John Barnes’ England vs Argentina Boosted Bet Builder

England legend John Barnes has been part of our Betfred team throughout the World Cup, where he’s providing us with his views and insight on all things England, plus anything and everything going on in the world of football.

He spoke to our team ahead of the Three Lions' colossal semi-final clash and gave us his England vs Argentina Bet Builder that has been kindly boosted by the Betfred traders to a massive 150/1!

*Remember you can choose your own predictions and check out all the live World Cup Odds on our betting markets over on betfred.com.

We've got a brilliant new Bet Builder product here at Betfred, with loads of great new markets and our amazing Sub Switch offer, meaning if your player is subbed off, your bet stays on! Not only that but now we have reached the knockout rounds, Extra Time counts on all Sub Switch markets...

England vs Argentina Odds

Once again we spoke to John this week after the tense quarter-final victory over Norway which set up a titanic semi-final tie versus one of the old enemies, in Argentina. Did Barnes think we were fortunate to progress against the Vikings?

“Well it was clear wasn’t it? You can actually see the ball hitting the overhead cable, so that goal shouldn’t have been allowed. The disallowed goal for Norway was harsh as [Erling] Haaland was pushing [Elliot] Anderson off him after he was being held.

We were fortunate with some of the decisions, but you need a bit of fortune.”

John Barnes

We then asked the 62-year-old if he was backing England to beat Argentina or if this could be the end of the road for Thomas Tuchel's side?

“We haven’t played anybody yet, except perhaps Mexico at the Azteca, that we’ve not been expected to beat. I don’t expect to see a different type of performance against Argentina because as I’ve said throughout the entire tournament, this team is designed to set up for either Harry Kane or Jude Bellingham to score. That’s it. 

Are we all of a sudden going to start playing differently? All of a sudden are we going to start playing with flair? How we’ve played so far has been good enough to get us to the semi-finals and I do believe it could be good enough for us to beat Argentina. Lionel Messi isn’t the player he was, even though he’s still great, and player for player Argentina have a very good team, but I think we can beat them and I think we can beat Spain in the final if they can get past France. However, I don’t see England beating France if they both get to the final.” 

John Barnes

Would he make any changes to the starting XI for Wednesday?

“If [Bukayo] Saka was to come in for [Noni] Madueke, then you’d see less of Jude Bellingham as Saka would want more of the ball than Madueke would.

Looking at the team, I think defence is our weakest area but they could be supported by Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice playing as two holding midfielders rather than Rice playing as an eight. Against top teams they could be cut through and two sixes could help us rather than thinking of switching personnel in defence.”

John Barnes

And man for man, which side has the better team?

“I think it’s close. Look at their defence, would we have [Cristian] Romero or [Lisandro] Martinez? Is [Alexis] Mac Allister better than any of our midfielders?

Messi would obviously have to be in there but is Julian Alvarez better than Harry Kane? I think man for man we’re better than them. I think Argentina are a more settled, and potentially better, team and have that never say die attitude but man for man, I think we’re better than them.”

John Barnes

We then asked John for his Argentina Bet Builder picks which were as follows:

England to win (90 mins)

England have won their last two games against la Albiceleste including a 1-0 win in World Cup 2002, thanks to a David Beckham penalty in Sapporo.

Lionel Messi 4+ shots (Sub Switch - Extra Time)

Remarkably this will be the first time that one of the greatest players of all time will have faced the Three Lions. John expects him to fire off at least a quartet of shots in the game. He has registered 3.3 shots per game in North America this summer.

Harry Kane 3+ shots (Sub Switch - Extra Time)

Kane was fairly quiet against Norway but surely that won't be the case again in Atlanta. The Bayern Munich man currently has six goals for the tournament and is averaging 3.7 shots per game during this tournament.

Elliot Anderson to be carded (Sub Switch - Extra Time)

The new Manchester City signing has yet to be carded at the World Cup but did pick up three yellow cards in Nottingham Forest's Europa League run this season.

Rodrigo De Paul to be carded (Sub Switch - Extra Time)

Again the Inter Miami man hasn't been in the referee's book thus far but is fond of a caution, picking up four in 13 MLS games this year.

The five selections come in at just over 100/1, but our Betfred traders have gone all out and boosted Barnes' Bet Builder to a massive 150/1! You can load it straight to your slip by clicking on the banner below...

Don't like John's selections and fancy building your own? Well we have a great offer on that gives you a £10 free Bet Builder when you place a minimum £10 Bet Builder of your own.