British bookies will erect a monument to Gareth Southgate

Without any surveys or statistical data, but just by checking our betting history, we can confidently say: wins and handicaps of favorites, and over totals with all the variants (in halves, in both halves, individual) - these are the favorite betting options for an average bettor. The England national team at Euro 2024 has ruined everything! And there are results.

England started as the main favorite to win the Euro (5.00), while the national team doesn’t have any European titles. As a matter of fact, there's nothing unusual about it: where else would bookmakers place a team with the Bundesliga's top striker, the Champions League winner, and the 2nd contender for the Ballon d'Or (with odds of 3.25), the best player in the Premier League, and one of the world's top midfielders? Especially when the Germans haven't made it out of the group stage for two World Cups in a row, the French have aged and are tied up in Mbappé's mood, and the Portuguese have to put up with a 40-year-old Ronaldo’s dribbling?

The first are more likely to win. It's time to remember how the champions of the last three biggest tournaments performed.

🏆 Argentina 2022: 6 points in the group stage (surprisingly losing to Saudi Arabia in their first match, then confidently winning their next two with a margin), they beat Australia in the playoff (2-1), then a victory over the Netherlands (2-2, penalties), and they smashed Croatia in semi-final (3-0). The final saw a thrilling comeback and a dramatic penalty shootout to clinch the title (3-3, penalties). Argentina scored a total of 15 goals throughout the tournament.

🏆 Italy-2020: 9 points in the group stage (the goals difference 7:0), they defeated Austria in the playoff (2-1 after extra time), Belgium (2-1), and Spain (on penalties). In the final, they triumphed over England (on penalties). Overall, Italy scored 13 goals throughout the tournament.

🏆 France-2018: 7 points in the group stage, followed by a spectacular victory over Argentina (4:3), they overcame Uruguay in the quarter-final with a handicap (-1,5), won Belgium in semi-final (1:0) and smashed Croatia in the final (4:2, could be more). In total, they scored 14 goals during the tournament.

Who's the hot favorite for Euro 2024? They're so good, you could be losing money every 15 minutes!

England played four matches at the Euro, which equates to eight full halves (plus two extra time periods). How was it:

❌ Over 2,5 didn’t hit once.

❌ Over 1,5 hit in 1 of the 8 halves

❌ Handicap (minus) didn't hit in any of the matches.

❌ England were favorits with the odds on them to win below 1.49 in three matches, and won only one.

❌ They won only 2 of 8 halves (1 of them in the last minute)

❌ Individual total over 1,5 didn’t hit once

❌ The top striker scored only 1 goal (in extra time it doesn’t count in this line)

❌ Total score for the 4 matches (regular time) was 3:2 (in 360 minutes!)

❌ BTTS hit in two out of four matches, but it wasn't a bet many were keen on.

Statistics weren’t better

❌ Over 9.5 corners didn't hit once.

❌ Under 6.5 corners hit three times.

❌ In three out of four matches the total was under 4,5 shots on target (compared to 8,5 in the pre-match).

❌ No penaltie kicks were shot by neither England nor their opponents.

❌ Southgate never used all the substitutions (in the 90 minutes).

Bookmakers made without any doubts:

✅ 4 hugely profitable pre-match bets:

1. England's minimal win over Serbia with no successful bets on handicaps, totals, corners and five 15-minutes periods.

2. A 1-1 draw with Denmark, with the last goal in the 34th minute – the under total again, the favorite failed, and 3 profitable 15-minutes periods.

3. A goalless draw with Slovenia - a gold mine opened up.

4. A 1-1 draw with Slovakia - again, the favorite failing to win, minus handicap, individual and total goals not hitting. The initial corner total of 8.5 was also surpassed.

✅ 3 hugely profitable live bets:

1. In the match against Serbia, England scored in the 13th minute, which means that in the following 77 minutes (+7 added for the 2 halves) the bookmakers made a killing on the over, minus handicaps, and everything else.

2. In the match against Denmark after the goal in the 34th minute - 56 minutes in which nothing happened (+6 added for the 2 halves).

3. A goalless draw with Slovenia - gold mining continued.

In the fourth match, there was an unpleasant goal in the 90+5th minute against Slovakia, but a small reversal in extra time: a goal by the favorite in the 91st minute and 29 minutes in which nothing happened (+3 added).

Let’s recall that we are talking about England here, not Russia, Slovenia, or North Macedonia. We're talking about the 1st favorite to win Euro 2024.

Gareth Southgate's team is already in the quarter-finals, facing Switzerland. If they manage another low-scoring, grinding victory (with the odds of 11/20 ), they'll face one of the Netherlands, Austria, Turkey, or Romania. We're reminded of Portugal in 2016, with their five draws before the semi-final. But that was a different kind of story, a Cinderella run. Yes, Portugal were favorites in all their group stage matches, but they at least generated a couple of "both teams to score" results, one even ending 3-3 after trailing for the entire match. And then they pulled off a mini-upset in the final against France (0-0, 1-0 in extra time).

You can get odds of 27/20 on Gareth Southgate, that alleged "bad" coach, reaching the final of the European Championship! We're offering 1.25 on him becoming an ambassador for bet365 or Betfred very soon 🙂

He truly deserves it! As do bronze statues in front of all the major British bookmakers' offices.