FIFA World Cup 2010 Betting Primer
Forget the World Series, Super Bowl, Daytona 500 and Stanley Cup. Instead, wrap it all into a package and call it the FIFA World Cup 2010. South Africa hosts the event, and SBR is bringing you every World Cup betting odds on the tournament. We've got Chance Harper and several well-respected futbol bloggers bringing you all of the action and every preview we can find from the groups to the games to the props.
It’s bigger than the Super Bowl. The Winter Olympics in comparison. The NBA and NHL playoffs rolled up into one couldn’t hold a candle to this year’s most important sports event: the 2010 World Cup.
Billions of people across the globe will watch the 32 teams who remain from the tournament’s 204 qualifying nations – or 31 teams plus the host South Africans, to be exact. More than a few of those watching will also be gambling.
The World Cup betting odds available at press time suggest a three-way race for soccer supremacy, followed by a strong second tier of familiar contenders from Europe and South America. Let’s start with the teams at the top:
Spain 9-2
Brazil 5-1
England 11-2
Spain is the Euro 2008 champions and the No. 1 team in the UEFA rankings at the end of 2009, as determined by their coefficient-based system. They’ve never won the World Cup, or even made the final, but Spain’s recent ascension to the top of the European ladder makes them worthy favorites. So does their placement in a relatively weak Group H with Chile (30-1), Switzerland (100-1) and Honduras (200-1).
Brazil are the best team in South America and the best team in the world according to the most recent FIFA rankings, one spot ahead of Spain and six ahead of their CONMEBOL rivals from Argentina (9-1). They’ve hoisted the Cup a record five times, and they went to the final in three of the last four tournaments, winning in 1994 and 2002.
But to reach the final again, Brazil has to escape Group G, arguably this year’s Group of Death with Portugal (20-1), the Ivory Coast (20-1) and North Korea (200-1).
Interesting to see England move into third place on the soccer betting odds, up from 8-1 at the open thanks to another forgiving World Cup draw. Group C also contains the United States (40-1), Slovenia (150-1) and Algeria (200-1). It’s usually poor value to bet on England (No. 8 in the FIFA rankings) in international competition; everyone in that soccer-mad country can and will go around the corner to lay a few quid on the Three Lions. Less partisan handicappers are already jumping up and down waiting to fade England when they face the U.S. in their Cup opener on June 12.
The American side made a splash last summer by beating Spain 2-0 at the Confederations Cup semifinals, then going up 2-0 on Brazil in the final before falling apart and losing 3-2. But it’s been pretty slow since then. The U.S. has won just one of its last five international friendlies (at home over El Salvador) and has slipped to No. 14 in the FIFA World Rankings, one spot ahead of Chile. It’s harder to endorse the idea that U.S. soccer is undervalued when the team isn’t winning.
At 40-1, the U.S. doesn’t even qualify for that second tier of plausible Cup contenders:
Argentina 9-1
Italy 11-1
Germany 12-1
France 13-1
The Netherlands 13-1
Portugal 20-1
Argentina has the best player in the world today in Lionel Messi, the 22-year-old striker from FC Barcelona who is already a World Cup veteran after making his debut four years ago. Argentina also has an incredibly successful international record including Cup wins in 1978 and 1986. But how far do you trust Diego Maradona as their manager? Under his watch, Argentina lost 6-1 to Bolivia in World Cup qualifying and had to scramble just to get in.
The other European contenders are roughly interchangeable as far as the betting odds are concerned. But Portugal is a special case; they’ve risen to No. 3 in the FIFA rankings, they were the Euro 2004 runners-up to Greece, and they made the bronze-medal game at the 2006 World Cup, where they lost to Germany.
Cristiano Ronaldo is still one of the very best players in the world. If Portugal can escape that Group of Death, Ronaldo could win the Golden Boot for most goals in the tournament and pay out at 16-1 on the World Cup props market. Spain’s David Villa is the favorite at 9-1 after leading all scores at Euro 2008 with four goals.
There will be opportunities in single-game situations to bet on longer shots like the U.S., but for winning the World Cup itself, this is your target group. The only team farther down the odds list ever to take the Cup is Uruguay (50-1) in 1930 and 1950. Things sure have changed in Uruguay.
SBR has a lineup of cappers, writers and Regular Joe bloggers to analyze the groups and the games as the 2010 FIFA World cup progresses, so check back and click on the teams below to catch up on the latest reports. All times below Easter USA time.
Forget the World Series, Super Bowl, Daytona 500 and Stanley Cup. Instead, wrap it all into a package and call it the FIFA World Cup 2010. South Africa hosts the event, and SBR is bringing you every World Cup betting odds on the tournament. We've got Chance Harper and several well-respected futbol bloggers bringing you all of the action and every preview we can find from the groups to the games to the props.
It’s bigger than the Super Bowl. The Winter Olympics in comparison. The NBA and NHL playoffs rolled up into one couldn’t hold a candle to this year’s most important sports event: the 2010 World Cup.
Billions of people across the globe will watch the 32 teams who remain from the tournament’s 204 qualifying nations – or 31 teams plus the host South Africans, to be exact. More than a few of those watching will also be gambling.
The World Cup betting odds available at press time suggest a three-way race for soccer supremacy, followed by a strong second tier of familiar contenders from Europe and South America. Let’s start with the teams at the top:
Spain 9-2
Brazil 5-1
England 11-2
Spain is the Euro 2008 champions and the No. 1 team in the UEFA rankings at the end of 2009, as determined by their coefficient-based system. They’ve never won the World Cup, or even made the final, but Spain’s recent ascension to the top of the European ladder makes them worthy favorites. So does their placement in a relatively weak Group H with Chile (30-1), Switzerland (100-1) and Honduras (200-1).
Brazil are the best team in South America and the best team in the world according to the most recent FIFA rankings, one spot ahead of Spain and six ahead of their CONMEBOL rivals from Argentina (9-1). They’ve hoisted the Cup a record five times, and they went to the final in three of the last four tournaments, winning in 1994 and 2002.
But to reach the final again, Brazil has to escape Group G, arguably this year’s Group of Death with Portugal (20-1), the Ivory Coast (20-1) and North Korea (200-1).
Interesting to see England move into third place on the soccer betting odds, up from 8-1 at the open thanks to another forgiving World Cup draw. Group C also contains the United States (40-1), Slovenia (150-1) and Algeria (200-1). It’s usually poor value to bet on England (No. 8 in the FIFA rankings) in international competition; everyone in that soccer-mad country can and will go around the corner to lay a few quid on the Three Lions. Less partisan handicappers are already jumping up and down waiting to fade England when they face the U.S. in their Cup opener on June 12.
The American side made a splash last summer by beating Spain 2-0 at the Confederations Cup semifinals, then going up 2-0 on Brazil in the final before falling apart and losing 3-2. But it’s been pretty slow since then. The U.S. has won just one of its last five international friendlies (at home over El Salvador) and has slipped to No. 14 in the FIFA World Rankings, one spot ahead of Chile. It’s harder to endorse the idea that U.S. soccer is undervalued when the team isn’t winning.
At 40-1, the U.S. doesn’t even qualify for that second tier of plausible Cup contenders:
Argentina 9-1
Italy 11-1
Germany 12-1
France 13-1
The Netherlands 13-1
Portugal 20-1
Argentina has the best player in the world today in Lionel Messi, the 22-year-old striker from FC Barcelona who is already a World Cup veteran after making his debut four years ago. Argentina also has an incredibly successful international record including Cup wins in 1978 and 1986. But how far do you trust Diego Maradona as their manager? Under his watch, Argentina lost 6-1 to Bolivia in World Cup qualifying and had to scramble just to get in.
The other European contenders are roughly interchangeable as far as the betting odds are concerned. But Portugal is a special case; they’ve risen to No. 3 in the FIFA rankings, they were the Euro 2004 runners-up to Greece, and they made the bronze-medal game at the 2006 World Cup, where they lost to Germany.
Cristiano Ronaldo is still one of the very best players in the world. If Portugal can escape that Group of Death, Ronaldo could win the Golden Boot for most goals in the tournament and pay out at 16-1 on the World Cup props market. Spain’s David Villa is the favorite at 9-1 after leading all scores at Euro 2008 with four goals.
There will be opportunities in single-game situations to bet on longer shots like the U.S., but for winning the World Cup itself, this is your target group. The only team farther down the odds list ever to take the Cup is Uruguay (50-1) in 1930 and 1950. Things sure have changed in Uruguay.
SBR has a lineup of cappers, writers and Regular Joe bloggers to analyze the groups and the games as the 2010 FIFA World cup progresses, so check back and click on the teams below to catch up on the latest reports. All times below Easter USA time.
