Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth, South Africa
The second set of Group D matches kicks off in Nelson Mandela Bay on June the 18th, where Germany and Serbia will meet. This game starts at 13:30 local time.
In a tough group, seeded team Germany are still the favourites, despite their injury problems. Serbia have failed to impress in a dismal set of friendlies, losing to outsiders New Zealand and unqualified Poland.
Germany are therefore favoured to win this match. The best odds on a straight win for the Germans are 5/6 from Bodog. The draw is worth 11/4 at BetFred, and a Serbia win will fetch 7/2 with Victor Chandler – these are all the best available prices at the time of writing.
In the correct score market, the favourite scoreline is a 1-0 Germany win, which is 5/1 with Bodog (US Friendly) and William Hill. 2-0 and 2-1 to Germany both fetch 7/1 odds. A big Germany win like 4-0 is 40/1, so it doesn’t look like the bookmakers think Germany will be putting too many goals into the Serbian net – is this the expectation of safe, dependable play from the Germans?
The best odds for Serbia to win 1-0 are 11/1 from Bet365. They also offer 16/1 on a Serbian 2-1 win.
If you fancy a 0-0 draw in this game, go to Sportsbook.com (US Friendly) who will give you 9/1 on this outcome.
William Hill are already offering odds on the first to score in this match. Gomez and Klose are the joint favourites here, both with 4/1 odds of netting the first goal. Klose won the golden boot at the last World Cup – will he score again here?
Prediction
With Serbia’s recent bad form, the Germans should be able to win here, but like the bookmakers I can’t see them putting away too many goals with the Serbian defence as it is. For this reason, the prediction is 1-0 to Germany, which is 5/1 from Bodog.
