Brazil over 6.5 points in Group stage (2.07)

Easy calculations here for Brazil:
- Win against Korea = 3 points
- Win against Portugal = 3 points
- Win or draw against Ivory Coast = 3 points

I don't see any of these teams being able to resist a powerful Brasil team and they should total 9 points in Group stage.
At this odd I think this is a value bet.

Portugal not to advance from Group stage (2.27)

Portugal had a horrible run in the qualifying round and qualified in the last match.
They will face in Group G giants Brasil and Ivory Coast, most likely Africa's best team (even with Didier Drogba in doubt for the 1st game).
Coach Carlos Queiroz made the most ridiculous selections during the qualifying rounds and instead of learning from his mistakes he made even bigger ones in the selection of the squad for the World Cup finals. Nobody in Portugal really trusts the coach (and he's not a tru leader), therefore it's hard to trust the team.
Despite having a few World class players in top form like Cristiano Ronaldo, Simão and Danny, Portugal does not have a real team for some time now and I don't think they'll advance to the next round.

It's hard to bet against your own Country but I just don't trust the coach/team and I think it's worth a shot for them not to qualify at this price.

Argentina over 6.5 points in Group stage (1.94)

Argentina is clearly one of the favorites and one of the best teams in the World.
With in form Leonel Messi, Angel Di Maria, Milito and Higuain upfront I think they will win every single game of their Group stage (I don't see how teams like Greece, Nigeria or Korea Rep. will get anything against them).
9 points for Argentina IMO (surely at least 7..).

Thanks FrozenTundra !
I must say I like your avatar ...
I fully agree with you on Germany and think they'll be a team to be accounted for (actually just placed a bet on them to win their group this afternoon).
Let's cash in BIG!!!

Thanks paletta007!

Let's cash in BIG!!!

A  few more bets.
Here we go.

Germany to win Group D (1.87)

In the last 14 World Cups, since 1954, Germany always made it, at least, to the quarter-finals.
During that span they won the Cup 3 times and made it to the podium (top 3) an impressive 9 times.
IMO, they have a great squad and a good coach.
They could send their under-19 players to the tournament and still be one of the favorites.
Serbia has a good team but it's hard to see Germany getting anything else other than 1st place in the group here.
I think this is a very good price for them to win their group stage.

My picks for June 11th:

S. Africa-Mexico: Mexico PK (Asian Handicap)  (1.93)
Unless something strange happens (like in the France-Ireland game) South Africa should not make it to the next round.
They're a poor team with only one experienced and good player (Everton's Piennar).
Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira was sacked in 2008 for poor results but his replacement (fellow countryman Joel Santana) did even worst, so he was hired back.
South Africa only prticipated in two World Cups (1998 and 2002) and never made after the group stage.
They will have great support but clearly lack quality, class and experience.

Mexico, on the other hand, has an experienced and good team.
They've made it to the last 16 in the last 4 World Cups.
Coach Javier Aguirre has experience at this level and has also coached in Spain for several years (Atletico Madrid and Osasuna).
Experienced Players like Rafa Marquez (Barcelona), Giovani dos Santos (Galatasaray), Franco (West Ham) or Guardado (Deportivo) are surely one (or even two) levels above the majority of the S. African team.


France-Uruguay: Uruguay +0.5 (Asian Handicap) (1.75)
France has great indivual players/value no doubt about that but like Portugal they do not play a a team, their coach is no good and they lack confidence as a result.

On the other hand, Uruguay have a true team, a good leader in their experienced (he has coached in previous World Cups, coached Peñarol to the World Club title, coached in Italy Cagliari and AC Milan...) coach Oscar Tabarez, and very good World class players in Diego Forlan (At. Madrid), Luiz Suarez (Ajax), Maxi Pereira (Benfica), Álvaro Pereira (Porto) to name the most important ones.

Maybe I'm a bit biased because of the way France qualified (when they didn't deserve it...) but I think Uruguay can surely get something out of this game.

i think he is out for the WC

GL

GOOOOOOOD LUCK FLYERS!!! This No. Korea team is loooooking gooooood so far!!!

Hey Flyers,

How many goals does Spain win by on Wed? BOL to you and the picks

3-2-2

Italy-Paraguay: Paraguay +0.5AH (1.75) 

It is raining today in the area and the ground will be wet and heavy.
Italy has a tradition of slow (not so good starts) in this type of competition.
Paraguay had a very nice qualifying run and today they see back in the bench Benfica top star striker Oscar Cardozo. Cardozo is not yeat fully fit (recovering from a minor injury)but can come in at any time. He had the most "goal attempts" in the Europa League last season at 44 and was top scorer both in the Europa League (with 9 goals along with Pizarro) and the Portuguese Superliga (with 26 goals).
Paraguay should give the Italians a good fight for the result and I'll take them to win or draw.

Júlio César practised last thursday gain (and ever since) seems to be fit and is expected to start against Korea.

Hi buddy!!!

Long time no see. How have you been???

Thanks, but there surely are a lot of great cappers here!
We're all just trying to make a contribution:

Keep in touch and let's make those bookies cry during the WC !

My picks for today:

Nigeria-Greece: draw (3.25)
There's a Greek team before and after Otto Rehhagel since he took over in 2001.
He managed to put Greece on the Football map (winning Euro 2004 and assuring the qualification to this World Cup in a dramatic fashion) but always playing a slow paced/very defensive style of play and looking for set pieces.
Nigeria is a good African team (but African teams are, on average, one level bellow their European and South American counterparts) with players like Martins, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Peter Odemwingie, Obinna, Uche, Mikel, Yobo and veteran Kanu but they seem to have lost the stamina they had in the previous decade.
I expect a tigh low scoring game and will risk the draw here.

France-Mexico: draw (3.13)
France has not played according to the individual value of their players, which is great, simply because they have no game plan or leadership (coach Domenech is a joke). And this has happened for a long time now.
Mexico are an interesting team with great tallent and they will be lloking at getting something from this game.
Considering the circunstances both teams might even see a draw as a good result.
I surely expect a tight low scoring game and will risk the draw bet here.

 to all!

My 1st pick for today:

Portugal-North Korea: North Korea +1.5 Asian Handicap (1.76)

My picks for Wednesday:

S. Africa-Uruguay: Uruguay PK (1.73)
S. Africa is clearly the weakest team in the group IMO but being the hosts and having home support they're a bit more difficult to beat.
Uruguay knows that if they win this one they have a great chance of qualifying.
Being the much better team I'll take Uruguay PK at this price.

Spain-Switzerland: Spain (1.31)
This is a very low odd but I'll take it even though it's rare for me to take odds this low.
Spain is a great team and surely one of the favorites but the Swiss have an interesting team with a very experienced and successful coach in Ottmar Hitzfeld.
I do expect Spain to win I just don't know what to expect from them after their horrible Confederations Cup in South Africa (which works out as a preparation tournament for the WC) last year.

Chile-Honduras: Honduras +1AH (1.78)
Chile has most of their players playing in the major leagues in Europe, had a great qualification stage (2nd place only 1 point behind Brazil) with a 10-3-5 record which was good.
Honduras qualified kind of "last minute" to the World Cup but they have an interesting coach in Reinaldo Rueda Rivera who's making an impression since he took over in 2007 and very interesting players in David Suazo (I'm a big fan of him...he's a great player!), Wilson Palacios, Julio Leon and Amado Guevara.
It should be an interesting game and I think this is a great price for the Honduras +1AH bet.

Hey lutz !

I would say Portugal and Germany are back on track... 

North Korea simply tried to play against Portugal with no particular defensive concerns after losing "only" 2-1 against Brazil and that was a huge mistake.
I keep on saying, Portugal does not have a team but we have a great group of talented players like Ronaldo, Simão, Tiago, Fábio Coentrão (it is said here that Bayern is going crazy about hiring him...) and others...if they're given space (like they were in particular after 2-0), the oposition is done!
Another good thing for the team was the 4 replacements that came in and in particular the fact that Deco (clearly a rotten apple in the team) was sidelined by the coach (it was about time). Look at what he does in the lockerroom in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B555FaGWXCU 
with a true leader as coach (like Scolari) he'd be home by now!

Thanks my friends but David Villa and Torres decided to play a sloppy game today. They could have won by 4 or 5 at last but decided to waste and waste (including the penalty kick)...let's hope those wasted goals will not be missed by the Spaniards...

...it's been hard to get that monkey off my shoulder during this World Cup but it will happen!

W-T-L
10-4-10

My picks for Wednesday:

USA-Algeria: USA (2.00);
Slovenia-England: England (1.48);
Australia-Serbia: Serbia (1.94);
Ghana-Germany: Germany (1.53)

 to all!

Some stats regrding this 1st stage of the World Cup so far (the lowest scoring of all time so far average goals/game) for the first 40 games played.

Ties = 11 (27.50%) 
This is well above the average in football/soccer.
Top Leagues like the Portuguese SuperLiga, Italian Serie A or the French Ligue have a maximum of around 25% and they're the highest in Europe.
Expect draws to go down to the 25% level or less until the end of the World Cup.

Games decided by 1 goal = 18 (45%)
This is also bellow what one would expect.
IMO some of the big teams are playing too carefull and we see a lot of teams playing "not to lose" instead of playing to win.
Those at FIFA should stop picking their noses and look at this once and for all.

Games decided by 2 or more goals = 11 (27.50%)

Under 2.5 goals = 28 (70%)
Over 2.5 goals = 12 (30%)

Usually as the tournament goes on we tend to see tighter and tighter games...will the under continue to prevail?
let's see...

And he's been here posting winners for 4 years longer than you, so you should show a bit more respect

I REALLY LIKE THE URUGUAY WAGER......hit bigggggg!!!

Flyers....I have been sober for 5 years, BUT yesterday i ALMOST (if i wasn't sooo stinkin lazy) drove that Saab 40 miles for a bottle of Becks....LOL!!! I actually was in the car before i decided it was (a.) too hott @ 92 (b) diabetes & alcohol is a bad mix (c) i would be sick for the next 48 hrs!!!

Thank you jcp&lutz !

My 1st pick for today:

England-Germany: over 2 goals (1.91)

 to all!

37 minutes and taking it to the bank

W-T-L
24-5-18

Pinny has England to advance at 3.23 at halftime and I just took it.

 everyone!

My picks for today:

Uruguay-S. Korea: Uruguay (1.89);
USA-Ghana - draw (3.20);

 to all!

Pick 1:
Paraguay is traditionally an under team: they have 3 unders in 3 group games in this World Cup and 22 unders in their last 27 games overall.
Japan also has 4 unders in their last 6 games.
Considering the OT in the game between USA and Ghana, we've only seen overs in this round of the World Cup...I think we'll see the 1st under of this round here.

Thanks my friend !
I'm looking at tomorrow's games and they're tough ones ...

Hope you're cashing in as well!

It was another great day, thanks my friends !
Great to see you back around here Hansi, long time no see.

I still get the feeling it could have been better had not Cardozo missed that penalty kick for Paraguay as I'm sure there was no way Spain would win it in regulation (they're yet to impress me...and they're programed to score first, keep control of the ball and counter attack...funny thing, just like Germany...).
Cardozo is a great, great striker and this was his 1st (well, and last ...) World Cup game in the 1st team as he arrived injured at the World Cup but he's not a penalty taker. Playing for Benfica, he was top scorer last season in the Portuguese SuperLiga and Europa Legue but missed 3 important penalty kicks in the season (costing points to Benfica)...he's a great goal scorer but don't have him take any penalty kicks.

W-T-L
33-7-23

My picks for Friday:

Brazil-Holland: Brazil (1.98) and Brazil to advance (1.49);
Uruguay-Ghana: Uruguay (2.10) and Uruguay to advance (1.54);

 to all!

Nice win to close the World Cup.

W-T-L
34-7-26

Let's move on!