WORLD CUP BETTING PICK - GERMANY V POLAND

World Cup

2006-06-14 - Germany vs Poland

A Sports Betting Pick by Mark

Dortmund, 21:00 CET, Germany - Poland

Germany

Morale is high in the German team after winning their opening game against Costa Rica with a comfortable 4-2 score.

The game showed several things. Germany are a great attacking team, but than again they let in 2 sloppy goals as Costa Rica caught them twice out of the blue, this is definately a point that has to improve if they really want to advance far into the tournament.

Good news is the return of team captain Ballack who will replace Borowski in midfield and should be an extra booster for the team.

So despite the 2 sloppy goals conceded, the general mood in the german team is very good and confidence is high as another win would seal qualification to the knock out stage already.

Germany have an amazing record here in the Dortmund Westfalen stadium which is famous for it's great atmosphere. 14 games played here, 13 home wins and 58 goals scored are impressive numbers.


Poland

Poland presented themselves very dissapointing in their opening match against Ecuador, it was shocking to see how poor they played infront of a sell out stadium which was totally in Polish hands.

So, not surprisingly moral is low and the big question is, can Poland recover from this shocking display mentally? I have my doubts that they can, as the pressure is very much on them tomorrow and the internal atmosphere after the game in the team and coaching staff has been pretty bad. They will face a mountain to climb meeting the hosts here in a sell out stadium in Dortmund.



Probable Line ups:

Germany Lehmann - Friedrich, Mertesacker, Lahm - Frings, Ballack, Schneider, Schweinsteiger - Klose, Podolski

Poland Boruc - Bosacki, Lewandowski, Bak, Zewlakow - Radomski, Jelen, Kezynowek, Szymkowiak - Smolarek, Zurawski


Verdict

Never say never, but in my humble opinion Poland face a daunting task here and really nothing speaks for them preliminary to this game, maybe this underdog angle is their only chance actually. They should bring a better performance than against Ecuador, but i doubt it will be enough. Realistically speaking, when looking at home advantage, confidence and quality, Germany are superior here in all aspects.

The Pick :

BEST BETTING TIP :

Germany should book their place into the knock out stages with a win here normally. Early birds could have picked up a $1.70 price, but now books have cut down the value to dubious level as they know that the public money will be on Germany anyway.