... based on figures that should in a way predetermine the result!
I've played around a bit with numbers (wanted to also get the financials for the football associations, but the Slovenian doesn't seem very transparent :D - yeah, you don't have to tell me, I know... (about financials and transparency :)) and came to the conclusion that Slovenia doesn't stand a chance on paper. But as we say in Slovenia: "Paper withstands everything", i.e. you can write a lot of cr*p, but it doesn't mean it will happen! ;)
So, what do the numbers suggest (of course the score is not a linear correlation, but what the hell...)?
Pool of people (population - wiki): 51M vs 2M or 25:1
Value of teams (futebolfinance.com): 440M€ vs 45M€ or 9:1
Salaries of coaches (futebolfinance.com): 8.8M€ vs 245k€ or 35:1
Number of players (fifa.com): 4.2M vs 0.1M or 42:1
Number of proffesional players (fifa.com): 6110 vs 284 or 21:1
Number of amateur players (18+) (fifa.com): 657k vs 10k or 65:1
Number of clubs (fifa.com): 40k vs 328 or 121:1
Of course all above is a load of rubbish, but all in all (I really wanted to use summa summarum, but I'm not sure it is used in English...) you would really expect England to beat Slovenia on any given day. But where there is a will there is a way and our players are a good bunch that doesn't plan to be a spectator in the game.
My honest prediction? England needs to win and has the quality to win. They will pull it together and show a much better display than in previous games. So yes, if I would bet, I would go for England even though I believe and hope that our boys can get at least a draw.
But whatever happens the Slovenian teams has already surpassed expectations and...
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