Colombia- England
 

France- Mexico

 

Colombia have qualified, they will finish at least second with a point, top with a win.
 

England are in with a point, will finish top with a win if they at least equal the France scoreline.
 

France are in with a point.
 

Mexico need to win to progress.
 

France and England would both be certain of progression, baring a huge defeat, if the third team in Group E doesn't have at least three points.

 

Ahead of Columbia's win over France I wrote....

Colombia has a potential world star in Yoreli Rincon (pictured) and have also developed a bit of a physical side and France might be wary of that and might take the option to rotate. England did a job on wonderfully gifted Elodie Thomis on the left flank, she caused Colombia a lot of problems in the Olympics and they will have taken note of that . Famous last words, but I do not see France going out of they way to run in a hatful and a low scoring win , might still keep the option of avoiding Germany open, a wide margin victory will probably not. The US are the only team that have scored three against Colombia in the last five years and I see a one or two goal win for Les Bleus as the most likely outcome.
 

We took them +2.25 goals and they won 2-0, it was very much against the run of play, but Colombia were no less impressive for that and I would now argue that they have several, if not world class, then very close to it, offensive players, good options off the bench and are a tireless team with boundless energy and a bit of a physical side, they have a very good goalkeeper, which always gives you a chance and not many teams will play out the last 15-20 minutes better than them, all things considered, despite the early dominance of the French, they were pretty impressive. I watched some interviews with the English players yesterday and to a woman, they seemed to feel they were going to get kicked from pillar to post today, which seems odd and might influence how they approach this. It feels a bit drawish, England would like to win and avoid third place, which could easily mean a last 16 meeting with the defending champions, Japan, but as already indicated, I do not feel that they will finish as strongly as the South Americans. 1.5 units Colombia +0.75 ball 2.02 asian line/Sportmarket and a minimal stake (0.5 units) on England to win by exactly one goal at a general 3.25-3.50 , which would mean that if Colmbia score, as I think they will, England would need to score three for us not to turn a profit and they have shown no likelihood of doing so here in Canada and as previously discussed, it is a rare occurence for the Columbians to concede that many.

 

France are due a performance and Mexico will have to open up and look to win at some stage, but the French have only scored five goals in six starts and their end product doesn't match their build up play. Having said that, today they will be facing a team who will surely give them more space to play and if the French take the lead, one who will be gambling big time to try and get back into things and this could quickly run away from the Mexicans as the last meeting between the two did, with four goals coming in speedy succession and Mexico doing their best Roberto Duran impression and crying No Más very quickly (no disrepect to Duran who is one of my all time favourite sportsmen). The rest of this preview is only available to clubgowi subscribers ......

 

 

Good Luck.