World Cup: England’s Government Don’t Like Their Odds
May 21st, 2014 by G WaldorfEngland are one of the biggest sides in international football (and coincidentally one of the oldest), and there is certain to be a massive amount of support – not to say pressure – coming the way of the England squad that makes the trip to the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. There are always fans in the UK who are happy to look past England’s World Cup odds and set their sights on the trophy, but it seems that the government won’t be doing that!
In a study projecting the effects of opening British pubs late to allow them to host fans who want to watch the games (the time difference makes the evening kick-off a late on in England), whichever government ministry is in charge of these things used England’s World Cup odds as a guide to how far they would progress in the tournament. Apparently it’s about a 50-50 chance that they’ll get out of the group, and only 11% likely that they’ll make the semi finals and beyond. They were even bickering about it in the House of Lords – an indication that World Cup fever might be breaking out in the UK early this time around…
The government’s pessimism (we hope) hasn’t reached coach Roy Hodgson or skipper Steven Gerrard, who were upbeat in the press this week. Hodgson said that England were of course in it to win it, and Gerrard described England’s young prospects as ‘scary’. Maybe the government is working on managing expectations. We have just one question, though: don’t English football fans watch the World Cup after England get knocked out?
Get all your World Cup odds by following the link – the competition continues after England go home, and you might want to bet on the winner!
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