World Cup Free Bets
Highest Scoring Group betting preview
The bookmakers are going to town when it comes to creating World Cup markets and several firms have priced up a betting market where you can back a particular group to have the most goals.
During the 2006 World Cup, it was the group featuring Spain that had the most goals and Group H is among the favourites this time around. Paddy Power and Ladbrokes both offer 9/2 that the Spanish, Switzerland, Chile and Honduras conspire to produce a few goalfests, although it might just be Vicente Del Bosque’s team who are free-scoring in front of goal.
After all, the Chileans and the Swiss will be looking at finishing second behind the Euro 2008 winners and therefore their match could be a cagey one. Indeed, firms such as bet365 and Sporting Bet expect Group G to produce more goals and make it the 10/3 favourite in their particular book.
This of course is the ‘Group of Death’ featuring Brazil, Ivory Coast and Portugal, with Sky Bet offering 5/1 that we see the net bulge more times during the six Group G games than anywhere else. It’s the presence of North Korea in the section which has made the bookies wary of laying too big a price, so much depends on whether they are whipping boys or not.
England were the top scorers in European qualification for the World Cup and Fabio Capello’s team look to have an easy group in South Africa. Many expect the team to fill their boots and, for all their lacklustre performance in friendlies against Mexico and Japan, they still managed to score five goals. Sporting Bet and totesport offer 13/2 that Group C leads the way in terms of goals.
There’s little doubting that Argentina boast the best set of strikers in the entire competition. Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Diego Milito would probably walk into any other national team, although the trio are likely to be on the bench for their team’s first match against Nigeria. That’s because Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain are ahead of them in the pecking order and Group B could be the value selection on this market at odds of 7/1 (Blue Square).
Of course, the bookmakers don’t always agree with each other and this is in evidence when you consider how firms have priced up Group E on this market. While Ladbrokes are cautiously offering a skinny 6/1 that Holland, Denmark, Cameroon and Japan yield the most goals, William Hill offer a tempting 10/1 that this happens. Given that this market is random in the first place, there’s certainly a case for backing anything that’s bigger than 7/1, while the Dutch have been racking up the goals in their friendly matches.
Japan showed against England that they’re prepared to go gung ho, while the Danes and Indomitable Lions aren’t renowned for having a tight defence. Group E is certainly a more attractive proposition, where South Africa will look to dumb down the match at every opportunity and France are not an offensive team. Group A deserves to be rank outsider at odds of 11/1 (Sporting Bet).
