Will England come to life after a selection of poor performances during the group stage? While the nation seems to think that Fabio Capello’s team can go all the way after beating Slovenia 1-0, they have not played particularly well in South Africa and big improvement is needed if they are to win in Bloemfontein.

Indeed, it’s puzzling to see the bookmakers quoting Germany at a bigger price. This was a team that beat Australia 4-0, beat Ghana 1-0 and dominated against Serbia for large parts of their 1-0 defeat, despite only having ten men on the pitch. Miroslav Klose will return from suspension for this game and Joachim Loew has two in-form midfielders which could cause problems for the England defence.

Mesut Ozil has been one of the stars of the tournament and his goal against the Black Stars will have Fabio Capello looking for ways to close him down. Bastian Schweinsteiger was an integral part of the Bayern Munich team that reached the Champions League final. In short, Germany should not be outsiders for this game.

PREDICTION: GERMANY +0 ON ASIAN HANDICAP @ 2.05 with bwin