improvement, England will hear those fans' displeasure loud and clear again.
It's no wonder, then, that William Hill have opened up a market on England getting booed off and the 6-4 offered looks like value. I'm hoping for better, but I wouldn't put anyone off from snapping up the price. Slovenia look to be organised, resourceful and would be qualified by now had the wheels not fallen off at the tail end of their encounter with the United States. They could give England a problem.
In the meantime the bookies have been making hay, taking £10m on England's flops. They need relieving of some of those gains, and I think that can be done by taking a chance on Danny (left) to break the deadlock in Portugal's encounter with North Korea today. After their lifeless encounter with Ivory Coast, Portugal will be well aware that they have to do the business against the underdogs of the "Group of Death".
There's a difference of opinion among bookmakers about Danny's chances. His price is as low as 11-2, but you can get 17-2 with Bet 365 or Victor Chandler and with Cristiano Ronaldo firing blanks (he's far too short at 3-1 to score first). The Russian league's most expensive player, Danny has been in rare form for Zenit St Petersburg (10 goals in 28 games) and has opened the scoring for Portugal before – against those Brazilians.
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