The domestic season is now over and football fans now look to the World Cup this week for their football fix. The odds to win the World Cup make interesting reading with many fans looking to place a bet on the tournament in the next couple of weeks to increase interest. So what are the best bets?
The most likely winner of the 2014 World Cup according to the bookies are Brazil and it’s very difficult to argue against that. Over 75% of World Cups have been won by teams that are playing in their home continent whilst no European team has ever won the World Cup in South America. That should narrow this down to just the South American nations. Then if you consider that six of the seven most recent World Cups have been won by a team rated 7/1 or less by the bookies you are only looking at Brazil or Argentina to win this according to the stats. Brazil have a huge advantage as the host nation as we saw when they beat Spain 3-0 in the Confederations Cup Final last summer. All things considered 3/1 looks a very fair price on Brazil.
If the outright betting is considered straight forward the Top Goalscorer betting is another but. You can get double figure odds on nearly every contender and although the betting is wide open, it can be a profitable market to get involved in. The key is to pick a player who represents a team that will reach the semi final, giving him the opportunity to play in seven matches rather than just five.
Brazil should reach the semi final but Argentina must have the easiest route to the semi final with group games against Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iran, Nigeria and then probable knockout matches against Switzerland and then Portugal or Belgium. Lionel Messi is the obvious contender for Argentina but better value may lie with Gonzalo Higuain who can be backed at 25/1. He scored only one less qualifying goal than Messi and actually had a much better goals per minute ratio than Messi. It is also worth remembering that Higuain was only one goal off the Golden Boot 4 years ago, a tournament Messi failed to score in.
If you want an early payout at the World Cup look at the group betting. Belgium look one of the most solid options at 4/6 to win Group H considering they have been drawn against Russia, South Korea and Algeria. At a bigger price a dual forecast on France and Switzerland both to qualify from Group E also looks interesting. The other two teams in the group are Honduras who failed to score at the last World Cup and Ecuador who failed to win in qualifying outside of their own country, where they play their home matches at high altitude.
World Cup Vs. Life [Infographic] by the team at Sports Betting Online
