by Tom Allen
Germany looked very decent indeed against Australia but no side has defended
as badly as the Socceroos so far at the World Cup and the three-time winners
will find it a whole lot tougher versus Serbia in a crucial Group D match on
Friday.
I was hugely disappointed with Radomir Antic's side in their opening 1-0
defeat to Ghana but they are given one last chance to redeem themselves in what
is effectively a must-win game for Serbia.
It is easy for the odds compilers to overreact to one performance and Germany
are now no bigger than 8/13, with
888 sport, to follow-up their 4-0 hammering of Pim Verbeek's side with three more points in Rustenburg.
However, that looks plenty short enough and I'm more than happy to take the
other side of that about Serbia-Draw in the Double Chance market with Betway.
My dark horses for glory, Serbia underachieved massively four years ago in
Germany when beaten in all three group games and are in danger of flopping baldy
once again. Asmaoah Gyan's late penalty was enough for the Africans to claim a
valuable three points and Ghana certainly have qualification in their own hands
now.
I remain convinced that Serbia have the talent to compete with the best and
with Germany no doubt more than happy to bag a draw with only Ghana to come, it
looks the value play.
Serbia's weakness seems to me that they simply freeze on the big stage but if
Antic and captain Dejan Stankovic cannot motivate the troops for a game of this
enormity then they really are fighting a lost cause.
Serbia's hopes of gaining something from the match will rest on keeping Mesut
Ozil and Lucas Podolski quiet, both so impressive against the Aussies, and their
robust style of play could unsettle their more decorated opponents.
With the other match in Group D not taking pace until Saturday afternoon any
points gained by Serbia will put the pressure back on Ghana to take something
from their match with Australia and we could be on for a tense final round of
matches.
I expect the pace and trickery of Milan Jovanovic and Milos Krasic to cause
Germany problems in wide areas and, while converting the chances they create
will obviously be crucial, the prices surely don't represent either side's
respective chances.
1pt Back Serbia-Draw Double Chance @ 6/5 (Betway)
