Football: Sunday best bets by Ian Davies

COMPREHENSIVE 2-0 winners over the USA in their opening match, Germany can beat Yugoslavia (maybe 1-0 - generally a 5-1 chance) in what promises to be a close encounter in Lens this afternoon. Germany promise to play a leading role in these finals but Yugoslavia failed to impress when struggling to beat Iran 1-0 in their first game and will find the Germans much tougher rivals. Crack Serie A striker Oliver Bierhoff - generally 9-2 - is the best bet to be first goalscorer.

Although they managed only a 1-0 win over Japan in their first match, Argentina should come on for that and beat Jamaica (perhaps 4-0 - 9-1 with William Hill and Stanley) in Paris. Argentina are many people's idea of World Cup winners whereas outsiders Jamaica could not contain Croatia in their opening match and will find this tougher. Gabriel Batistuta - 9-4 with Ladbrokes and Stanley - did us a favour last week with the opening goal against Japan and can again be first goal scorer.

The match between Iran and the USA in Lyons this evening promises to end in a draw (perhaps 1-1 - 6-1 with Ladbrokes). The USA were not entirely disgraced in going down 2-0 to Germany in their first game, but Iran came out of their narrow 1-0 defeat against Yugoslavia - many people's idea of the best outsiders when the tournament began - with arguably even more credit. Khodadad Azizi of Iran looks an interesting bet at 12-1 with Ladbrokes to be first goalscorer.