New Zealand v Slovakia, Tuesday 15th June, 12.30pm
| Full Time Result | |||
| Best Odds | Bookmaker | Free Bets | |
| New Zealand | 8/1 |  |
£20 |
| Draw | 10/3 |  |
£25 |
| Slovakia | 5/11 | |
£20 |
While the rugby team sound fearsome as the ‘All Blacks’, the same cannot be said of the ‘All Whites’ football team who arrive in South Africa as rank outsiders to win the World Cup. However, a narrow defeat to Australia and victory over Serbia in recent friendly matches suggest that New Zealand might not be the whipping boys that some people suggest.
They are available at a massive 17/2 (Boylesports) to win this match in Rustenburg and they might find their opponents a little nervous, especially as Slovakia are making their World Cup debut on Tuesday. Although Vladimir Weiss’ team topped a qualifying group that included Slovenia, Poland and Czech Republic, quite whether punters are prepared to lump on the 4/9 (Ladbrokes) is another matter, especially after a friendly defeat to Norway.
None of the Slovak strikers are particularly prolific and we might see Erik Jendrisek (6/1 Ladbrokes) selected in attack after a fine season for Kaiserslautern, although the class act is midfielder Marek Hamsik and the Napoli midfielder looks great value at 10/1 (bet365) to score the first goal.
New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert has suggested that his team will take an offensive approach to this first World Cup game, the insinuation being that it’s their best chance of coming away with a victory. Therefore, it might be worth nabbing the 19/20 (bet365) about Over 2.5 Goals and Boylesports’ 5/2 about four or more doesn’t look a bad shout either. Sporting Bet offer 80/1 that we see a 4-2 victory in favour of Slovakia and that might not be far away.
