England & Sven - two schools of thought

It seems there are two schools of thought on England's performances in the World Cup to date.

The first school is of the opinion that the team has reached the quarter final stage of the competition without playing well. Nonetheless the opposition has been beaten; if a team can reach this stage without playing well, it augurs well for the future. Proponents of this view affirm there's a big game in this England team and we're going to see it in the next match.

The second school of thought also acknowledges that the team has not played well. The prevailing view is that the team has been performing way below expectations and when the stiffer opposition comes along the side's inherent weaknesses will be fully exposed.

Quoting from today's Times, "If Luiz Felipe Scolari beats Sven-Göran Eriksson for the third time, perhaps he will get to keep him. It is a prospect that seems probable on form and history..."

If you subscribe to this second viewpoint then 11/4 Portugal to beat England in 90 minutes with both Victor Chandler and Betdirect looks very good value indeed.