With England safely through to the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals
in South Africa, it is now the waiting game to see who will join
them.
Shocks are already on the horizon, particularly in the south
America group, where Argentina, coached by one of the greatest
football talents ever seem, Diego Maradona, have slid to a
fourth defeat in five games and at this juncture they are out of
the qualification zone.
So far the 10 teams worldwide to have qualified so far are:
EUROPE – Spain, England, Holland.
AFRICA – S Africa, Ghana
ASIA – Australia, S Korea, N Korea
S AMERICA – Brazil, Paraguay.
These will almost certainly be joined by New Zealand, Ivory
Coast, Algeria, Slovakia and Italy, but all other teams who are
close to qualifying still must fight on to get through.
As far as the betting is concerned it is Euro 2008 Champions,
Spain and five time World Cup winners Brazil who dispute
favouritism, with England the third favourites. Surprisingly,
the Bookmakers remain confident about Argentina’s chances of
qualifying and list them at around the 10/1 mark to win. Germany
are around the 11/1 mark, while Holland, who looked every bit as
impressive as Spain and England in qualifying are around 12/1,
along with World Champions, Italy.
In all, 32 teams will be in South Africa in June 2010 and they
will play from 11 June through until the final on 11 July.
It seems ironic that the two best players in the world,
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi may not be there. Ronaldo
plays for Portugal of course and they are struggling to qualify
from European Qualifying Group One, where they currently lie in
third place on 12 points behind Denmark (18) and Sweden (15).
They have two remaining games which they must win to have any
chance. Those games fortunately for them are both at home,
against Hungary and then against the Group’s whipping boys,
Malta but they must still overcome the Play offs.
Messi, who was the star of the Champions League last season,
finds himself playing in an Argentina side, short of guidance
and confidence. They currently lie fifth place on 22 points and
to qualify they must be in the top four. With Brazil and
Paraguay already qualified, Argentina must overhaul the two
other teams above them, Ecuador on 23 points and Chile on 37
points. Each team has two games left to play, with Argentina
talking on bottom side Peru next and having to round things off
against one of their deadliest of rivals, Uruguay in Montevideo.
Ecuador must also play Uruguay and then Chile, who may well be
by then already qualified.
As far as winning in South Africa goes the betting is likely to
be very near the mark, with Spain having the pedigree to win the
World cup for the first time in their history. Brazil and
England are both good enough to make the final, but apart from
the Dutch and the Italians, there seems little chance for the
rest. History suggests that the bookmaker rarely get it wrong
when it comes to World Cup betting, with all abr one the winners
coming from the top five teams in bookies lists. Only France
defied that trend when winning the competition as host nation in
1998.
About the Author: Read more about the World Cup in South Africa
from the author including previews on all the leading
contenders, including the latest England odds at his website
http://www.englandbettingodds.com.
Source: http://www.isnare.com
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