England is 2nd favourite for World Cup 2010

After this weekend’s World Cup draw, bookies are now offering the most up to date odds on the event. England was drawn to play in Group C against USA, Algeria and Slovenia and their first match is against the USA kicking off on the 12th June 2010 at 7.30pm.

After the teams were announced England’s odds were cut from 6/1 to 5/1 with bookies Ladbrokes making them second favourite to Spain who are priced at 4/1 to steal the title. Bookies have decided to shorten England’s odds as they believe that England have been lucky enough to be entered into a relatively easy group, and this would explain how they are priced ahead of Brazil who are backed at 11/2.

A spokesman from Ladbrokes spoke of his excitement for the interest in World Cup betting that is about to grow explaining, “World Cup fever is set to grip the country. We're bracing ourselves for football meltdown next Summer. Cape Town has whetted the appetite and we reckon England should be pretty chuffed with the draw."

It appears that speculation that England could actually be World Cup winners this year has sent bookies into a paranoid frenzy but maybe what the England squad needs is fans who truly believe in them and with what the country is priced at to win, it is the shortest that England has been priced at to win the World Cup in a generation.

Ladbrokes are offering prices of 66/1 for USA to win the World Cup, with Algeria and Slovenia priced at a joint 150/1 to lift the silverware.

Odds on other countries that Ladbrokes are offering include Argentina priced at 9/1, Germany and Italy joint at 10/1 with New Zealand least likely to be named the winning team at 1000/1.