England vs Paraguay Betting Preview

After endless weeks of injury updates on Wayne Rooney, England finally begin their World Cup campaign on Saturday against Paraguay in Frankfurt. Naturally the bookies have made England odds on, although it ought not to be forgotten the South Americans did finish fourth in qualifying and not that far off Brazil and Argentina. The match betting is a market that I will therefore swerve on this occasion. Instead there are a couple of other opportunities that look well worth exploring in some detail. When John Terry headed his first goal for England against Hungary, I couldn't help but feel slightly aggrieved. Ever since Paraguay began their World Cup preparations, I had earmarked the Chelsea skipper as a cracking bet to open his International account against the South Americans. Fortunately the bookmakers have not reacted to the glancing Terry header and kept his 22/1 quote to find the net first unchanged. So what is it about Paraguay that makes Terry so appealing? Quite simply the Guaraníes appear to be vulnerable to defending the crossed ball. The goalkeeper is very short for the position, and happiest on his line, while the centre-back pairing of Carlos Gamarra and Julio Cesar Caceres may possess exceptional timing in the tackle but neither are aerial specialists. Heading has traditionally been a strength of Paraguayan football, and while the current side are impressive in the air in the opponent's penalty area - they are weak in their own. Evidence of this could be seen in recent friendly against Norway who scored two headers against the South Americans. That match actually finished two-a-piece with Paraguay scoring their equaliser when a left-wing free-kick found the head of Gamarra. It isn't just Terry who will pose serious problems for England's opening opponents. So long as Sven Goran Eriksson keeps to the tried and tested 4-4-2 formation, Peter Crouch has to be in with a major chance of repeating his robotic dance moves in Frankfurt. The Liverpool forward actually scored with his head in his last match against South American oppositon in the form of Uruguay. Continuing the theme of headed goals, and Spreads players ought to take serious notice of Sporting Index decision to quote headed goal minutes at 23-26. For those not familiar with how spread betting works, buyers at 26 would be rewarded should a headed goal be scored after the 26th minute. Having discussed the weaknesses of Paraguay in the heading department above, buying at 26 is an extremely tempting investment. Add in the aerial ability of the likes of Terry, Crouch and infact a number of other England players and it wouldn't be a major surprise to see a couple of headed goals. Whoever it is from the English side that hopefully nets us some serious profits, it is likely to have been down to the ability of David Beckham. The Real Madrid player looks to be approaching top form again, and consistently crossing the ball with unerring accuracy. And that can only add to the chances of the head dominating. A couple of recent headed goals make-ups show the types of profits that can be made - 98 (England v Hungary), 137 (Norway v Paraguay).