Euro Betting – England in Desperation Mode vs Wales
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:39 am ESTPublished:
England (-187) vs Wales (+650), Draw (+320)
After drawing against Russia in their tournament opener, the pressure is on England (0-0-1, 1 pts) to pick up the full three points against rival Wales (1-0-0, 3 pts) tomorrow at Stade Felix-Bollaert in Lens (9:00 AM Eastern).
England had three points in their pocket, up 1-0 late, but Russia ruined the party with an equalizer in injury time. With Wales beating Slovakia in their opener, and Slovakia topping Russia yesterday, England are in dire need of a win to keep pace in Group B.
Their game against the Russians wasn’t entirely bad. They dominated most of the meeting, and were able to create several chances, but they could only muster the one goal off an Eric Dier free kick. Striker Harry Kane played well but never really got the ball in a prime scoring area. Jamie Vardy is expected to see minutes against Wales, and he could make a difference with his speed and nose for the net.
Wales, as mentioned, topped Slovakia (2-1) in their tournament opener and can seal their berth in the knockout stage with another win tomorrow. It’s hard not to view the team as England’s little brother, but they have a high-quality team in their own right. With Gareth Bale on the pitch, they’ll also have the best player in the game.
Bale put his team on the board early against Slovakia with a sensational free kick. After conceding the equalizer in the second half, substitute Hal Robson-Kanu netted the winner (despite almost whiffing) on a ball from Aaron Ramsey.
Bale and Ramsey figure to comprise the bulk of the Wales attack again and certainly have the ability to do some damage over England’s defense. England have won the last four meetings against Wales, but they haven’t faced this iteration of the Welsh team. (The last match came in 2011.) Wales has progressed enormously and will give the English problems on both sides of the ball. The best bet here is to take the draw.
Pick: Draw (+320).
(Photo Credit: Jon Candy (Flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/])
Sports Writer
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
