World Cup 2010 Betting News

In 2006, South Africa desperately made a plea to become the host nation for the World Cup. However, by a slender one vote margin, Germany was given the bid. As a part of the decision to rotate the World Cup’s site amongst all of the soccer confederations, Africa was guaranteed its first World Cup for 2010. South Africa beat out Egypt and Morocco for the bid.

There were a number of fears about having the world’s largest spectacle on African soil to the point that many wondered whether the tournament would be moved to a “contingency plan” location that remains unknown. FIFA stood behind South Africa though, and remains confident that the only thing that would keep the World Cup from going on as planned would be some sort of a natural disaster. (Continue reading)

Many feel that one of the greatest reasons to have the World Cup in South Africa is because of the smaller cities that will get to host matches. There may not have been much of a use for these 40,000+ seat venues before, but they will all be filled with soccer fans of every race and nation for the 2010 World Cup.

Pretoria – The capital city of South Africa will have at least one African team playing in its Loftus Versfeld Stadium in all but one of its first five matches. Don’t be surprised if Cameroon finishes as the runners up in Group E and gets to travel to Pretoria once again to take on the winner of Group F in the Round of 16. (Continue reading)

So the World Cup has arrived, and many people will be looking to make some money betting on soccer.

I’ve been watching plenty of soccer for a long time and I have already made my picks on the opening day for World Cup 2010 betting fans.

Mexico vs. South Africa

This is pretty simple, the better team is Mexico by far. The only problem is that South Africa will be at home.

However, I think the expectations are so high on the host team that it will become pressure and that might affect the players, especially considering that most of them are pretty young.

Mexico has been on a World Cup stage plenty of times, while South Africa didn’t play the last tournament. (Continue reading)

Though South Africa isn’t necessarily known as a nation that has an abundance of venues to play World Cup matches at, it has put together eight different stadiums that will host the greatest soccer spectacle in the world. Here is a list of the biggest cities arenas which the world will be focused in on starting in the middle of June.

Johannesburg – As the largest city in South Africa both in terms of city population and land mass, Johannesburg has two different stadiums for the World Cup. Soccer City will host both the opening match between South Africa and Mexico as well as the Final itself. Ellis Park Stadium, which holds 30,000 fewer people than the largest venue for the World Cup, will also be a popular arena for matches, as it will hold five group stage matches and two knockout round bouts. The Confederations Cup Final was held here in 2009, as Brazil beat the United States 3-2. The winningest team in World Cup history will play in both stadiums in Johannesburg during the course of this tournament and very well could return for its Round of 16 duel as well should it win Group G. (Continue reading)

Sports betting fans should be really excited about the upcoming World Cup because even if you don’t follow soccer, there are plenty of opportunities to make big-time money.

First, let’s learn how the betting system works for the games.

The best way to make money at the World Cup is by betting on the money line.  Usually the odds makers don’t know enough about several teams and they always leave a gap open for you to take advantage.

Since the tournament is a group stage first, where two of four teams will qualify to the next round, every game counts, meaning every team will fight for the win.

The best way to bet the money line is to find a game where both teams pay plus.  For example, the opening game where the line is South Africa +170, Draw +225, and Mexico +155. (Continue reading)

For the first time in the history of the World Cup, the tournament will be played on African soil. We’ll take the time now to talk about what home field advantage has meant to some of the teams in the past and what South Africa can expect as it tries to make history in 2010.

For starters, there has never been a host country that has failed to get out of the first round of the World Cup. Many wondered whether or not South Korea or Japan would be the first to fail in that accomplishment in 2002, but both got through into the second round, while South Korea finished in third place in the tournament. (Continue reading)

The 2010 World Cup will be the 19th edition of the globe’s largest soccer spectacle. The history of this event is chalk full of extraordinary events, and today, we are going to look back at some of the most controversial and exhilarating moments that this tournament has ever seen.

1986: “The Hand of God” and the “Goal of the Century” – Argentine soccer has always been very proud, and in a five minute stretch in a 1986 match against England, the world saw both one of the highest and one of the lowest moments that one of the greatest soccer players in the world ever had in his illustrious career. F Diego Maradona started the second half with a goal that will forever live in infamy as the “Hand of God” goal. Maradona reached out with his left hand and more or less flicked the ball into the goal. The obvious handball was never seen by official Ali Bin Nasser, and Argentina took a 1-0 lead. Just four minutes later though, Maradona successfully navigated around four British defenders and struck the ball into the back of the net. The move was largely referred to as the “Goal of the Century” and was voted the top goal in World Cup history in 2002. (Continue reading)

The Golden Boot is the award handed out to the top goal scorer of the World Cup. This year, perhaps more than any other, there is a crop of just a handful of potential heroes that are expected to be amongst the top contenders for this award. Here is a breakdown of those strikes and how we expect them to fare.

David Villa and Fernando Torres, Spain – The problem with the two Spanish strikers is that they may be taking away their own goals. True, Spain is going to have three relatively easy matches in the group stage, and true, both Torres and Villa could easily already have three goals under their belts in that time. However, the prospects of possibly sitting the third group stage match and running into either Brazil, Portugal, or Ivory Coast scares the heck out of us. Still, these two are going to be legitimate threats to claim the World Cup’s top scoring prize. (Continue reading)

The Golden Boot is the award handed out to the top goal scorer of the World Cup. There are a number of teams with strikers that may be single handedly asked to carry their teams deep into the tournament, and if any of these players end up on squads that reach the semifinals of the World Cup, they can steal the Golden Boot.

Arjen Robben, Netherlands – As one of the top goal-getters on one of the best offensive sides in the world, there is no doubting the fact that Robben is going to be a contender for the Golden Boot. His issue may be the advancement of the Dutch. The prospects are there to be running dab smack into the Italian defense in Round 2, and not only would that be a difficult match to find goals in, but it would most likely be the end of the road for La Oranje as well. If the Netherlands keeps winning, Robben becomes a favorite to win the honors. (Continue reading)

It’s not often that you see a team that makes it all the way into the World Cup Finals out of nowhere, but quite often, there are squads that can last all the way into the semifinals. And as was the case in Euro 2004 when Greece won the entire tournament, sporting miracles can occur. Take a look at our list of the teams that could be spoilers in this tournament just as South Korea, Turkey, and Croatia have been in recent World Cups.

United States – American soccer has been searching for glory since finishing in third place in the very first World Cup in 1930. The team does have a recent quarterfinal appearance under its belt from the South Korean tournament in 2002, but it finished with just one point in three matches in the group stage last year. Players like F Landon Donovan, GK Tim Howard, and F Jozy Altidore are signaling the next wave of US soccer, and though this may not ultimately be the last shot that the team has, age is going to catch up to it. Look for the US to make it into the quarterfinals and be a very, very dangerous team to try to knock out of this tournament. (Continue reading)