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Friday, July 9, 2010

2010 FIFA World Cup Final: Spain vs Netherlands Live Updates

Sports fans all over the world are less than 96 hours away from dealing with a painful withdrawal as World Cup 2010 wraps up. But there is one thing left to do – crown a champion!

All eyes will be on that championship game in Soccer City Stadium on Sunday, featuring the all European matchup between the Netherlands and Spain.

The Dutch earned a berth by defeating Uruguay in a 3-2 thriller in the semifinal, while the Spanish played their best game of the tourney in defeating the Germans 1-0.

Online sportsbooks have released odds for the title game. SPORTSBETTING.com have the Dutch at +198, while the Spaniards have been established as -111 favorites.

Over/Under bettors note that the Total has been set at 2.5.

Spain is no stranger to championship games recently, as they are the defending Euro champion, having taken the 2008 tournament in Vienna. In fact, looking at the World Cup odds heading into the 2010 tournament, Spain was the favorite to win it all at odds of +400.

The Spanish, however, have been slightly one-dimensional on their offensive attack.

The team has only netted seven goals through six games in South Africa, but five of them have come from forward David Villa.

On the other hand, goalkeeper Iker Casillas has been brilliant, allowing only two goals and making 12 saves thus far.

Spain has amassed 5 wins, 0 draws and 1 loss during its 2010 campaign and with that, 1 Over and 5 Unders as well.

Despite being listed as underdogs by sportsbooks, the Netherlands have come through to the final game boasting a nicely balanced attack.

The Dutch have scored 12 goals, which is good enough for second amongst all the teams in this World Cup (Germany currently is the highest scoring team with 13).

Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder leads the squad with five goals, like Villa, but has had more support.

Fellow midfielder Arjen Robben has a pair of goals followed by four players with a goal each.

But while the Netherlands has scored more goals than Spain, they have also allowed more as well – goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg has watched five balls go by him.

The Dutch have had the honor of going through South Africa 2010 without conceding a loss thus far (6-0-0 SU) but then the question is, will they finish with a perfect record or are they due for a loss?

They have 4 Overs and 2 Unders to go with the six wins.

SPORTSBETTING.com manager Brian Taylor gave us some insight into the World Cup betting for the final, “it’s been pretty even action so far, with 41% on Spain, 36% on the Netherland and 23% on the “Draw after regulation” option.”

Total bettors have 61% on the “Over” 2.5 goals heading into Friday betting action.

As a side note, Uruguay and Germany will play the third-place game on Saturday and sportsbooks have the Uruguayans listed as heavy +410 underdogs and the Germans as -188 faves with a Total of 2.5.

It’s been a fun month filled with great goals and some really bad officiating (we won’t dwell on the negative though).

Enjoy the World Cup final.
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Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Germany vs. Spain World Cup Semifinals: Who Will meet Holland??

The Netherlands booked their spot in the World Cup final game with a 3-2 victory over Uruguay on Tuesday. Now we see who slots into the other spot when Germany faces Spain in the other Semi-Final game on Wednesday.

Spain began the tournament as the favorites, but the 2008 European Champions have failed to impress, despite finding themselves one game away from the final.

On the side, not much was expected of the German team, but their performance to this point has their fans reminiscing of 1990 when West Germany beat Argentina 1-0 to be crowned champs.

The Germans have been an offensive machine this tournament, netting 13 goals so far. Miroslav Klose and Thomas Mueller both have 4 goals apiece, Lukas Podolski has 2 goals and Cacau, Mesut Ozil and Arne Friedrich all have a goal.

Online sportsbooks have Germany listed at +108 going into the semifinal match with Spain.

The Spaniards are going into the semis with an identical 4-0-1 mark as the Germans. Unlike the Germans however, Spain has received a bulk of its scoring from David Villa, with the forward popping in five of the Spanish’s six goals.

The Spaniards are listed at +147 vs. Germany.

There has also been plenty of action on the World Cup prop betting options. One of the more popular is the “Man of the Match” prop bets.

SPORTSBETTING.com has are the favourites for those odds:

Man of the Match Odds and Betting

Fernando Torres 5/1
Mesut Ozil 9/2
Bastian Schweinsteiger 9/2
David Villa 11/4
Miroslav Klose 5/2

Manager Brian Taylor stated, “It’s all Klose and David Villa money so far, with those two making up about 80% of all the volume”

Also, Taylor said the “First Goal Scorer” has been popular with SPORTSBETTING.com’s players.

Here are the favorites for those odds:

First Goal Scorer
No Goalscorer 6/1
Fernando Torres 11/2
Miroslav Klose 5/1
David Villa 10/3

It should be a very entertaining Semi-Final, with the potential to be an epic battle.

Good luck.
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Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Uruguay vs. Netherlands - World Cup Semi-Final Preview

And then there were four…the World Cup tournament is down to the last few games, with the big ones, the Semi-Finals, kicking off on Tuesday.

It has been a thrilling tournament thus far, with plenty of drama, upsets and controversy.

Uruguay is looking to score their second World Cup championship…a scant 80 years after booking their first. Uruguay actually won the first-ever World Cup when they hosted the inaugural tournament some eight decades ago, but they are longshots out of the four remaining teams. Online sportsbooks have them listed at +1100 to be crowned champs.

Their path to the 2010 World Cup title game wasn’t going to be easy no matter what happened in the quarter final between Brazil and the Netherlands. But the men in Orange pulled off an upset to send Brazil home and move through to play Uruguay.

This is a very tough task for the South American side. Sportsbooks have the Dutch as the odds on favorite at +160 to take the title.

World Cup Odds:
Going into their semifinal matchup, the Uruguayans are seeing the odds stacked against them, listed as +400 underdogs; they are 3-2-0 through the tournament.

Thus far, Uruguay has scored seven goals with both Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez leading the team with three goals apiece.

The Dutch are riding high after that big win over Brazil and are also big faves going into the semifinal against the Uruguyans, listed at -303.

The Netherlands have netted eight goals this World Cup and are a little more balanced offensively than their opponents; they are also perfect at 5-0-0 in South Africa 2010.

While Midfielder Wesley Sneijder leads the team with 4 goals, the Dutch have spread the rest of the scoring out with five players – Arjen Robben, Dirk Kuyt, Robin Van Persie and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar – tied with one goal each.

SPORTSBETTING.com manager Brian Taylor reported that “68% of all the betting volume on this match has come in on the Netherlands.”

You can watch the game live at 2:30 PM ET on Tuesday.

We’ll have a full breakdown of the Germany vs. Spain match Tuesday evening.
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Thursday, July 1, 2010

World Cup 2010: Quarter Finals Preview

And then there were eight!

The Round of 16 has come and gone and eight teams remain – Uruguay, Ghana, Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay and Spain.

The Brazilians have a big challenge in front of them this Friday when they meet the Netherlands, but many in the sports betting community feel they have the easier route to the World Cup title game on July 11. If they get by the Dutch they play the winner of Uruguay-Ghana in the semifinals.

Looking at the World Cup odds, Brazil is the favorite at online sportsbook to win it all. Currently they have odds of +250 to be crowned champs.

For this match on Friday, Brazil is a -158 favorite, while the Dutch are +241and the Total is set at 2.5.

The Samba Boys landed atop this tournament’s Group of Death, aka Group G, finishing with 2 wins, a draw and 0 losses for seven points. Throughout the 2010 World Cup, they have netted eight goals with Luis Fabiano scoring a team-high three – Brazil has had 3 Overs and 1 Under so far in the tournament.

Despite being underdogs for this match, the Netherlands have been strong in opening round play going 4-0 straight up so far in the tournament with 2 Overs and 2 Unders.

The Dutch grabbed top spot in Group E. Looking at their World Cup odds to win the championship, they are listed at +650 to win.

Argentina vs. Germany Preview:
Argentina is one of the favorites to win the World Cup, with odds of +350, but they have a tougher route than Brazil at first glance.

It will be a case of deja vu for the Argentinians as they will face the same team that eliminated them from the 2006 World Cup, Germany. Last time, the Germans eliminated Argentina in a penalty shootout. Going into Saturday’s matchup, Argentina is listed as a -111 favorite while the Germans are +195 underdogs.

Germany and Argentina have met a number of times in past World Cups, sometimes in the championship game.

Argentina took the 1986 World Cup in a 3-2 win over Germany and the Germans returned the favor in 1990, beating the Argentinians 1-0.

Both Argentina and Germany cruised through their Round of 16 matchups with the Argentinians beating Mexico 3-1 and the Germans hammering the English 4-1.

The winner takes on the victor of the Paraguay vs. Spain match in the semifinal of South Africa 2010.

We’ll look at the other two matchups in tomorrow’s article.

Enjoy the games.
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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Spain vs Portugal Odds: World Cup 2010 Betting

See ya later England, we hardly knew yee Italia, better luck in 2014 USA, tough Round of 16 draw Chile…we are now down to the last few games before we head to the quarter finals.

Some countries are starting to feel a tad euphoric, while others are wallowing in despair (see England, Italy and France)

Now we have a huge matchup left on the schedule in the Round of 16, as Portugal will try and pull off an upset of Spain on Tuesday.

The appetizer for this match, Japan vs. Paraguay, should also deliver one of the best matches of the tournament to this point.

Going into Tuesday’s tilt, online sportsbooks have the Spaniards are favored at -114, the Portuguese are listed as +266 underdogs, with a draw paying out at +184 and the Over/Under is set at 2.5.

Spain was tied for the Group H lead with Chile and advanced by virtue of a 2-0-1 record straight up.

Spain managed to score four goals in the first-round of the tournament (they have 1 Over and 2 Unders so far in World Cup 2010), with forward David Villa carrying the bulk of the load, netting three goals.

Portugal made it out of this tournament’s Group of Death (G), finishing with a record that consisted of one win and two draws; the Portuguese were second to Brazil in Group G.

The Portuguese are one of the highest-scoring teams in the tournament with 7 goals for and 0 against. However, you’re going to want to note that all of the goals came in a 7-0 smackdown vs. the North Koreans.

Portugal has spread their offense out more than Spain, with midfielder Tiago leading his teammates with two goals and five other players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, tied for second with a single goal, but again, the scoring all came in that wipeout.

Like Spain, the Portuguese have 1 Over and 2 Unders so far in the tournament.

Hey if you think Portugal can rack up another big win, you can bet on that at Sportsbook.

The odds of a Portuguese victory by six or more goals is +9000, while the odds of a Spanish victory by six or more is +8000…I don’t even think those odds are high enough, suffice to say there is almost no possibility of either of those results coming in for bettors.

Brian Taylor, manager from SPORTSBETTING.com, talked a bit about the action on this one. “As expected, this one is attracting quite a bit of attention from our players, similar numbers to England-Germany and the USA-Ghana match. Right now Spain has 31% of the action, but the draw is the most popular option so far, with 41%. 28% have bet on Portugal scoring an upset.”

I’m looking forward to this one.

Enjoy the action.
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