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Brazil vs Chile – (2nd Round, Monday 7.30pm)

Really, really fascinating all South American battle to call here as Brazil take on Chile in what should be packed full with quality football & hopefully will be one of the games of the tournament.

Brazil, as is always the case for them, came into this World Cup as one of the strong favourites to win it & so far they are certainly doing their best to make that come true showing a good mix of flair, organisation, solidity & determination to win.

Admittedly, Brazil were not that impressive & were in fact quite dull & limited against Portugal but that was a case of job already done & the Brazil players knowing the 2nd round onwards was the place to show their best & that is what we expect from Brazil from here on in.

Brazil are always confident of winning any match they go into & the added motivation that will come from playing their South American rivals should fire them up even more & we do expect a good, entertaining & ultimately a winning performance from Brazil in this one.

Chile have been fantastic so far at this World Cup & certainly had Spain on the rack for the opening period of their group match but things went wrong in that match & there where the first signs that Chile were starting to feel the pressure & of course the pressure of facing Brazil & trying to beat them brings even more pressure.

It really is a fascinating game to call because if both Brazil & Chile turn up in prime form, this should be an open, entertaining game to remember and of course we hope for that but our suspicion is that Brazil really, really believe they can win the World Cup this year & we just see them being too strong for Chile in this one although Chile will put up a fight.

Betting Recommendations:
Outright Match Result: Brazil to win
Correct Score options: Brazil to win 2-1/3-1
First Goalscorer each way/Player to score anytime: Fabiano/Kaka/Robinho
Scorecast options: Fabiano/Kaka/Robinho score 1st & Brazil win 2-1/3-1
Double Result: Brazil H/T & F/T

Holland vs Slovakia – (2nd Round, Monday 3pm)

This was not 2nd round match-up that was envisaged by too many people as Slovakia have surprised most of the world by qualifying for the 2nd round & the fact the bookies have Holland as 2/5 shots to beat them suggests Slovakia won’t be hanging around too much longer.

Of course, it’s not right to be completely dismissive of Slovakia because they did qualify for the 2nd round & their performance in beating Italy 3-2 does deserve praise but in saying that, there has to be massive doubt as to whether they can do that against Holland in this match.

Holland have been efficient, productive & effective without being brilliant yet but they won all their 3 group games with a great deal of comfort & it will certainly be a massive shock if Sneijder, Van Persie, Kuyt & Robben cannot fire Holland to another win here.

It’s to know exactly what to expect from  this match in terms of tactics from Slovakia but however Slovakia do play, we still expect Holland to have too much quality & organisation in this one & a comfortable win for Holland looks the best value bet.

Betting Recommendations:
Outright Match Result: HOLLAND to win
Correct Score options: Holland to win 2-0/3-0
First Goalscorer each way/Player to score anytime: Van Persie/Sneijder/Robben
Scorecast options: Van Persie/Sneijder/Robben score 1st & Holland win 2-0/3-0
Double Result: Holland H/T & F/T

Value for money is an acceptable form of gambling to the majority of investors, though seasoned professionals will assure you that this is simply an excuse for amateur punters to argue against ‘doing their money’.

The World Cup is a great example as we head towards the second round, as there are a few ‘stand out’ teams in terms of value for money but the question remains, have these outsiders any chance of winning the tournament?

Arugably, Portugal head the list as their price will plummet if they dispose of Spain in Tuesday’s Cape Town encounter.  Their current odds of 25/1 will slim down to single figures and why not, when you consider that Portugal are one of just two teams not to have conceded a goal thus far, despite having played Brazil already.

The ‘clever money’ of late has been for Uruguay who appear to have a dream draw and are the other team whose defences have not been breached to date.  Top priced now at just 18/1, double those odds were available just a few days ago but bookmakers are running scared of Uruguay as I write.

Japan are another team whose odds will crash if they continue their fine run of form.  Well disciplined team players who score goals for fun can never be discounted from going a long way in the World Cup.

And then there is the good old US of A who beat our butts in terms of winning Group ‘C’ yet the Yanks remain available at over three times the odds currently chalked up about England.

25/1—18/1—100/1—40/1 are freely available about the afore mentioned teams which equates to a ‘coupled’ price of 7/1.

Compare that to coupled prices of 6/4 for either Brazil or Spain to succeed, or 4/9 if you add the likes of Argentina and Holland into the mix.

Greece won the European Championship as no hopers six years ago—Portugal/Uruguay/Japan/USA couldn’t follow their lead…..could they?

Second round history of the sixteen teams which have qualified via the group stages:

ARGENTINA:

Aside from being knocked out at the group stage eight years ago, Argentina boast an 80% record having reached the quarter finals in the other four tournaments.

Argentina progressed through via an extra time victory over Mexico (2006) and by penalties against England in 1998 either side of the year they will want to forget. 

Previously they had disposed of South American rivals Brazil and Uruguay (both via 1-0 score-lines) at this second round stage, though Romania beat Argentina by the odd goal in five in their 1994 encounter.

Bullet point results in the second round:

Played: 5—-won: 2—-drew: 2—-lost: 1 (goal difference: 7-6)

BRAZIL: 

Alongside Germany, Brazil are the only team to have reached this stage in each of the last six tournaments, though unlike the Germans, Brazil suffered a defeat along the way.

Having beaten Ghana, Belgium, Chile, USA and Poland, Brazil were knocked out in the second round by Argentina in 1990. 

Brazil meet Chile again this year who they beat 4-1 in the second round in 1998 having led 3-0 at the interval.

Bullet point results in the second round:

Played: 6—-won: 5—drew: 0—lost: 1  (goal difference: 14-2)

CHILE: 

Please refer to the Brazil section as Chile have only reached this stage once during  the study period when they were beaten by the five time winners of the tournament.

Bullet point results in the second round:

Played: 1—-won: 0—drew: 0—lost: 1  (goal difference: 1-4)

ENGLAND:

The only time that England have failed to progress to the quarter-finals having reached this stage was when beaten on penalties by Argentina in 1998. 

Subsequent victories have been gained over Ecuador (1-0) and Denmark (3-0).

Bullet point results in the second round:

Played: 5—-won: 3—-drew: 2—-lost: 0  (goal difference: 9-2)

GERMANY:

Germany have won all six matches at this stage of the tournament during the study period, if we include the 1986 and 1990 competitions when they were representing West Germany.

Germany have beaten Sweden, Paraguay, Mexico, Belgium, Holland and Morocco moving backwards from 2006.

Bullet point results in the second round:

Played: 6—-won: 6—-drew: 0—-lost: 0  (goal difference: 11-4)

GHANA:

Ghana lost to Brazil via a 0-3 score-line in the second round in 2006 having beaten the USA in the relevant group match by a 2-1 margin.

Ghana have reached the second round for the second successive time, not having qualified for the final stages before 2006.

Bullet point results in the second round:

Played: 1—-won: 0—-drew: 0—-lost: 1  (goal difference: 0-3)

HOLLAND: 

Holland last won a second round match back in 1998 when they beat Yugoslavia by two goals to one.

The Dutch lost out to Portugal via a 0-1 scoreline four years ago and failed to qualify in 2002.  Their only other appearance at this stage resulted in a 2-0 victory over the Irish in 1994.

Bullet point results in the second round:

Played: 3—-won: 2—drew: 0—lost: 1  (goal difference: 4-2)

JAPAN:

Japan lost out to Turkey at this stage of the competition when they co-hosted the tournament eight years ago.

Their 0-1 defeat marked the only time that Japan have reached the second round of the World Cup.

Bullet point results in the second round:

Played: 1—-won: 0—drew: 0—lost: 1  (goal difference: 0-1)

MEXICO:

Mexico lost out to Argentina at this stage in the last tournament, though not before extra time had to be taken into account.

Aside from not qualifying for the final stages back in 1990, Mexico have reached this second round on every occasion though the only time they progressed through to the quarter finals was when beating Bulgaria 2-0 back in 1986.

Bullet point results in the second round:

Played: 5—-won: 1—-drew: 2—-lost: 2  (goal difference: 5-6)

PARAGUAY: 

Paraguay have reached this stage three times but have yet to score a goal, whereby you will not be surprised to learn they they have failed to qualify for the quarter finals.

Beaten by England and Germany down the years, Paraguay managed a draw against France 1998 before losing out by the only goal of the game in extra time.   

Bullet point results in the second round:

Played: 3—-won: 0—drew: 1—lost: 2  (goal difference: 0-4)

PORTUGAL: 

Portugal have flattered to deceive in the World Cup down the years whereby their 1-0 victory over Holland at this stage four years ago is the only time they have reached the second round during the study period.

Bullet point results in the second round:

Played: 1—-won: 1—drew: 0—lost: 0  (goal difference: 1-0)

SLOVAKIA: 

This is the first time that Slovakia have reached this stage of the competition.

The Czech Republic were knocked out at the group stage in 2006 whilst Czeckosalovakia beat Costa Rica 4-1 in the second round back in 1990.

Bullet point results in the second round:

Not applicable

SOUTH KOREA:

South Korea beat Poland via a 2-0 margin in the only time they have reached the second round to date.

Note the (0-1) loss to Uruguay in a group stage match back in 1990.

Bullet point results in the second round:

Played: 1—-won: 1—-drew: 0—-lost: 0  (goal difference: 2-0)

SPAIN: 

Spain lost out to France at this stage last time around (1-3) having been beaten by Yugoslavia (1-2) in the second round way back in 1990.

Spain’s two victories within ninety minutes were gained over Switzerland (3-0) and Denmark (5-1), whilst the draw against Ireland (1-1) went in their favour eight years ago when they qualified for the quarter finals via a successful penalty shoot-out.

Bullet point results in the second round:

Played: 5—-won: 2—drew: 1—lost: 2  (goal difference: 11-7)

URUGUAY:

Uruguay have failed to reach this stage during the study period with just one victory recorded in nine games before this year’s tournament.

Uruguay beat South Korea 1-0 when the two teams met at the group stage back in 1990.

Bullet point results in the second round:

Not applicable

USA: 

Did not qualify in 1986 and have been knocked out at the group stage in four of the subsequent five tournaments.  The only time that the USA reached this stage was when they beat Mexico 2-0 eight years ago.  

A note of caution as Ghana beat the USA 2-1 in their group match four years ago when Ghana qualified and the USA went home.

Bullet point results in the second round:

Played: 1—-won: 1—drew: 0—lost: 0  (goal difference: 2-0)

Best prices to win the World Cup and the odds to reach the final in brackets:

7/2 Brazil (13/10)

9/2 Spain (9/4)—equates to 6/4 the winners hailing from front two

5/1 Argentina (5/2)

7/1 Holland (11/4)—equates to 4/9 front four winners

12/1 England (11/2)

14/1 Germany (11/2)

18/1 Uruguay (13/2)—Unquestionably the ‘movers & shakers’ of late

25/1 Portugal (8/1)—watch price plummet if beating Spain in round 2

40/1 USA (16/1)

40/1 Paraguay (18/1)

50/1 Ghana (20/1)—last african hope

66/1 Chile (20/1)

80/1 Mexico (28/1)

100/1 Japan (40/1)—price too big?

150/1 South Korea (40/1)

250/1 Slovakia (50/1)

Argentina vs Mexico – (2nd Round, Sunday 7.30pm)

What a game we have in prospect here with Argentina & Mexico two sides who concentrate 100% on playing positive, attacking football and whoever wins this match, football will be the biggest winner.

Argentina have been very, very impressive so far in this World Cup with Messi, Tevez, Veron, Higuain, Di Maria, Heinze, Samuel & Mascherano the spine to the team which has probably produced the best football so far.

Argentina look like rock solid, genuine contenders to win the World Cup & while there are doubts about their defence, the truth is if Messi performs to his best to feed any of Higuain, Tevez, Milito & Aguerro, Mascherano & Veron control midfield like they can then Argentina will believe they can beat anybody.

Mexico performed with great credit in the group stage, playing very good, entertaining football to get a solid draw against South Africa & then a very good win over France so they clearly deserve respect here.

The great strength to Mexico is that they play without fear & they will certainly go for Argentina but that is ultimately where their problems could well lie because they don’t like they have enough defensive strength in the side to hold out against Argentina’s attacking quality.

We do envisage an entertaining, open game of football here as Argentina & Mexico go for it so there should be goals but in terms of who will win the match, then we cannot see past Argentina with Messi, Higuain & Tevez likely to have too much attacking class for Mexico on the day.

Betting Recommendations:
Outright Match Result: Argentina to win
Correct Score options: Argentina to win 2-1/3-1
First Goalscorer each way/Player to score anytime: Higuain/Tevez/Messi
Scorecast options:  Higuain/Tevez/Messi score 1st & Argentina win 2-1/3-1
Double Result: Argentina H/T & F/T

Germany vs England – (2nd Round, Sunday 3.00pm)

So here we are, the major battle awaits, Germany vs England in a major tournament again – some call it fate, a pre-determined event that was always going to happen because it has happened so many times before but the truth is that it has happened this time around only because England were really poor for the first two matches.

That may sound harsh but it’s true – if England had done what was expected & performed as they should have done by beating Algeria, then this clash of England vs Germany would not be taking place as both teams would have won their groups as expected.

Of course, all that doesn’t matter now & what has gone before should not count too much towards what happens in this match & it is purely all about what Germany & England do on sunday.

So then, a good starting point to assess the match is to look at the odds which put England as slight favourites to beat Germany with the draw as the biggest price & in our view the betting market is wrong.

England should not be favourites to beat Germany & best they should be priced up the same – Germany impressively beat a poor Australian side 4-0 & beat a strong Ghana side 1-0 while England struggled badly against USA & Algeria and then despite what the media say, they only scraped past Slovenia 1-0 so judged on that it is wrong to make England favourites.

Of course England are not ranked favourites because the bookies believe they are the best bet, they are ranked as favourites because the bookies know they will take much more money on England than they will Germany, despite the fact the odds are wrong.

In our view, a true betting market should place Germany as favourites to win this match because they have been more impressive than England but that does not mean we believe the best bet in this match is a win for Germany.

Our view is that this match looks destined to be a high pressure, physically competitive & intense scoring draw because the first line of thought that will come into players minds is not lose the game & that will still be the mentality when either side scores first.

Whichever team scores first will of course be in control of the game but conversely, the team who are losing will know exactly what they have to do & totally committed to get back level while the team in front will be focused on protecting what they have.

The biased, single minded english media will say England have better players in every department & are stronger than Germany, and yes that is true with Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, David James amongst the very best there is but as we all know as suffering England fans, football is about playing well together as a team & that is something that Germany do better than England.

The players of Germany & England will not need building up for this game with the pressure & magnitude of the occasion clear to all & of course anything is possible in this match but our clear view is that another hard fought, intensely competitive draw looks the call in 90 minutes with then extra-time & maybe those dreaded penalties to decide it.

Betting Recommendations:
Outright Match Result: DRAW
Correct Score options: 1-1
First Goalscorer each way/Player to score anytime: Klose/Ozil/Gerrard
Scorecast options: Klose/Ozil/Gerrard score 1st & 1-1
Double Result: DRAW H/T & F/T

USA vs Ghana – (2nd Round, Saturday 7.30pm)

The USA & Ghana have certainly deserved their places in the 2nd round producing some very good performances & they will both believe they have a great chance to reach the quarter finals so this really could be some match to enjoy.

The betting for this match has USA as slight favourites but it is really tight & that is very accurate because this does look set to be a really competitive & physically intense battle as both USA & Ghana are positive, attacking sides with physical power & pace so it really is a tough call to make either way.

The USA have Donovan, Dempsey & Altidore to provide the pace, power & creativity while Ghana can rely on Gyan, Amoah & Kevin Prince-Boateng to do the same & both sides look so well matched it really does make it a flip of the coin type game in our view.

This match will be fiercely competitive, physically intense & should certainly have a good tempo to it & it is so tight that any result it possible but our overiding view is that both teams will push each other all the way, cancelling each other out & on that basis a scoring draw looks the value call in this one.

Of course, the draw will take it to extra time & maybe penalties and that might also prove to be a value bet worth taking for extra interest.

Betting Recommendations:
Outright Match Result: DRAW
Correct Score options: 1-1/2-2
First Goalscorer each way/Player to score anytime: Donovan/Gyan/Boateng
Scorecast options: Donovan/Gyan/Boateng score 1st & 1-1/2-2
Double Result: DRAW H/T & F/T

Uruguay vs South Korea – (2nd Round, Saturday 3.00pm)

Very interesting tie this one & certainly a widely unexpected line up with Uruguay winning Group A & South Korea just getting through to finish 2nd in Group B.

How South Korea & Uruguay got here does not matter too much now & they will both believe they have a good chance to progress so this should be a good, competitive game for us to enjoy.

In terms of odds for the game, then the bookmakers have Uruguay as general 5/6 shots to win with South Korea 4/1 shots and in our view those odds seem very fair & accurate.

Uruguay deserve to be odds to win this because they were certainly professional, organised, looking very tough to beat & having the attacking combination of Forlan, Suarez & Cavani gives them a real edge that makes them a tough test for anybody on their day.

We expect Uruguay to be very confident going into this game because they know they have the defensive solidity as they are yet to concede a goal & they have the perfect combination of team strength & quality which gives them an excellent chance to go for the win.

South Korea are a positive side & they have certainly displayed great energy, confidence & at times quality in their performances so they command respect but the elements they appear to lack is a true defensive solidity & true quality up front which could well be the difference in this game.

In our view this match totally evolves around how well Uruguay play because if they play to their organised, solid & indeed show the attacking quality they have then we expect them to prove too strong for South Korea & Uruguay do look a solid bet to win through to the Quarter Finals.
Betting Recommendations:
Outright Match Result: Uruguay win
Correct Score options: Uruguay win 1-0/2-0
First Goalscorer each way/Player to score anytime: Forlan/Suarez/Cavani
Scorecast options: Forlan/Suarez/Cavani score 1st & Uruguay 1-0/2-0
Double Result: Uruguay H/T & F/T