2010 World Cup odds

We’re now down to the quarter final stage of the 2010 World Cup as teams get down to the serious business of winning the 19th renewal of this illustrious competition. Seven countries have been victorious since the inaugural tournament was held in 1930 and four of them are still standing in South Africa, with England, France and Italy no more.

The question is – will we see a new name on the trophy? Or will Brazil, Argentina, Germany or Uruguay continue to keep the World Cup winner’s club to an exclusive band of teams? The bookies offer 4/7 (Paddy Power) that the old guard are triumphant, while you can get odds of 13/8 (Sporting Bet) that we see a new winner – Spain being the most likely to achieve this.

Meanwhile, you can also bet on which continent will provide the winner of the 2010 World Cup. At the start of the tournament, Europe were the overwhelming favourite, although that was before France and Italy decided to implode at the group stage! Ladbrokes now make South America the odds-on favourite (8/13), with Europe on offer at 11/10 and Africa the rank outsider at 33/1 (Blue Square).

Several bookmakers have also resurrected their ‘Name the Finalists’ market now that we’re down to eight teams. Brazil appear to feature in the easy half of the draw, so it’s no surprise to see the Selecao included in many short-priced combinations. Many people’s idea of a dream final is Brazil v Spain and that’s the slight favourite at odds of 3/1 (Sky Bet). However, if you think it will be an all-South American final for the first time since 1950 (!), Brazil squaring off against Argentina is on offer at 9/2 (Paddy Power).

The Dutch will surely have a gameplan to try and overcome their Brazilian opponents in the quarter final and victory would leave them well placed to reach the final for the first time since 1978. They lost to Argentina that year and the bookies make the prospect of the two teams playing each other a 9/1 chance (Paddy Power).

There’s also an interesting competition to see which team can score the most World Cup goals during this tournament. In case you haven’t been counting (!), Argentina and Germany both have nine goals and Brazil have managed eight. It looks to be a three-horse race and it’s the latter who are the 11/10 favourites on betfair, especially as the other two teams play each other.

Although Spain are unlikely to win that particular market, it’s Vicente Del Bosque’s team that are favourites to be Top European Team. Few people would have expected just three sides from this continent to remain at the quarter final stage, although the Spanish are 4/6 (bet365) to land the spoils, compared to the 3/1 (Paddy Power) on offer about Germany and the 7/2 (bet365) that it’s the Netherlands who are top European dogs.

World Cup Betting Odds Now Favour Argentina

There is a new kid at the top of World Cup Odds. After sitting pretty at the top of the outright market for so long, Spain, following their collapse against the dogged Swiss in their opening 2010 FIFA World Cup match, not only lost three points, but also their ranking as favourite for the tournament. How quickly things can change. Iniesta and company simply could not find a way through the rugged and stubborn Switzerland defence, and now they have been surpassed in outright odds. In fact, Brazil are now level in World Cup betting with the Spaniards, the first time there has not been a gap between them for over 12 months of World Cup Odds. No, Argentina are now leading the pack, as no other team has of yet, managed to stamp such an authority over proceedings at South Africa 2010.

Hinted at by many to be a dark horse, but not fully backed because of the unpredictability of coach Maradona, the South Americans have always been behind Spain and Brazil in the outright World Cup market. That has all changed now though, as they exploded into life in their second Group B match, putting South Korea to the sword in a domineering 4-1 victory. That backed up the three points gained in their first match, a victory over African representatives, Nigeria. Those six points saw the Argentineans as the first side to book their place in the second round of South Africa 2010, and the convincing displays by them, has meant that their odds have been slashed. This is a hugely significant move, made stronger by the fact that their second round opponents will be from Group A and will be either Mexico, Uruguay or France, neither of which should trouble them. Argentina have been fearless in attack, shown some crisp passing and some incredible movement off the ball, all instigated largely by Lionel Messi.

While Lionel Messi is yet to open his account (although he leads the way with 15 shots on goal), his team mate Gonzalo Higuain did with great aplomb. Higuain hit a hat trick and now leads the way in the odds to finish as the tournament’s top scorer. If you want to jump on Higuain now, you will be pushed to find odds better than 9/4 at Ladbrokes. Higuain’s closest challenger in the odds now is David Villa out at 11/1 at Totesport. Six goals is usually enough to win the Golden Boot, and Higuain is now half way there after just two games. The odds on him and on Argentina to win the World Cup, perfectly illustrate and highlight the importance of getting your bets down early. Higuain was out at around 10/1 to finish as top scorer, and look at his odds now. Similarly, with the outright World Cup Odds on Argentina who were around 7/1.

Argentina seem to have left all of their qualification problems behind them, and are looking a very accomplished side. In the build up to South Africa 2010, Maradona had projected nothing but confusion about what his best team was, but he seems to be pulling the strings perfectly so far. His selections and team set up have been ideal, and the hammering of South Korea has fired warning shots across the hull of the good ships Brazil and Spain. Whatever magic fairy dust Maradona has sprinkled his team with, it would be nice if he could lend Fabio Capello some.

Profit and Loss on World Cup Betting Strategy

Here we take a look at the values of the most simple of World Cup betting systems, backing the favourite in a match. Now, there are differing degrees of favourites in a two horse race, such as World Cup football betting. There are the outright favourites such as Spain over Switzerland, which offer very little in the way of odds, and there are the closely matched teams squaring off against each other, say Algeria v Slovenia, where the favourite will only be marginally better priced than the other one. Still, when browsing around the best bookmakers for World Cup betting, you can generally draw a fair idea of who is expected to win, without even going into any in depth study of matches, such as looking over stats, form, injuries, history and that kind of thing. The first round of group matches at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, rarely caught fire in terms of goals, but that is because this is the biggest and most important football tournament on the planet, and teams are always a little more cautious in their opening matches. With only three group matches, losing your first one can leave you with a real uphill struggle to qualify. So naturally sides tend to err on the side of caution, while getting used to the atmosphere, the conditions and of course, shaking off those first match nerves.

So how did the favourites get on in the first round of matches at South Africa 2010? How safe would your money have been if you had simply backed each one of them to win. Not great, would be the answer to that. The thing is, with backing strong favourites, you really need to lay a bigger wager down in order to get returns, so there often is more to lose. The way to play World Cup betting on favourites, is usually best done in building accumulators and exploring multi-bet options to increase your returns. Anyway, let’s take a look over the facts and figures from the opening group matches of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. All of the favourites in betting are in bold with prices listed on this site in match previews.

Favourites in Bold, assuming £10 bet on each match (= shows profit & stake return)
South Africa v Mexico, 1-1 (lost)
Uruguay v France, 0-0 (lost)
Argentina v Nigeria, 1-0 (won at 1/2) = £15
Korea Republic v Greece, 2-0 (won at 2/1) = £30
England v USA, 1-1 (lost)
Algeria v Slovenia, 0-1 (lost)
Germany v Australia, 4-0 (won at 8/15) = £15.33
Serbia v Ghana, 0-1 (lost)
Holland v Denmark, 2-0 (won at 8/15) = £15.33
Japan v Cameroon, 1-0 (lost)
Italy v Paraguay, 1-1 (lost)
New Zealand v Slovakia, 1-1 (lost)
Ivory Coast v Portugal, 0-0 (lost)
Brazil v Korea DPR, 2-1 (won at 1/9) = £11.11
Chile v Honduras, 1-0 (won at 4/6) = £16.67
Spain v Switzerland, 0-1 (lost)

Outcome:
£160 staked, £103.44 returns = loss of £56.56

If you had backed all of those sixteen favourites then you would have bombed out on ten of those bets. That is a high percentage of losses. To put it into figures, you would have won just 37.5% of your bets, had you simply decided to back the favourites in each match. The six bets you would have won on were Argentina, Korea Republic, Germany, Holland, Brazil and Chile. You’ll probably notice something about the names in that pack. Four of those teams are the top four shortest priced nations win the World Cup outright, so they were strong favourites in their matches, and therefore did not offer such great value. So even your winnings would not have been great in relation to the stakes wagered on all of this. Where did it all go wrong? Well, the aforementioned cautiousness of opening tournament matches to start with, forcing some of the favourites into hard fought drawn matches, teams like England, France and Italy. Plus, who foresaw Switzerland beating Spain, or New Zealand holding Slovakia?

Let’s flip this on its head and look at betting on the underdog. What would have happened if you had played all underdogs in the opening round of matches? You would have won even less bets, but that is not the whole story, for you would have won a healthy profit. Only four underdogs actually won out of the sixteen matches, giving you only a 25% win rate. But, here is the rub. Take Switzerland for example. They were fantastic odds of 15/1 to beat the European Champions and that equates into big profit. In the example below, looking at these first sixteen results, it was only Switzerland’s out-of-the-blue, literally against-the-odds-win, which made a profit here. So there is profit to be made, but of course, it is at a higher risk. In this summary, the better option would have been to bet on all the underdogs, as you would have come up with a profit, as opposed to taking a loss on all of the favourites.

Favourites in Bold, assuming £10 bet on each match (= shows profit & stake return)
South Africa v Mexico, 1-1 (lost)
Uruguay v France, 0-0 (lost)
Argentina v Nigeria, 1-0 (lost)
Korea Republic v Greece, 2-0 (lost)
England v USA, 1-1 (lost)
Algeria v Slovenia, 0-1 (won at 13/10) = £23
Germany v Australia, 4-0 (lost)
Serbia v Ghana, 0-1 (won at 14/5) = £38
Holland v Denmark, 2-0 (lost)
Japan v Cameroon, 1-0 (won at 11/4) = £37.50
Italy v Paraguay, 1-1 (lost)
New Zealand v Slovakia, 1-1 (lost)
Ivory Coast v Portugal, 0-0 (lost)
Brazil v Korea DPR, 2-1 (lost)
Chile v Honduras, 1-0 (lost)
Spain v Switzerland, 0-1 (won at 16/1) = £170

£160 stakes, £268.50 returns = profit of £108.50

Before you go planning your World Cup betting strategy for the rest of the tournament, there is something which needs to be considered. The nature of the games will change for the rest of the group matches. Teams will be settled, and experience does count for a great deal in tight situations, as it usually only takes a flash of inspiration from a star player to make all the difference. Teams which are favourites have more of these stars in their teams, naturally, and therefore more of a chance of pulling through. Tournament football is heartbreaking, exhilarating and rewarding all at the same time. As you can see, winning upsets do not happen all that often, but they do. At the World Cup, you will usually see the same old faces in the latter stages of the tournament. But can you spot a dark horse ready to cause more upsets at South Africa 2010?

One other betting option to consider, is the Draw No Bet option. Six of the matches which ended in drawn matches would have lost your outright bet on the favourite, but if you consider the Draw No Bet, then you will have had some coverage. Although the odds would have been shorter, you would have at least got your stakes returned for them being held to a draw. This is a good option to consider for the rest of the group stage betting, as underdog teams will still be scrapping for all of their worth in the second batch of group stage matches.

World Cup Bets See Shift In Odds

How are your 2010 World Cup Predictions looking so far? While World Cup Betting has been flooding onto the action at South Africa 2010, but with the first round of group opening matches nearly completed, it’s time to look at the movers and shakers. We have just about seen every team so far in action, and while the action has fallen into the cagey tournament opening mode, things are expected to ignite once the race for qualification gets hotter. Teams will have to come out and attack just that little bit more, and caution will be thrown to the wind. So, where does that leave your World Cup bets? If you are betting on individual matches, then there should be an increase in results over the next coming week, and by that, I mean there should be less likelihood of drawn matches, so that is something to consider. Teams like France, Italy and England need to get wins under their belt to ensure qualification to the second round, after they all drew their opening South Africa 2010 fixtures. Indeed there has been a lot of parity around the tournament so far, with only Germany stepping up to the plate and showing some great attacking ambition.

Taking a look at the outright odds for World Cup Betting, Germany are one of the nations who have had their odds shortened. Premature? Maybe, because their 4-0 victory was only against Australia who were down to ten men, but Germany, as tipped here, could be a real dark horse threat to win the tournament. If you do fancy a World Cup bet on them, then the time to do it would be now. After their impressive goal fest, the only team to do so, so far, they have shortened to 9/1 at Totesport, level on World Cup odds with Holland who can be taken for the same price at BetFair. France, who were never realistically in the running when it came to odds, have drifted out further and are now best priced at 28/1 at SportingBet to pull off a miracle and win the World Cup. Longer odds have also started appearing for defending Champions Italy, after their less than impressive opening draw against Paraguay. The Azzuri are out at 20/1 at Skybet, while most other online bookmakers have maintained their price around the mid-teens. Argentina have held their group as third favourites, but there has been a little movement in them shortening in World Cup odds, as you can get then for around 5/1 at some online bookmakers, but the best price of 13/2 are still available at places like William Hill.

What of England? No, they weren’t impressive. Is there room for improvement? Yes. But they have taken a bit of a beating in the World Cup odds, as they have seen Germany move ahead of them. Fabio Capello’s men, who only managed a disappointing draw against the USA, have drifted out to as much as 10/1 at Boylesports, while some bookmakers are being more optimistic by keeping their price around seven or eight to one. If you haven’t backed England yet to win the tournament yet, you’ll be well advised to get your World Cup bet on them right now, as their odds will probably shorten again if they beat Algeria comfortably on Friday, which they are expected to do. 10/1 on England is the longest they have been for a while, and you may as well take advantage of that little bit extra if you are going to have a punt on them to come good. They have clear problems to address after the opening match, and now the focus will be on Fabio Capello and what he can do to fix them.

Well, that has been the main movement among the outright World Cup odds, with the two favourites, Spain and Brazil yet to play at the time of writing. But their odds will certainly be cut anyway when they pick up their expected opening wins. Spain are best priced at 15/4 at Bwin while Brazil are best priced at 9/2 at Bet365. Whoever you are going for, the sooner you get your bet down, the better odds you will be able to secure. In the Top Goalscorer market, there hasn’t been a lot of movement, apart from Brazil’s Luis Fabiano rightly having his odds cut down to 10/1 at Ladbrokes. Going up against North Korea in their opener, there is a chance he could get well ahead in the race. Germany’s out of form striker Miroslav Klose, who has a proven record for his country, is now 16/1 at Boylesports, while England’s Wayne Rooney, who has not scored for his country since last September has had his odds stretched out to 16/1 at SportingBet. Spain’s David Villa still dominates at 6/1 at SkyBet. If you want to track all of the latest odds from South Africa 2010, remember, you can keep up to date with all the latest World Cup Odds right here.

One of the most important, yet one of the most difficult tasks when it comes to World Betting, is not sifting through the 32 teams and picking out a winner as an ante-post bet, it is keeping up to date with the current betting prices for the World Cup 2010. Once the tournament  has kicked off, the markets on football betting can rapidly change, and one bit of breaking news could massively effect what odds you can pick up. Naturally, the earlier you bet on a team ahead of a tournament such as this, the better the odds you will be able to get. Take European challengers Holland at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Their odds have shortened significantly, thanks to a very good build up to the tournament, and obtaining a 100% record in qualification. They have shortened from around 13/1 down to 10/1 at Bet365 at the moment, and shows the significant movement which can happen with football betting. So there is a need to stay up to date and informed to fortify your betting.

So how do you stay on top of the current betting prices for the World Cup 2010? Simply head to our Odds page in our Tips and Recommendations section and you will find all of the current odds the market for the World Cup Outright Winner, currently headed by Spain at a price of 5/1 at Bet365. The current odds are scoured from a wealth of online bookmakers, and are constantly updated to give you the latest live and best prices that you can get on the World Cup. So, if you are looking for the best current prices as you pick the nation who you think will lift the coveted Julies Rimet trophy on July 11th in Johannesburg at the World Cup final, then help is at hand. But while the Outright Winner market may not rapidly change, one of the main markets which will, is the current betting odds on the individual World Cup matches. These can be a lot harder to keep a track of, but not when you follow the 2010 World Cup right here, as all the prices you need is available in one place.

Now you can find all of the best prices for the upcoming World Cup matches from South Africa 2010, so that you do not have to worry whether you are picking up the best price for your wager or not. England v USA is one of the most intriguing matches of the first round of opening group fixtures, and a quick glance at the table showed that England are firm favourites to take maximum points from the fixture, with Paddy Power offering decimal odds of 1.53 at the time of writing. This is the advantage of being able to see the current betting prices for the World Cup 2010, right at your fingertips. After the World Cup outright odds, the individual match fixed odds outrights will be where the majority of wagers go on with online bookmakers covering South Africa 2010. It is hard to ignore the odds in individual match odds, as that is where a lot of profit can be picked up. Whether you back the favourites in a match heavily, or whether you put a wager on a tip for an outsider, you will need to know the best and latest prices to make the most of your money.

Our current betting prices for the World Cup 2010 are presented in decimal odds, in easy to read tables. If you are not familiar with how to read decimal odds, then all that you need to understand is that the figure you see, is the figure that the bookmaker will be paying out to you, stake included. Think of them simply as fractional odds plus one. So, fractional odds of 5/1 will be represented as 6.0 in decimal terms. Evens (1/1) would be represented at 2.00 and so on. So, if you put a bet of £1 on odds of 5/1 then you would get your £5 winnings plus your £1 stake back. It is exactly the same as in decimal terms of 6.0. You play £1 and you get a total of £6 back, just the same as the factional odds, as the stake is included. They can be easier to read, and all you have to do is multiply your stake by the odds and the result is what will be handed back to you by the bookmaker if you win.

The thirty two nations have gone through a lot of preparation to make the most of their World Cup chances? How have you, as punter prepared? Having the right information to hand can make a big difference in terms of profit and even more profit. World Cup odds of 4/1 will see your bookmaker handing over less than profit than if you had managed to pick up the same bet at 5/1. A £10 bet on that would make a big £10 difference in your potential winnings. Fortunately you do not have to visit every online bookmaker yourself, as you can find all the information of latest World Cup odds right here, in order to make your World Cup betting go more smoothly and more efficiently.
 

World Cup Group D Teams: Germany, Australia, Ghana, Serbia. This is a fascinating group, and well worth following as you plan your World Cup Betting. Germany have had their problems during their build up, and this group contains one of the strong dark horse bets of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The big kick off is nearing, and punters across the world should be finalizing their betting strategies. The World Cup brings together 32 teams, 736 players all for the chance to play in the World Cup final at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg on July 11th, 7.30 pm GMT. Here we continue our World Cup betting guide to help you find the best value bets in Group D.

Win Market: Germany 10/11 at Blue Square
They have had so many problems during their build up with injury to players, most noticeably Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack, that some shadows were being cast over their progress in the competition. With Philipp Lahm instilled as captain, the Germans are showing a great deal of resilience and have being looking unfazed through their international friendlies being played as tournament warm ups. Coach Joachim Low is certain that his team is almost there, and remember when planning your betting strategies that adversity can usually pull teams together. Their confident 3-1 win over Bosnia showed that the Germans, who already have a great World Cup history, should not face too many problems in playing their way to the top of Group D. While they are back in World Cup Odds there is no reason why Germany cannot easily play their way to at least the semi finals of the competition. Consider that Germany have been at the quarter final stage of their last seven World Cups and that is a record which they should continue. One thing about the Germans in early betting, is that while they are famed for their consistency in tournament football, they are also famous for being slow out of the blocks. Their first match is against Australia, the weakest team in the group, and that could work in their favour, as they build up momentum to face the tougher tasks of Ghana and Serbia. They are well worth a strong bet, and this is good value for a seeded team.

Not To Qualify: Australia 4/11 at Coral
The Socceroos are looking at their enthusiasm and hard, physical play to come good. They will be hoping to catch Germany cold in their opening fixture, but in all honesty, it looks as if they have an uphill task before a ball is even kicked in anger. They did beat World Cup side Denmark in a recent international friendly, but it was a Denmark without their main strikers in action. Granted, the Aussies did dig in to grab themselves a relatively late winner, but were playing an unfamiliar 4-5-1 as they await the fitness of Harry Kewell. They are not going to be short on confidence, and will probably give a decent account of themselves. It is hard to see them having the technical ability though, to beat any of their group opposition. They need to fly out of the blocks against Germany, who, as mentioned are slow starters. However, the Germans are experts at tournament football, and the odds will be stacked against the Aussies picking up any points there. Australia switched to the Asian qualification zone to help them improve their status against better teams. They topped that ahead of Japan, but face some seriously tough opposition in Group D.

To Finish Second: Serbia 2/1 at Boylesports
Serbia have drawn all of the attention of punters looking on a real dark horse bet. They looked an extremely strong technical side through the European qualification zone, in which they topped their group ahead of France. They showed a keen eye for goal, and the ability to keep things tight at the back, scoring 22 goals during qualification, and conceding just 8. How you can weigh this bet up, and look to double your money with the above odds, is that Australia look the rank outsiders in the group, and the Ghana side are missing their key man, Michael Essien, and were thumped 4-1 by Holland in an international friendly. Betting on Serbia at the World Cup is something that should bring returns. If they can get the better of Ghana in their opening fixture, then there should be no reason why they can’t press on and even challenge Germany for top spot in the group. The Germany v Serbia fixture is one of the mouth-watering group fixtures to watch out for. Still, at odds of 2/1 for the Serbians to finish second, really is excellent value.

Most Group Goals Scored: Serbia 3/1 at Bwin
It will be a close call between Germany and Serbia for this one. Germany hit an average of 2.60 goals per match in qualification, while Serbia hit 2.20. Naturally they faced different opposition, so it is something of parity really when it comes to their World Cup group. So why plump for Serbia then? Well, we are looking at the best value odds here and Serbia to fire is pretty well priced at 3/1, with only one team likely to beat them in this field. That makes the 3/1 odds as given above, even more attractive when you sum it up that way. Germany, with their problems, may play a little more conservatively, as they know that they will have a long tournament ahead, whereas Serbia’s chances of progressing will from taking their game to opponents and putting sides under pressure. They will probably have that extra spark and take a few more chances. They have a good balanced side with good attack, so there is no reason why they cannot sneak this one.

To Finish Bottom: Australia 11/8 at Blue Square
Landed themselves in a tough group, and start with the toughest of their World Cup Fixtures. What can the Australians bring to the table? They were lauded as having made a great impression at the 2006 World Cup, but they only won one match out of their four played. They finished second in their group behind Brazil there, and then lost in something of a cruel fashion to Italy in the second round. They are seen as having a better, stronger presence at the World Cup this time, but it is even quite difficult to see where their best chance of winning a game is. Germany are looking strong, and defeat there, would leave the Aussies reeling, because picking up points against Serbia and Ghana is not going to be easy.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is being hit by a spate of injuries which could have major repurcussions on your World Cup football betting. The biggest casualty of recent days so far, has undoubtedly been England captain Rio Ferdinand. The centre half, who has had a stop-start season with his English Premier League club Manchester United due to injuries and suspensions, picked up an injury in training. The England curse, which has robbed the nation of some of their most important players during World Cups down the years, has struck again, with Tottenham’s Michael Dawson being called out to South Africa as a replacement. United’s Ferdinand partnering Chelsea’s John Terry have been the cornerstone of the England defence, and his loss will be a major blow. With England putting out less than impressive performances in their international friendly warm up matches, there are hints that England’s chances of repeating their success of 1966, is starting to slip through their fingers a bit, and now they are out at 8/1 at ExtraBet to win the World Cup. England’s path to the final will likely be blocked by both Brazil and Spain, and the one big question over them has been the quality of depth in the squad. Without Ferdinand, Capello needs to find a solid, consistent replacement.

Now one of the most in form players of the year, Bayern Munich and Holland’s Arjen Robben, is a doubt for the World Cup, after picking up a hamstring problem in an international friendly warm up match against Hungary. Robben came on as a sub and found the back of the net twice in Holland’s 6-1 win, but had to leave the field of play with an injury. Now he is a serious doubt to take part, which will be a great shame, as the ex-Chelsea man has been in startling form this season. Holland have slowly been closing the gap on the favourites in terms of 2010 World Cup Odds and that has been down to their impressive quality and confidence. They are probably the strongest dark horse bet in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, if you consider anyone outside of Brazil and Spain as dark horses. The Dutch have shortened their odds to 11/1 at Blue Square to win the World Cup. Arjen Robben is one of the key talented forwards, but Holland have been confident of their chances, naming their 23 man squad early. They are still packed with quality, but will have lost a great source of goals to back up Robin Van Persie.

Ivory Coast supporters are still waiting on the news of talismanic striker Didider Drogba, who fractured his arm in a tackle in a warm up win against Japan. The Ivory Coast are still waiting on news of whether he could still appear at the World Cup, as they will need his presence and goals to help get them out of a tough group. They are stuck in Group G alongside Brazil, Portugal and North Korea, and losing their main source of power and goals, will be a huge blow to their hopes. Ivory Coast coach Sven Goran Eriksson has not had the ideal preparation ahead of his campaign, being brought in late, and having to work with the players as opposed to having time to stamp his authority over style and tactics. Now his task in their World Cup Fixtures will be made all that much harder without Chelsea’s Drogba, who could be one of four key Chelsea players missing from the World Cup. The Ivory Coast are currently 50/1 at SkyBet to win the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Germany suffered one of the earliest blows with injury, after they lost captain and Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack. The one thing that will have cushioned the blow for the Germans a little bit, is that the injury happened with enough time to make alterations to their plans, and seeing how they can adjust and cope without their captain. Philipp Lahm is now the new captain in Germany squad which has been hit with more injuries than other nations. Still, the Germans are looking a strong and organized team under Joachim Low, and are well worth considering in your World Cup betting strategy. Ghana also suffered a major setback, one that will hurt them more than Ballack’s loss to Germany, as Michael Essien was ruled out after failing to recover from an injury picked up at the African Cup of Nations. The Black Stars should be a strong force at the World Cup, paired with Germany, Serbia and Australia. But Essien is a class act, arguably one of the best holding midfielders in the world, and the gap he will leave behind is massive. Ghana were thumped 4-1 by an in form Holland recently in a friendly. Germany are currently a nice price of 14/1 at Bet365 to win the World Cup, while Ghana are out at 100/1 with Sporting Bet.

Another Chelsea man to miss the World Cup, is Nigeria’s John Mikel Obi. Mikel was Michael Essien’s replacement at Chelsea after the German got injured, and then suffered an injury which kept him out of the end of the season as well. The knee injury, for which he received treatment back in May, has not healed sufficiently in order for him to get through the World Cup unscathed. After missing some of Nigeria’s International friendly warm up matches, he has been partaking in limited training after being the last player to join up with the squad, but his knee will not carry him through the tournament. Nigeria are not as strong as they have been in the past, and are expected to put up some kind of challenge for second spot in Group B, in which Argentina, Greece and South Korea also play. Nigeria are 150/1 at Bet365 to win the 2010 World Cup, while defending champions Italy are 16/1 at Stan James. With worrying injuries picked up by Italy’s Alessandro Pirlo and Brazil’s full back Michel Bastos, the historic World Cup tournament in South Africa, could be cruelly robbed of some of the World’s biggest stars. This is something to consider when looking at your World Cup betting. While the likes of Spain and Brazil can probably afford to lose a major star because they have so much talent in depth to choose from, when it comes to the chasing pack, it is a different story. This is evident in the loss of Michael Essien and Pirlo too, if the Italian midfielder doesn’t pull through. Losing a key influential player for any team will have an impact, but when you are more reliant on that star, then it will probably see you drift out in World Cup Odds.
 

For those of you that haven’t noticed, Holland’s odds to win this summer’s 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa have plummited in recent weeks. A nation many consider as the most talented country not to have won a World Cup, the Dutch, on Betfair alone, have nose-dived in the outright market quite significantly, with Bert Van Marwijk’s men readily available at around 16.5 but are now a less attractive 12.0. There hasn’t really been any one reason as to why their price has shrunk so apparently, it’s more than likely that punters have quickly come to realise that the Dutch have their familar squad of worldbeaters on paper, a team packed full of explosive and entertaining forward talent, that certainly boast both the credentials and potential to win a FIFA World Cup. And as their price has began to dimish,  at least in the sense of value, the part-time punters, those looking to have a random and speculative punt in the outright market, have noticed Holland’s popularity in the market and jumped on board. That is just one theory, although it could simply be the fact that Holland were a stunning price to win the first FIFA World Cup on African soil in the first place and punters have quickly snapped up the value on a team now generally perceived as the fifth highest rated side in the competition according to the outright betting market.

As far as we can recall, Bert Van Marwijk and Holland have played two pre-World Cup friendlies; beating North Americans Mexico 2-0 in Germany on May 26th and then there was their demolition job of Group E’s Ghana on Tuesday night (1st June) in Holland as the team left their homeland with a bang. All the big sides have attempted it, in their final game on home soil trying to put in a world-class performance will won’t only have the patriots standing up and taking notice but supproters from across the country beleiving that 2010 will be their year. Holland did just this with aplomb on Tuesday night, and if you had any doubt about whether the value boat had been missed on Holland their rout of Ghana may of had you thinking otherwise, and probably dashing to your local bookmaker to stick a few pounds on Oranje ending their World Cup duct in South Africa.

Holland were mightly impressive against Ghana without ever really breaking into too much of a sweat and overdoing it, although Ghana were a big disappointment in our eyes. Ghana’s decision to sit back and to press on only the select few occasions allowed those in Orange to get a feel of the ball, to grow in confidence and then assert themselves on the fixture. And against a Holland side which consists of some of the more lethal and destructive players in the world; Wesley Sneijder, Rafael Van der Vaart, Robin Van Persie and Arjen Robben amongst several others, that’s international suicide, or heaven in the eyes of the Dutch. In fairness though, Holland weren’t going full-pelt at Ghana although had they, the Dutch may have been out of sigh by half-time. As it turned out, Holland to just a 1-0 lead into half-time. That could be out first real problem with Holland, or a niggle, in that they are prone to the odd lazy performance every now and again, and while this game was only a friendly and the need to exert too much energy wasn’t really needed, if they don’t play to their full potential and capacity from day one, with the aim being to kill sides off as early as physically possible, Holland may come unstuck. Another concern of ours was this lull in the early stages of the second half, much like they did against Mexico a few days earlier, where they sat back for some reason and allowed their opponents, Ghana on this occasion, to familarise and become comfortable with the ball and enjoy a spell of pressure. Again, against a more experienced, renowned and talented side, Holland will get punished.

The positives though about how the Dutch go about their business is based around ‘explosions’ and by that we mean Holland have this unique ability to go from simmering to boiling almost instantously and this is mainly down to the fact they have so many classy individuals. Players like Arjen Robben, Afellay and Robin Van Persie are all accomplished dribblers of the ball, but it’s shooting from distance, to get in a dangerous goalbound attempt, that makes Holland stand out from the rest, as while some of the remaining ‘big’ teams can struggle to compete when enduring an off-day, Holland have players within their midst which can turn any game completely on it;s head with one gifted strike of the ball.

It’s always pleasing, especially for a punter, that when a side is struggling to assert themselves in the final third of the pitch, they have players which can strike a ball from distance with pace and precision like accuracy and for Holland it’s almost become a ‘Plan B’ should their fabulous interchanging and sleek pass-and-moves not prove effective. The latter feature of Holland’s play takes us onto our final point; counter-attack. The Dutch are arguably the best counter-attacking nation heading to South Africa in the summer, maintaining their reputation from EURO 2008 where they tore France and Italy to pieces with some blistering moves out of defence into attack. At times it’s quite unbelieveable to see especially live. While it may look as though it’s a rapid dash up the field from Holland, it’s all plan in that everyone knows their roles and it’s the simple fact that counter-attacking is a permanant feature within the Dutch style of play, an attribute which enables them to become even more of a threat in the attacking third and a trait upon many others which ensure Holland stand out from what is a competitive crowd, as while many other teams focus on one or two methods of playing, Holland don’t just have a Plan B, they also have a Plan C and possibly even a D. The Dutch are one of the more versatile nations, willing to play in a number of ways, and it’s of little surprise that punters have been taking chunks out of their price for weeks now ahead of the finals which kick off shortly.

Holland will take on Hungary at Ajax’s Amsterdam Arena before flying out to South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where they’ll first take on Denmark on June 14th before later meetings with Cameroon and Japan in Group E. The Netherlands are widely expected to sail through their Group with their usual swagger when it comes to playing in the Group stage of a major international tournament and it won’t be until the knock-out stage of the competition until the Dutch will really be tested, as in the last-sixteen Italy could await them.

Holland Bets:

WIN the 2010 FIFA World Cup – 11/1 Bet365

To Reach the Semi-Final – 9/4 PaddyPower