England will play their last group match today at 15:00 BST against Slovenia at Port Elizabeth. The self pronounced World Cup favorites from England is forced to win against Slovenia to avoid an early elimination, while the Slovenians will be the smallest country ever to qualify for the last 16, if they can secure a draw today.
England is a better one-by-one player squad than Slovenia, but so far, they haven´t showed it at all, and that has develop some big issues for their concentration.
The picture for England is simple. If they win, they are in. If they don´t, they will probably be out of the tournament. For Slovenia a tie is enough.
England finds themselves in trouble after drawing the USA 1-1 in their opener and being held to a lethargic 0-0 draw against Algeria. Slovenia is top of the group after a 1-0 win over Algeria and a 2-2 draw with the USA.
Slovenia vs England line up:
Slovenia: Handanovic; Brecko, Cesar, Mavric, Jokic; Kirm, Radosavljevic, Koren, Birsa; Dedic, Novakovic.
England: James; Johnson, Upson, Terry, A Cole; Lennon, Lampard, Barry, J Cole; Gerrard; Rooney
Slovenia vs England Head to head:
Slovenia
Slovenia 3-1 New Zealand
Japan 1-2 England
Slovenia 3-1 Qatar
England 3-1 Mexico
Slovenia 1-0 Russia
England
England 0-0 Algeria
Slovenia 2-2 USA
USA 1-1 England
Algeria 0-1 Slovenia
Platinum Stars 0-3 England
Slovenia vs England Prediction
The two teams have met just once before with England edging the Slovenians 2-1. This game is hard to call as you never know which England team will show up. With so much on the line, they should be able to pull off a 2-1 win though. Ladbrokes offers 8.5 times the money on 2-1 to England which is one of the best odds available online.
On paper, England will be heavy favourites to win, but with the Croatia match looming in the near future, Capello will probably be more concerned about keeping his players healthy.
Slovenia will likely be content to defend and could be successful in their tactics as their most recent result against the Czech Republic in qualification ended 0-0.