world cup

Friday 2nd July was the most exciting day of the World Cup so far, with the first two quarter final matches being played at Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg respectively. While neither games were classic encounters, both contained plenty of drama and saw the eventual victors come from behind to triumph and set up an intriguing contest in Cape Town next Tuesday.

During their last eight match against Brazil, the Netherlands were available at around 30/1 on betfair’s outright market, with nothing to suggest that this team were going to overcome a 1-0 deficit at half-time. Bert van Marwijk’s team had seemed short of ideas and the Selecao had spurned several chances to double their advantage. However, a spirited second half comeback from the Dutch means they are now the 9/4 favourites (Paddy Power) to win their first ever World Cup.

Holland could have been backed at 7/2 with Blue Square to win their match with Brazil and they were certainly helped by the opposition shooting themselves in the foot. Goalkeeper Julio Cesar made an uncharacteristic mistake to allow the opposition to equalise and the south Americans seemed to crumble shortly afterwards.

It was noticeable on the outright market that, as soon as Bert van Marwijk’s team took the lead, the odds on Spain winning their first ever World Cup began to contract. Vicente Del Bosque’s team had been around 3/1 before the Netherlands v Brazil game, although William Hill actually make them the 2/1 favourites even before they have played their quarter final match against Paraguay (and knowing that they will have to beat Germany or Argentina to make the final).

This shortening of Spanish odds is partly because it was felt that Brazil might have the players to nullify La Furia Roja if the two teams met in the final, although the removal of Dunga’s men makes Spain arguably the best side remaining in the 2010 World Cup. However, it’s interesting to note that the odds on Argentina (4/1 Sporting Bet) and Germany (6/1 Sky Bet) have barely changed in contrast.

As for Uruguay, they must have been ready to pack their suitcases after a Luis Suarez handball in the last minute of extra-time against Ghana seemed certain to help the Black Stars become the first African team to progress beyond the quarter final stage of the World Cup. However, Asamoah Gyan’s missed penalty allowed La Celeste to go through on spot kicks themselves and it will be great news for the shrewd punters who backed them at 25/1 shortly after Oscar Tabarez’s team beat Mexico to be sure of top spot in Group A.

The draw has been kind to the south American team who are now as short as 8/1 (Paddy Power) to win their first World Cup for sixty years, although Boylesports are a bit bigger with their 12/1 quote that Uruguay go all the way. They will be missing Suarez for the match in Cape Town, although the pressure will be off them as underdogs.

On Friday 11th June, South Africa and Mexico got the 2010 World Cup under way, although they and twenty-two other teams have bitten the dust as we now enter the business end of the competition. We have waved goodbye to England, France and Italy along the way and now have eight sides battling it out to be kings of the planet.

Interestingly, the USA are the only group winner not to be involved in the quarter finals, with Ghana’s passage meaning that Group D still has two representatives in the competition. The Black Stars are bidding to become the first African team to win the World Cup and the draw has been relatively kind to them. Friday night’s match against Uruguay will have Milovan Rajevac dreaming of glory and you can get 40/1 (William Hill) about them making history.

However, it’s probably fair to say that just five teams can now win the 2010 World Cup and it’s Brazil who currently head the market at odds of 5/2 (Sporting Bet). The Selecao sit in the easier half of the draw (they would play Uruguay or Ghana in the semis) and have barely put a foot wrong since beating North Korea in the opening match. Manager Dunga has assembled an excellent defence and the team were devastating on the counter-attack against Chile in the last sixteen.

Hot on their heels in the outright market is Spain at odds of 3/1 (Ladbrokes). The competition is much richer for the presence of Vicente Del Bosque’s team, who have given supporters and backers plenty of nervous moments already in this tournament. La Furia Roja are clearly the best passing team in the World Cup, although the defence has a fragility which has already seen Switzerland beat them in the group stages.

The next two teams in the betting will meet each other in Saturday afternoon’s quarter final and it’s hard to split Argentina and Germany for this Cape Town clash. Diego Maradona’s team are 9/2 (William Hill) to land the spoils twenty-four years after the manager did so as a player, although many think that this Albiceleste defence hasn’t yet been tested and the Germans might be the team to do so. Even so, it’s hard to argue with the attacking prowess of Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain, with Angel Di Maria providing plenty of inspiration from midfield.

Germany are available at odds of 15/2 (Sky Bet) to win the World Cup for the first time since becoming a unified nation but they will have to do things the hard way! Having disposed of England in the last sixteen stage, they now face Argentina before potential matches against Spain and then Brazil! It’s an incredible task facing Joachim Loew’s young team, although they are looking fearless and perhaps Die Mannschaft will benefit from having youth on its side.

Holland are the fifth team who have a chance of winning the competition, although the Netherlands have been something of an enigma. Sporting Bet offer 15/2 that Bert van Marwijk’s team win the 2010 World Cup, although this team haven’t really lived up to their billing and will need to show improvement against Brazil or they will go out.

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.

After finishing second in Group C, the England squad knew they had to do things the hard way to reach the World Cup final, although the same applies to Germany even though Die Mannschaft finished top of Group D. Victory over the Three Lions on Sunday was comfortable enough, although they now face Argentina on Saturday afternoon before a potential semi final against Spain and final against Brazil or Holland!

It means that Germany are still 7/1 (Sporting Bet) to win the 2010 World Cup, although this young team certainly have the potential to go all the way. While they are without captain Michael Ballack for this tournament, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira have stepped up to the mark and midfielder Mesut Ozil has been a revelation in a free role behind the strikers.

The main concern would probably be in defence, with Schalke’s Manuel Neuer inexperienced between the sticks, while the same applies to the 21-year-old Jerome Boateng in central defence. However, Phillip Lahm and Arne Friedrich are excellent full-backs, with the former regularly getting forward in this World Cup to support the team’s attacking players.

It was something of a surprise to see them as outsiders to beat England and the bookmakers are happy to take on Klose, Podolski and Co when they meet Argentina at Greenpoint Stadium. Ladbrokes offer 5/2 that we see another German victory in ninety minutes, although La Albiceleste have not been convincing in defence either.

Meanwhile, Argentina are now no bigger than 7/2 (bet365) to win the 2010 World Cup following their 3-1 win over Mexico. There was an element of fortune about the way the team took the lead after Carlos Tevez’s offside goal was allowed to stand, although they are certainly an attacking force who have racked up nine goals so far.

Uruguay have been the biggest market movers on the outright betting since beating Mexico to finish top of Group A last Tuesday. Paddy Power originally installed them as 25/1 to go all the way, although the way that the draw has worked out in addition to their 2-1 win over South Korea now means that La Celeste are 12/1 (Ladbrokes) to win the World Cup for the third occasion.

Despite also making the quarter finals, Ghana are given less chance of glory by the bookmakers. The Black Stars are now just three games away from becoming the first African team to win the World Cup, although firms are still regarding this as a remote possibility and Sporting Bet offer 33/1 that Milovan Rajevac steers them to success. Then again, they will regard a quarter final match against Uruguay as winnable and don’t forget that this team reached the final of the African Nations Cup in January.

Bet365 continue to run with their World Cup penalty payback promotion, where you will get your stake refunded if the team you have backed on the outright loses on spot kicks. With Germany beating Argentina on penalties in the 2006 World Cup, it’s worth considering!

The bookmakers reacted to England’s 1-0 win over Slovenia by cutting their odds on World Cup success from 11/1 to 8/1 (bet365), although the Three Lions were on the drift just hours later after Germany beat Ghana to win Group D. It means that the two old foes meet each other at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein and this must be the most captivating last sixteen tie of the competition.

Both teams have drifted on the outright market, especially as they are also in the same quarter as Argentina, following La Albiceleste winning Group B. England are available at a best price 11/1 with Sporting Bet to win their second ever World Cup and the consensus is that the bookies could be a bit more generous when it comes to pricing up Fabio Capello’s team. After all, Slovenia are not a footballing powerhouse and England were guilty of not finishing them off in the second half.

Germany are available at odds of around 12/1 on betfair, with Joachim Low’s men having gone as short as 7/1 on the outright market following a 4-0 demolition of Australia in their first game. However, the team have looked a lot less convincing in games against Serbia and Ghana, although they did manage to win the latter to top the section.

Writing on Wednesday evening, it’s Brazil who are favourites to win the 2010 World Cup with the majority of firms. Paddy Power and bet365 are prepared to offer 4/1 about the Selecao and it’s worth noting that if you back any team on the outright market with the latter and they lose on a penalty shoot-out, you will get stakes refunded.

It’s a South American 1-2 at the top of most bookmaker’s market, with Argentina trading at no bigger than 5/1, with some bookies giving Diego Maradona’s team a bigger price now that they have to play Germany or England should they reach the quarter final – not that Mexico will be an easy game on Sunday night.

The one team who might be worth backing are Uruguay, another south American team who have flown under the radar to win Group A and now look as though they have a fairly clean passage through to the semi-finals. La Celeste are no bigger than 18/1 (Bet Fred) on the outright market, having been 25/1 earlier on Wednesday before England’s second place and Germany’s top spot meant that the two teams featured on the opposite half of the draw. Oscar Tabarez’s team will face South Korea and would then face either USA or Ghana – we could be seeing them in the final four.

There are still issues to be decided, with Spain and Brazil not guaranteed top spot in Group H and G respectively. Vicente Del Bosque’s team are available at 11/2 (Sporting Bet) to win the World Cup and will be hoping to face Portugal on Tuesday night, rather than Brazil on Monday night.

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

2010 World Cup betting odds can already be found on internet bookmaker sites. While the markets are narrow in terms of choice, you can still hedge your bets with all of the major online bookmakers, and in general the price on the teams will be a lot longer now than they will be when the qualifying stages are over. That is because there is still some uncertainty over which teams are definitely going to qualify, and because there is well over 300 days still to go, anything can happen in the world of football to chance the odds on a team.

While there will not be many varying prices available from one Bookmaker’s to the next, the world cup odds themselves may be presented in different ways. With online betting there are generally three different types of betting display, and the usage will vary depending on where you are in the world. One of the most common forms of betting, especially across Europe is the decimal system. The United Kingdom prefers to use fractional odds, and North America will more likely than not be using Moneyline odds. They basically all add up to the same thing, but in order to bet properly, you will need to know how to read the betting odds for the world cup laid out before you.

Decimal Betting Odds
When looking at decimal odds, the number you will be reading will be the amount which, in the event of you winning, will be paid out to you. If, for example, you are looking at the odds of England to win the World Cup on Bet365. There they are listed at 8/1 (fractional), with the decimal odds being equivalent to that of the fractional odds, plus one. So, in decimal terms, England are 9.00 to win the World Cup. The odds work out the same, for if you put one hundred British Pounds on at 8/1, you would win the £800, plus your £100 stake back. Why decimal odds are easier to read, is because all you have to do is multiply your stake by the number you see, and not have to worry about calculating fractional returns, especially when odds starts shortening to odd figures like 5/2, 6/5 for example. In this example a £100 multiplied by the odds of 9.00 gets you the £900 net return, exactly the same as the fractional odds of 8.1. Even odds will be expressed, therefore, as 2.00

Fractional Betting Odds
Much favoured in the world of horse racing in the UK, fractional odds will usually appear on British Bookmakers sites. If the chance of your team winning is less that 50/50, then it will be expressed in “against” fractional odds. For example, the USA are 80/1 against to win the 2010 World Cup at the moment. This means, that if by some miracle they did, and you had a £10 bet on it, you would stand to win your stake back, plus the amount of your stake multiplied by the odds against that event happening, which in this case would be 80. So £10 x 80 = £800, plus the initial £10 stake, so your return would be £810. In decimal odds, it would simply be stated at 81.00, which would give you the same return.

If your team has more than a 50/50 chance of winning, then they will be at “odds on” say for example at ½ on. What this means it that you would get your stake back, plus your stake multiplied by the odds of that event happening, which in this case would be one half (as the fraction will read as ½). So in return you would get your $10 stake plus half of that stake, which is £5, so your return would be $15 on a $10 stake. Odds of 1/5 on, would get you $10 stake return, plus 1/5th of that stake, which is £2, so your total return would be £12.
Things can get a little complicated looking when you start seeing fractions listed at 5/2 for example. Because these are fractions being worked with, then halves cannot by used, so odds of 5/2, would essentially equate to 2.5/1. If you are ever unsure of what return you will get from something like this, simply divide the first number by the second and then multiply by 100. That will give you the winning percentage return. For example 5 divided by 2 equals 2.5 x 100 = 250. A £10 stake multiplied by 250% equals £25, which is the same as the 2.5/1 odds expressed above.

Evens
If your team has a 50/50 chance of winning, then they will be listed at evens. Evens will be expressed as 1/1 in fractions or 2.00 in decimal odds. This simply means that you will win your stake back, doubled. So, on a £10 bet on evens, you will get the £10 stake, plus your stake multiplied by the odds, in this case it will be £10 x 1 which equals another £10. Your net return will be £20 for a £10 bet on evens. Again decimal odds express it more lucidly, as you just multiply the £10 stake by 2.00.

Moneyline Betting Odds
This is also known as American odds and vary again. In this case the odds are expressed in terms of how much you need to risk in order to win. For example, if Argentina are quoted at -150, then in order to win $100, you would need to bet that figure of $150, as stated by the -150. This is the equivalent of odds on betting. If Argentina triumphed, you would get your $100 winnings, plus the $150 stake back too. If the figure quoted is a positive number, for example +400, then the team would have odds equivalent to 4/1. For world cup odds of +400 against, then you have to risk $100 in order to win the $400.

Those are the most common forms of odds you will encounter when betting on the 2010 World Cup. Fortunately most online Bookmakers will have the option to change between decimal and fractional odds through a drop down menu somewhere. This will just give you the personal preference to view the markets in the form you are most used to seeing. Now is a good time to view the betting odds on the World Cup, and to select an outright winner.

Most bookies have Spain and Brazil at 5/1 (or 6.00 decimal), and Argentina hovering around just behind them at 6/1 (7.00 decimal). These of course, are early bird odds, but if you fancy a flutter now, then it is a good time to get some longer odds, for they will shorten by the time the World Cup starts. Look beyond the main three and you will find some really good outside chances. England, Germany, Italy, Holland and France should be able to get you world cup betting odds to win (outright winner) of anywhere between 8/1 and 14/1. For major nations going into a tournament, those are pretty good odds to snap up now.

It’s also very interesting to see how World Cup Outright odds change during the tournament, so here you can find the odds as they were before the first kick-off.

World Cup Betting Odds 2010 to win / outright winner

While qualification places are still being battled for, it is a good time to get in on some early betting action for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The fields are a little bit limited at the moment, but that does not mean there are not some good opportunities to get your money down. All the fun, excitement and thrills of picking winners can be done, before the opening match. With qualification going on all across the world, there are plenty of opportunities to get some keen, early action.

Outright Winner
This is the ultimate early bird selection. There will be clear favourites, and it will be no surprise that Brazil is right up there already, and Spain is leading the European charge. Both can be had already at around 5/1 at Coral and PaddyPower, so an each way bet on both would not steer you too far wrong. With a lot of time and a lot of football, both domestic and international matches to be played between now and the opening match, there are a lot of variables to take into consideration. Star players may fall foul of injury, some rising star may crawl from out of the woodwork, and the form of teams will vary greatly as the friendly matches pile up before the tournament, with managers experimenting with their line-ups. The outright winner of the World Cup will be from a select group, ones with a lot of World Cup pedigree. Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Germany, Italy, England and France all have good traditions, and in all likelihood, nothing outside of the six or seven favourites as listed by the bookies will pose a serious threat. Remember that Burkina Faso is listed at 5000/1 for a reason.

Group Qualification
This is where the fun could really be had. With just a handful of matches left for each team in the qualifying stages, the layout of the groups are fairly clear to see, with regards as to who will be finishing in first and second place. This is a good chance to double up some bets and get some accumulators going. Europe is a good stomping ground for group betting, with 9 groups on the market. There is not a lot of point picking clear group leaders like England, Spain and the Netherlands, but a lot of the groups, like Group 2 for example has a close three way race for the lead. If you can gauge the run in of matches, paying close attention to home and away form, you could pick an outsider to pinch top spot.

Group Outright Winners
As above, most Bookmakers will only be targeting the battle going on in Europe for the top place in the group. Fortunately if you did not get any money on your team at the outset of the qualifying stages, then there is still plenty of completion going on, even in these latter stages. Some of the groups are out of commission and are not worth betting on, but there are close races upon which money can be made.

Qualification
If you want to branch out a little further in your pre World Cup 2010 betting stakes, then you can always just ignore the group standings and go for the teams which will just be qualifying. This can involve teams just to qualify for the World Cup, so it is worth studying the format of the group stages in the different zones. The qualifying stages differ a little with regards to how many teams go through from that initial stage. A lot of teams, again, especially in Europe, may have to face a sudden death, two-legged play-off in order to qualify.

Once the tournament places are settled, there will of course be more exciting markets opening for you. You will be able to pick the tournament’s top goal scorer, the winners of the group stages of the World Cup itself, the teams which will qualify from the first round and of course, bets on the outcome of the individual matches. This is where the real action begins. Individual match betting itself opens up a plethora of sub-category bets, from first scorer, to last scorer, to predicting the half time and full time scores, to the number of yellow cards, the number of corners, any time goal scorers, to first scorer and correct score combinations. A lot of the matches will have live betting if you have access to the internet and your favourite betting site, while watching the games and this will add to the whole atmosphere of the World Cup 2010.