WORLD CUP BETTING – Uruguay vs Netherlands
It’s make or break time this
Tuesday evening as Uruguay take on the Netherlands for a place in the
World Cup final. Who will be the first finalists? Betrepubluc previews
the match here.
What a matchup we have for the
first Semi Final at the 2010 World Cup. Available at odds of 80/1 and
14/1 respectively both of these sides, Uruguay especially, have
performed better than most people could have predicted.
Who will reach the final though? The
silky smooth Dutch? Or the tenacious Uruguayans with their
never-say-die attitude?Netherlands the favourites to progress to the
final within ninety minutes at odds of 4/6, with Uruguay available at
5/1 and the draw can be backed at 5/2. However, I feel that this game
will be a lot tighter than the odds suggest.
In their Quarter Final match
Uruguay upset the whole of Africa and the majority of the world as Luis
Suarez saved his country from elimination by punching the ball off the
line as Ghana were about to score the winner in injury time at the end
of the second period of extra time. He was red-carded and he gave away
a penalty but instead of a goal Ghana had one of the most pressurised
penalties to convert.
In the end Asamoah Gyan hit the
bar with the penalty and Uruguay went on to take victory via the
penalty shootout. How will Uruguay do against the Dutch without half of
their forward line that has found the net six times so far in the
tournament?
As if missing Suarez wasn’t
enough trouble for the Uruguayan side, they will also have to face the
major headache of Arjen Robben. Robben was electric in the second half
of the Jekyll and Hyde performance that the Netherlands put in against
Brazil in the Quarter Finals.
The Dutch were terrible in the
first half and deserved to be losing 1-0, if not more, at half time.
They were devoid of ideas for at least another fifteen minutes at the
start of the second half, but a lucky goal saw them level and from that
point onwards there was only one side that was going to win the match.
If they can perform like they
did in last thirty minutes v Brazil from the start of the game then
they can win this match, but if they let Uruguay in they will find it
difficult to get back into the game without a massive fight, and I’m
not sure the Dutch have it in them.
The teams are fairly equal in
the goal charts, with the Dutch outscoring Uruguay nine goals to seven,
but Uruguay have conceded one less than the Dutch with teams only
finding the net against them twice. Uruguay also have the standout goal
scorer of these two sides on their books, with Diego Forlan showing why
he is such a highly regarded marksman in La Liga.
With Suarez suspended I feel
that he will be focal point of Uruguay’s attacks and he will find the
net. Should he do so early on in the game then, with their ‘give all’
attitude and tight defensive line, Uruguay could very well find
themselves in their first World Cup final since they last lifted the
trophy in 1950.
The Dutch will want to keep the
game level for as long as possible or, even better, find themselves
ahead early on as they displayed a very negative attitude when trailing
to Brazil in the Quarter Finals. I can’t see Uruguay giving the Dutch
an easy way back into the game nor losing the plot in ways that Brazil
did in the Quarter Finals.
Who will win the match? It
could go either way, depending on who scores first as I feel that will
be the most important moment of the match. Should Uruguay score first I
urge you to back them to win the game on an In-Running market as soon
as you possibly can. However, due to the uncertainty over who will find
the net first my bets for this game are Diego Forlan to score anytime @
11/4 and there to be less than 2.5 goals to be scored in the match @
4/7.