chile

Argentina – 10/1 BlueSquare

Australia – 100/1 totesport

Brazil – 5/1 PaddyPower

Chile – 50/1 Boylesports 

Denmark – 100/1 SportingBet 

England – 7/1 Coral 

Germany – 12/1 Bet365 

Ghana – 80/1 SkyBet 

Honduras – 500/1 SkyBet 

Italy – 14/1 StanJames 

Ivory Coast – 33/1 SkyBet 

Japan – 200/1 Boylesports 

Mexico – 125/1 Coral 

Netherlands – 14/1 Bet365 

North Korea – 1000/1 SportingBet 

Paraguay – 66/1 Coral 

Serbia – 66/1 SportingBet 

Slovakia – 250/1 SkyBet 

South Africa (Hosts) – 150/1 Coral 

South Korea – 300/1 Coral 

Spain – 9/2 Bet365 

Switzerland – 150/1 Boylesports 

United States – 125/1 Coral

Ante-Post Tips:

Backing one of the frontrunners is pretty pointless right now as their respective price won’t alter too much between now and the finals. However, having a cheeky punt on one of the outsiders could prove beneficial.

Our Value Bets:

USA – They are always an awkward opponent and they will cause one of the big teams a problem as they aren’t one of the top seeds, rightly so. They will have every chance of bypassing any group they may get but as far as winning the tournament goes, we can’t see that happening at all. The US are probably a good trading opportunity but we couldn’t feel safe backing them to go all the way.

PRICE: 125/1 Coral

Ivory Coast – I really like the look of this Ivory Coast squad, with Chelsea’s Didier Drogba their most influential and best player. He is the captain, as well, and he will be the driving force in the Ivory Coast’s bid to secure their first ever World Cup success in just their second appearance in a World Cup. However, they aren’t a one man band, with the likes of Didier Zokora, Salmon Kalou, Gervinho, Emmanuel Eboue and the Toure brothers; Yaya and Kolo. They are a team full of pace and strength and we think they’re a stunning price to go far in this summer show-piece, on a continent they will be more than accomplished on.

PRICE: 33/1 SkyBet

After a weekend of intense qualifiers, we have eight new teams joining the 11 that had already qualified for South Africa. Ivory Coast, Germany, Denmark, Serbia, Italy, Chile, Mexico & USA are the nations that booked their spot in next summers show-piece over the weekend, but none have made such an impact as the frontrunners in the market remaining pretty much the same, and the prices haven’t altered too much, either.

From Europe; Denmark, Germany, Italy & Serbia, all make the South African fold, with a qualifier to spare, and the preparations will now begin for all of the above as they seek out the World Cup crown.

Out of the recent European qualifiers, Germany lead in the market but they’re still consider slight outsiders at 11/1 with WilliamHill, while Italy, the defending World champions, are currently 13/1 with PaddyPower to successfully defend their title.

Denmark, despite secure qualification fairly comfortably, are as big as 80/1 with Coral, with their inconsistent nature in major tournaments one of the reasons for such a big price. Serbia, however, have been given slightly more respect by the bookies and are a best priced 66/1 with Ladbrokes to spring a shock in Africa.

The Ivory Coast became just the second African nation to qualify for the finals, although three if you count the hosts, South Africa. They cruised through qualification and their abundance of power, strength and class, makes them a very dangerous opponent indeed. Didier Drogba finished as top scorer for Ivory Coast and they’re 40/1 with Bet365 to go all the way in just their second World Cup.

Chile were the third nation from the South American continent to book their tickets to South Africa after thumping Colombia 4-2 on Saturday night. Chile beat the likes of Argentina, Uruguay & Ecuador to qualification but they still find themselves as un-fancied outsiders at 66/1 with VictorChandler & WilliamHill.

From the CONCACAF zone, both the United States and Mexico surprised no one by qualifying after the pair both recorded victories over the weekend to secure their berth into South Africa. USA have always been a difficult opponent once they have made the competition proper and, at odds of 125/1 with Coral, could be a decent value punt. Mexico, however, struggled on occasions whilst qualifying and, although their price is a tad bit shorter at 100/1 with Coral, they don’t appear to have much chance of being the surprise package this summer with youth and immaturity their burden at this moment in time.

World Cup Outright Odds:

Spain – 5/1 WilliamHill

Brazil – 5/1 PaddyPower

England – 7/1 Coral

Argentina – 11/1 BlueSquare

Germany – 11/1 WilliamHill

Holland – 12/1 SkyBet

Italy – 13/1 PaddyPower

France – 25/1 Coral

Portugal – 33/1 WilliamHill

40/1 Bar The Rest

Argentina shouldn’t have too many problems dispatching what has been a shoddy Peru in qualifying. The fact that Argentina are without a win in qualifying in three matches does spring a minor leek, but not enough to make us think that they won’t shrug off their recent downtime and come good against a side that looks beatable in all forms.

The Argentine’s aren’t glorious odds to comply, at all, but they should regain their goalscoring form of old so taking a punt on either a goalscorer (whether that’s FGS or Anytime) or perhaps a punt on the Over/Under, Argentina team goals or the winning margin market could pay dividends.

Lionel Messi will be looked upon as a possible saviour for Argentina over the course of the week and his odds to embrace the Peru goal aren’t great, but if anyone is going to strike the touchpaper and reignite the Argentina charge then your money is best of on the Barcelona ace. Currently, Lionel Messi is 10/3 with Bet365 & BlueSquare to score the first goal of the game, while he is a best priced 4/5 to score anytime with Bet365. Considering he will remain on the pitch until the victory is confirmed or assured, that looks a fairly good bet.

If you do fancy a punt on the goals then here’s a list of the current best odds available.

Over/Under 2.5 Goals – 4/11 StanJames

Over/Under 3.5 Goals – 10/11 SportingBet

Over/Under 4.5 Goals – 9/4 SportingBet

The odds on goals isn’t attractive nor too appealing, but, considering how Argentina must win this game, with any scares out of the question, they should score a fair few. However, you will need a bit of courage to actually have a punt on the goals as the odds are poor. Under backers will love the odds, not too sure if they will have too much joy though.

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Colombia cannot afford to drop any more points but they face stiff opposition in the form of a Chile team on the verge of booking their place in the 32 team tournament next year. However, Chile won’t want to lose this game, either, and they will see a draw as a positive result. Colombia certainly won’t see the point in the same light and the pressure to win will firmly be on those chosen to deliver the victory the country desperately needs to keep their name in the hat.

Chile aren’t a bad price to win (5/2 with Bet365) but they’re playing a Colombia team whose best form has come on home soil, with all five of their victories in qualifying coming in Colombia. The Colombians are on a three match winning streak at home and, although Chile are a very tough team on paper, the omen is on the home side to bring home the bacon.

Providing the Colombian players hold their nerve and put in a big performance, we suppose that is a big ask considering the rarity of their position, then Colombia could register a massive victory. 6/5 on a Colombia win isn’t bad at all, although this is perhaps one for smaller stakes as Chile are no mugs, far from it.

A home win, Colombia, is 6/5 with several firms; Boylesports, PaddyPower, SkyBet.

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The remaining three qualifiers don’t produce anything of much value when you weigh up the odds of the sides, their situations etc. Brazil should win, price isn’t too bad, just not too sure about the side that Dunga will put out. Ecuador V Uruguay could literally go either way, with both teams needing all three points to enhance their chances of making the finals, while Venezuela V Paraguay looks a no-go.

A small tickle is Luis Fabiano (Brazil) to score against Bolivia on Sunday. The Sevilla striker has been quoted as being eager as finishing as the leading goalscorer in the qualifiers, so he’ll definitely put his name in the starting equation as Dunga possibly selects a weakened Brazil side, if there is such a thing. Luis Fabiano already has nine goals thus far, with a striker away in Bolivia enough to take him into double figures for the campaign. That looks a very good shout as he’s been on fire for both club and country of late.

Luis Fabiano is the main man at both club & Country and he’s our last main bet to notch up his 10^th goal of the campaign away in Bolivia. Fabiano is currently 9/2 with Bet365 to score the first goal, whereas the odds on him scoring within 90 minutes takes our fancy more at 5/4, with the same firm, Bet365.

Colombia V Chile

 Saturday 10^th October – 23:00 GMT

Colombia – Despite being third from bottom in the table, they can, mathematically anyway, still qualify for South Africa but they would not only have to win their remaining two qualifiers against Chile & Paraguay, but they would also need others, a lot of others, to slip up for them to prosper. A Colombian qualification though does look very unlikely but they will still do their utmost to ensure they finish the group with two wins and give their qualification bid the best possible chance.

Chile – The Chileans are pretty much home and hosed, with one victory from their remaining two qualifiers enough to see them off to South Africa next year. However, considering Colombia are a prolific side on home soil, they may well see their last qualifier at home to Ecuador, a nation that has struggled while travelling throughout qualification, as their best opportunity to wrap up their world cup status. They are currently third in the group, three points off the 30 point marker which will be enough to qualify.

The omens aren’t good for Colombia after Chile smashed them off the park in the reverse fixture which seen the Chileans record a comfortable 4-0 victory in Santiago. However, they themselves are renowned for their impressive home form, with all five of their wins in qualifying coming in Colombia. The simple fact that they still find themselves in contention to make the finals next year is solely down to their half-decent run at home and it’s imperative that they maintain that winning home mentality if they are to keep their slim world cup hopes alive.

Chile will be eager to book their plane tickets to South Africa as soon as possible as a defeat on Saturday would make for a nervous 90 minutes when they host Ecuador just four days later. However, their game with Ecuador does, on paper at least, look the best opportunity for Chile to book their spot in the World Cup, so a draw in Colombia would be an ideal result for them, leaving them with a very winnable home game with a travel sick Ecuador side.

Statistics:

Colombia Home Record: 5-1-2

Goal Tally: 10-14

Chile Away Record: 4-1-3

Goal Tally: 27-20

Our Thoughts – This is a very tricky match to predict, although, the smart money will be on the home side. They have no alternative but to approach this game in an attacking mindset as anything but three points would leave their 2010 world cup dreams in tatters. However, Chile only need one more win to secure their flight to South Africa, but, with a fairly easy home fixture with Ecuador still to come, they may just settle for a point in Colombia and give it their all at home against the Ecuadorian’s. Just a theory, not a sure fire solution to what is a very tricky game to predict.

Match Odds:

Colombia – 6/5 SkyBet

Chile – 5/2 StanJames

Draw – 12/5 WilliamHill

Host: Chile
Winners: Brazil
Runners-up: Czechoslovakia
Third Place: Chile
Fourth Place: Yugoslavia
Participants: 16 (Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Czechoslovakia, England, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay, USSR, West Germany, Yugoslavia)

The World Cup made it’s return to South America after a 12 year absence with Chile receiving the honour of playing host for 1962 finals. It was called ‘Campeonato Mundial de Futbol‘ in Chile and the South American surroundings obviously played a huge part with both the hosts (Chile) and Brazil going far in the tournament. Chile went on to secure a third-place finish while Brazil ran out victorious in the final against the Czechoslovakia.

During the preparations for the tournament, Chile suffered the largest earthquake of the twentieth century in 1960 which caused massive damage around the country. The slogan for the 1962 World Cup became ‘Because we don’t have anything, we will do everything within our power to rebuild’ after the president of the organisation committee announced that Chile would not forfeit their bid to host the forthcoming World Cup.

The 1962 finals saw the rise and fall of several of the World’s biggest stars. Pele‘s tournament came to an abrupt end when he was injured midway through Brazil’s second game although his replacement was Amarildo who went on to have arguably his best tournament in his career.

The tournament didn’t go down too well with the rest of the World though with the home nation giving travelling fans a hostile reception. This cumulated in two red cards in the opening match of the tournament when Chile took on Italy where the Italian’s needed police escorts to leave the pitch safely.

Final:

Brazil 3 – 1 Czechoslovakia – Estadio Nacional ~ 68,689 Attendance

Goalscorers:

Brazil – Amarildo, Zito, Vava
Czechoslovakia – Masopust

Third Place Play-Off

Chile 1 – 0 Yugoslavia

Goalscorers:

Chile – Rojas
Yugoslavia -

South America

The top 4 teams qualify for the FIFA World Cup™. The 5th placed team enters a home-and-away play-off with the 4th placed team from North,Central America & Caribbean.

Fixtures

There are still four sets of fixtures left to play for all sides. We have highlighted a few matches which could prove crucial in terms of qualifying for South Africa.

05/09/2009 – Argentina V Brazil
05/09/2009 – Chile V Venezuela
05/09/2009 – Colombia V Ecuador
08/09-/2009 – Paraguay V Argentina
08/09-/2009 – Brazil V Chile
08/09-/2009 – Uruguay V Colombia

Key Battles

Undoubtedly, the game of most interest still left to play is the Argentina V Brazil match in September. A win for the Brazilians would see them take a big step towards the finals next year while defeat for Maradona’s men would see them lose their grip on that fourth and final qualifying position. A draw would probably suit Brazil down to the ground but Argentinian cannot afford that luxury and must go into that game in the mindset that it’s a must win game.

It’s a battle of the contenders as well as Colombia take on Ecuador and then go head-to-head with another rival in Uruguay, three days later. The advantage for Colombia in terms of qualifying is that they face beatable opposition. However, they need to win that home fixture with Ecuador in order to narrow the gap on not only fifth position but also fourth.

Brazil could wrap up qualification by the time their game with Chile finishes. A win against second place Chile could see them reserve their spot in next years spectacle while the same could be said for Chile. Providing the Chileans beat Venezuela three days earlier, they could go into that game with Brazil knowing a win would be enough to not only book a place at South Africa but possibly leapfrog Brazil into first position.

Group Summary

With just four games left to play in this group, there is still a lot to play for. Brazil look to be on their way to booking a ticket to South Africa next year with seven points separating them from fifth position. One more victory could be enough providing results go their way elsewhere. However, even other do get the victories they require, Brazil can feel safe in the knowledge that they need to win just two of their remaining four fixtures to qualify.

Chile and Paraguay occupy second and third respectively. The pair have put themselves just a few more victories away from the finals but they cannot afford to get complacent now with several side vying for a qualification spot. One of those being Ecuador who made it to the last sixteen in the last World Cup in Germany. As it stands, they would need to play a play-off match with the side which finishes fourth in the North, Central America & Caribbean group.

The biggest disappointment has to be Argentina. They’ve endured a stuttering qualification under former Argentinian great, Diego Maradona. They currently vacate the last automatic qualification spot in fourth position but their position is a precarious one and they will need to win the majority of their remaining games to keep the challengers at arms length.

Uruguay, Colombia and Venezuela and all still in with a shout of qualifying but need to end the group in fine style if they’re to do so. They trail the qualifying spots by four points and any more slip up from either of three would almost dash any hopes they have of making it to South Africa.

Bolivia can still qualifying, theoretically, although that does look extremely unlikely. They would need to win all of their remaining fixtures and hope other don’t win any of theirs. However, they still have a small chance of sneaking a fifth place finish but even that’s slim. Like above, they would results to go their way along with them winning their four remaining games.

Peru are the only side that cannot qualify for the finals next year after a dreadful qualifying campaign. They sit stone last with just seven points and even if they were to win all four of their remaining games, they would still fall a point short of fifth place. 

World Cup Qualification South America