Saturday soccer punts!

So another weekend of football is here before things start winding down for the festive season. A last chance to make a few bucks.

I finally got around to open an account with Voltbet.com and was surfing around for something which offered a bit of value for punters.

The only international soccer bet which really jumps out at me is Spurs playing host to Chelsea and favouring the home side for a win.

Chelsea are going through a shocking run of form and just don't look like a team which is gelling. Spurs on the other hand appear to be riding high on self belief.

Voltbet are offering me 18/10 on Spurs which I think are tasty odds.

On the domestic front I am backing Kaizer Chiefs to beat Free State Stars but I think it should be a really entertaining game.

Happy punting.

Football Manager 2011

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FIFA 11

FIFA 11 reinvents player authenticity – on and off the ball – for every player and at every position on the pitch with Personality+, an all-new feature that sees individual abilities reflected in game, enabling clear differentiation for every player.

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You can buy this game online for for R433.76 (Xbox) by clicking HERE or on the game cover.

Roo-Turn

Maybe the cut-throat world of English football is very different from the world of social soccer, but I just don't get how anybody would want Wayne Rooney to play in their team after his antics this week?!

I've just been reading an article online where he supposedly ate "humble pie" and apologised to his team-mates and then they all went for lunch together.

WTF?!

If he was playing in a social club, the rest of the team would have pointed him to the exit and told him not to let the door hit him on the way out.

He has monopolised the media this week and had half the premiership speculating which club he was going to next. He's created doubt about his loyalty and made Sir Alex Ferguson look like a tit and then everything is supposed to be fine?

Is this really somebody you want representing you in the big games? Somebody who think he is more important than the team?

Rooney forgets that he is a success because the 25 other people in the squad are experts in their own position and they gel together as a team. If he was such a brilliant individual and could do it all on his own then why didn't England destroy everybody at the world cup?!

Precisely.....

Ke Nako Africa: 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa

Wow its amazing how quickly time flies by. A few short months ago we were celebrating one of the most successful World Cups of all time.

To remember all the good times that were had soccer fans all over the world will be able to own the legacy and embrace the essence of what the World Cup had to offer.

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Content featured on these DVDs include Live Performances by top musicians including Shakira, R Kelly and Freshly Ground, The Opening and Closing Ceremonies, Best Goals, Best Saves, Summaries of all games as well as the Final game.

You can buy the DVD for R152.95 by clicking HERE or on the book cover above.

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English Premiership is here!

Well the English Premiership is finally back in action this weekend and we thought it would be interesting to take a look at the betting especially with some world cup performances still fresh in our minds:

Chelsea and Manchester United remain the favorites and big-spending Man city are also proving surprisingly popular despite an average 2009 season.

Here is the pre-season betting as listed on World Sports Betting:

Last 16 - First match picks

And now we get to the business end of the World Cup as we move into the last 16.

First up we have Uruguay taking on South Korea and even though Uruguay is probably not particularly popular with the South African fans, I can't see them losing today.

We've backed

• Uruguay to win 2-0 - 7/1 odds


• First goal scorer - Diego Forlan - 7/2

In the second match up we're expecting the US to beat Ghana even though the bookies seem to think Ghana are perhaps slight favourites.

Scoreline wise we're expecting the US to win either 1-0 (6/1) or 2-0 (12/1) with Landon Donovan being the first goal-scorer.

USA USA USA USA USA!

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Planning to take a punt on the World Cup soccer matches? BWIN Sports Betting & Gaming Click Here

Should have expected more

Am I the only one to think that beating a 10-man France who had already had one foot on the plane to fly out last night is no big deal!?

I'm reading media reports about how Bafana Bafana "went out a high" and how "teary" coach Parreira is about leaving this post and how Aaron Mokoena is "not disheartened" by the performance of the national squad and I am just shaking my head trying to understand what the hell people are smoking.

"Going out on a high" is James Small in 1995 tackling a 120kgs of Jonah Lomu into touch and saying "I will not under ANY fucking circumstances let you think you are getting into this game or getting by me".

It is Graeme Smith walking out with his injured hand and hardly able to hold his cricket bat against the Australians to save the third test match.

From the 60th minute of the game yesterday, the game belonged to the French. They were the ones making the running while we ran out of ideas.

Make no mistake, this is one of the most expensively co-ordinated World Cup campaigns of all time and SAFA will be paying for it for years to come. I think it was the Mail & Guardian who ran a story not so long ago saying that the SAFA bank accounts are bare and were heavily dependant on some unpaid sponsorship contracts.

As for the captain of the side not being disheartened.... maybe this is the problem. Nobody was disheartened when we couldn't buy a win against African opposition in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers either. Maybe if we took these things a little more personally we would have more "gees" to win....

Updated World Cup betting

Wow it has been a fascinating World Cup so far and the glamour sides are certainly being given a run for their money by the underdogs. Argentina have surged in the betting following a convincing first fixture while Germany has also shortened. Surprisingly there is still betting support for England...

Here are some of the key events that have shaped week 1 of the tournament:

• England have been incredibly disappointing so far and maybe are cracking under the pressure. Their press have absolutely gone to town in ripping them to shreds. Facing a first-round exit behind Slovenia, Algeria and the USA
• Germany - brilliant in the first game and now possibly also going out in the first round as well after losing to Serbia. I still think these guys will go through but they have left themselves a lot to do against a Ghana that is on form
• USA have again been good value for money. I suppose it shouldn't be a total surprise considering how well they played in the Confed Cup
• Pre-tournament favourites Spain have lost to Switzerland and might have a tricky task getting into the top 2 in their group if Chile and Switzerland don't play according to script
• Portugal have the capacity to be stuffed by Brazil and the Ivory Coast
• France also looks like they're on an early trip back home - but like they say cheaters never prosper!

After a week of soccer here is the updated betting via World Sports Betting:

• Spain, Argentina and Brazil - 5/2
• England and Holland - 8/1
• Germany - 10/1
• Italy - 14/1
• Portugal - 30/1
• Ivory Coast, Mexico, Uruguay - 40/1
• Chile - 60/1
• Serbia - 70/1
• USA and Paraguay - 80/1
• Ghana - 100/1

I have to say USA at 80/1 isn't the worst odds around. They've shown good spirit, been well disciplined through the tournament and been one of the few sides who has been able to bounce back after going down early in a match.

Robert Green - sigh....

... if it is not David James dropping the ball or Paul Robinson fluffing clearances it is Robert Green dropping a ball shot straight at him!

Shame when English goalkeepers get it wrong they get it spectacularly wrong!

But in all fairness, one of the keepers was interviewed on TV the other day and he did warn that he thought there might be a few - and he said it "freak" goals - courtesty of the ball they have been using for the tournament.

I noticed it a bit in the Mexico game, the strikers were taking shots / crosses and almost trying to let the ball do the work and bobble around a bit. Khune at least proved up to the task.

Took a look at the betting this morning and England seemed to have slipped a bit after their perforance against the US while the Americans have actually shortened in the betting from 75/1 to 50/1. Interesting!

Will be interesting to see if there are any more "freak" goals in the next few fixtures.

Shame - being a goalkeeper you are on a hiding to nothing!

Betting for Sunday World Cup games

Australia were my early outside pick but the more I look at it the more unlikely it is that they will spring any kind of surprises this year.

Bearing in mind that I like Germany to go all the way to the final, it makes for today's fixture between the two as quite an interesting trade off.

I've backed the Germany to either win 1-0 (5/1) or 2-0 (11/2) when the two sides meet later today.

In the other fixtures for the day Algeria take on Slovenia. The bookies favour Slovenia slightly but I think there might be a bit of a surprise here and would be keen to take Algeria at 7/1 to win 1-0.

In the Serbia versus Ghana fixture I would lean toward Serbia where you can get 9/2 for a 1-0 win in favour of the Serbs.

Happy punting!

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US to surprise England tonight

Probably not a very popular pick but I reckon that the US is going to upset England in Rustenburg tonight.

I've put money down on:

The US winning (6/1)
1/0 US - 15/1
2/0 US - 35/1
2/1 US - 22/1

(Odds supplied by World Sports Betting)

The US has a BIG supporter contingent out here in South Africa and when they were for the Confed Cup last year they were full of running and skill and they pushed a lot of teams hard in getting to the final. They knocked out the World Cup favourities Spain (2:0) and they ran hard at Brazil taking a 2:0 lead before going down 2:3.

This US side can play and don't be surprised if they upset the applecart tonight especially when you consider that England have not had the best preparation for this tournament.

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Cash prizes up for grabs on SportsPicks.co.za

With a little over 48 hours until the kick off of the 2010 World Cup SportsPicks cash prizes have been announced.

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If you have not entered yet get to www.sportspicks.co.za to enter now and then mail your mates and make sure they add you as a referrer.

World Cup betting updated

There are four days to go until the Fifa 2010 World Cup kicks off and already we have had high drama. Rio Ferdinand and Didier Drogba are out and believe it or not Bafana Bafana are even winning games.

Betting wise there have been some shifts. Here are the latest from World Sports Betting:

Spain - 4/1
Brazil - 9/2
England - 6/1
Argentina - 13/2
Holland - 8/1 (a lot of money has come in here in the last few days)
Germany - 12/1
Italy - 14/1
France - 18/1
Portugal - 25/1
Ivory Coast - 45/1
Serbia - 66/1
Mexico - 70/1
Chile - 75/1
USA - 75/1

Apart from my patriotic pick of Bafana Bafana at 100/1 my other outside bet was Australia - 125/1 otherwise I'm pretty sure Brazil will do the business.

The other two outside punts that look like they offer half decent value are Germany and maybe Chile?

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What the hell is wrong with Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates?!

I don’t follow South African football much. I pinned my flag to Sundowns a few years back simply to be different but I don’t follow the teams and players particularly closely.

Today the two “powerhouses” of South African soccer – Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates – went head to head for the third time in the season and again produced a goal-less draw. Pirates then missed their first three penalty attempts after extra time while Chiefs sunk theirs, putting Chiefs into the final.

Apparently that is 300 minutes of soccer where these two teams have failed to score against one another.

In the league this year Chiefs finished third, six points off the log leader Supersport while Pirates finished in fifth place with a goal difference of just eight. In fact – of the top 11 sides, Pirates scored the fewest goals.

What the hell is up with these two teams? They are supposed to be the crown jewels of South African football and one would have thought that would involve scoring goals and entertaining their massive supporter bases?

Telkom Knock-out - Kaizer Chiefs versus Pirates

There is an interesting game on the go as the old Derby of South African football gets played out again as Orlando Pirates and Kaizer chiefs go head to head in the Telkom knockout on Monday.

I’ve had horrific luck backing either of these sides to a win and neither side has exactly set the domestic league alight.

However I got 7/1 and 9/1 on either side winning 1-0 or 2-0 so its tempting from that perspective. Went each way with these scores.

Will see what comes from it!

Premiership selections

Some VERY interesting match-ups this weekend with all eyes on the Chelsea vs Manchester United fixture probably going to be a humdinger and in all likelihood a decider for the Premiership. With Rooney not expected to take the field its got to be in Chelseas favour.

Our other left field pick is that Birmingham will beat Liverpool...

Our picks for the weekend

• Chelsea to beat Manchester United (2-0/3-0 with Anelka as the first goalscorer)


• Arsenal to beat Wolves (3-0)


• Aston Villa to beat Bolton (2-0 with Milner as first goal-scorer)


• Portsmouth vs Blackburn - No prediction


• Hull to beat Stoke (1-0)


• Spurs to beat Sunderland - 2-0 / 3-0


• Man City to beat Burnley - (3-0)


• Birmingham to beat Liverpool


• Fulham to beat Wigan - 1-0


• Everton to beat West Ham - 2-0 / 3-0

Happy punting!

Planning to take a punt this weekend?

BWIN Sports Betting & Gaming Click Here

Chelsea got lucky

Aston Villa had Chelsea on the run for probably 90% of that game…

….the only time they had any kind of let-up was when they caught their breath while Jon Carew was taking the penalty!

I thought Villa played well, kept Chelsea thinking hard about where goals 5, 6 and 7 were going to come from.

Before Chelsea fans get all excited, its part of a well thought out Villa plan to lull The Blues into a state of cockiness so when we play them in the FA Cup semi-final on 10 April. Then we will have our revenge.

Plus we also now know that their keeper is weak against penalties.

Like Julius Malema and his mines story I remain ever-confident!

Liverpool are in trouble

It is one of the most anxiously awaited fixtures of the 2010 English Premiership season and one of those match ups which brings out the best and worst of fans.

That's right - it's the Manchester United vs. Liverpool derby match up ... and we have bad news for Liverpool fans - your side is on a hiding to nothing.

We have gone high on goals with predictions of 3/0 or 4/0 and higher in favour of Manchester United.

Our reasons for this are simple – Liverpool are in diasrray and one gets the sense that they are more worried about stuff that is happening off the field while United are keeping a very keen eye on the prize – especially after Chelsea got bumped out of the Champions League earlier this week.

Expect Manchester United to be absolutely clinical this afternoon.

We got nice odds of 7/1 and 10/1 on these picks so we’re quite happy with the risk and reward trade off.

Planning to bet on this fixture?

BWIN Sports Betting & Gaming Click Here

Betting on European knock out rounds updated

In the Europa League we fancy two “outsiders” here in the form of Fulham and Atletico Madrid. Fulhams thumping of Juventus will have given them a lot of confidence and they’ve got the easier of the draws. Betting at the moment stands as follows and you can see why we like these two from a risk and return perspective:

Liverpool – 3/1
Hamburg – 4/1
Valencia – 4/1
Benfica – 6/1
Wolfsburg – 7/1
Atletico Madrid – 8/1
Fulham – 10/1
Standard – 16/1

In the UEFA Champions League, our two picks (Inter Milan and Barcelona) continue to chug on and both have got interesting match ups in the quarterfinals in the forms of CSKA Moscow and Arsenal. I think it is still reasonable to say that they are both favourites to win these match ups.

The problem from here is that if they do progress from here, they will end up knocking one of them out of the competition in the semis… Oh well I guess that’s the nature of the beast!

BWIN Sports Betting & Gaming Click Here

Fulham to beat Juventus tonight?

There are a couple of interesting games up this evening in the UEFA Europa League.

• Fulham vs Juventus
• Marseille vs Benfica
• Standard Liege vs Panathaniakos
• Verder Bremen vs Valencia
• Anderlecht vs Hamburg
• Liverpool vs Lille
• Sporting vs Atletico Madrid

Our picks for the evening

• Liverpool to beat Lille (2-0 / 3-0)
• Fulham to beat Juventus (1-0 / 2-0)
• Atletico Madrid to beat Sporting (1-0 / 2-0)
• Marseille to beat Benfica (1-0 / 2-0)

BWAHAHAHAHAH

… assuming you are not a Liverpool fan of course!

What is the difference between Liverpool and a wonder bra? Liverpool has all the support but no cups!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA gotta admit that’s funny. I wonder if they are going to win tonight?!

At the moment it looks like it has settled into a two-horse race with Manchester United and Chelsea now slugging it out for the English Premiership. So maybe Arsenal third, Aston Villa fourth, Spurs fifth and Liverpool a lowly sixth?!

Spurs vs Blackburn

Fancy a punt on the English Premiership this weekend? This looks like it could offer some value for money:

BWIN Sports Betting & Gaming Click Here

Tottenham host Blackburn this afternoon in an English Premiership match at White Heart Lane. Spurs are sitting 4th on the log with a positive goal difference of 23 while Blackburn are sitting an uninspirational 12th with a negative goal difference of -15.

Spurs are obviously the favourites to win and you can get 5/1 odds on them winning 2-0 with World Sports Betting.

But if you think Spurs have the ability to score more than 2 goals you are being offer 70/1 on 3-0 and 100/1 on 4-0 / 4-1 or higher…

Goals on the cards in Spurs vs. Villa fixture

The Mighty Mighty Aston Villa are up against Spurs tonight in a fixture that has a lot of promise with both sides pushing for European qualification.

My prediction is that there are going to be a lot of goals in this match up and the odds look really attractive for those with a risky appetite:

From World Sports Betting:

• 2-2 (15/1)
• 3-1 (18/1)
• 3-2 (25/1)
• 2-3 (35/1)

I’ve put a few bucks down on each of these permutations.

Come on Villa you good thing!

That's not right

I see that Togo have been banned from the next two AFCON cups in 2012 and 2014 because they elected to pull out of the 2010 event.

That’s a bit harsh considering they had just been mown down by AK47 wielding terrorists who happened to kill two of their delegations when their bus was ambushed in Angola.

If you get attacked away from home and you watch a couple of team-mates get carted off in either bodybags or evacuated in medical helicopters, you probably do want to head home. It’s not been a good day at the office.

And now CAF is banning them from participating in the next two tournaments because the decision was taken by their political masters?

Yes I get that the precedent was set by Nigeria in 1996 and there is an economic cost to lose a team, but it hardly sounds practical considering these circumstances. I also get that the reason for the ban is for the political ” interference” as opposed to the players wanting to leave because of emotional anguish, but the long term damage that is done to Togo’s football by excluding them from a national tournament will be far-reaching.

EPL picks

Another big weekend of Premiership soccer is here with the Arsenal vs. Manchester United game likely to be a season -defining moment for these two powerhouses.

It has been a good premiership season with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United all pushing eachother hard – been quite enjoyable from a punters perspective as well with some nice upsets and some really competitive fixtures.

I’m slightly in favour of Manchester United but its tough to rule out home-ground advantage for The Gunners. We’re calling either 1-1 or 1-2 to United

Here are our picks for the weekend:

Saturday fixtures
Birmingham vs Tottenham – Draw (1-1)
Fulham vs Aston Villa – 0-1 or 0-2 to Villa
Hull vs Wolves – 1-0 to Wolves
Liverpool vs Bolton – 2-0 or 3-0 to Liverpool
West Ham vs Blackburn – 1-0 West Ham
Wigan vs Everton – 1-1 or 1-2
Burnley vs Chelsea – 0-2 or 0-3 to Chelsea

Sunday Fixtures
Man City vs Portsmouth – 1-1
Arsenal vs Manchester United – 1-1 or 1-2 to United
Sunderland vs Stoke – 1-1

Hahah poor Liverpool

I meant to post this earlier today but got a little caught up.

Last night after Liverpool went down to Reading I saw some pearlers on Facebook and Twitter.

However none of them beat this comment I saw on Twitter:

"I wouldn't let Liverpool walk my dog. They can't hold on to a lead."

AFCON predictions

I haven’t followed African football too closely but with the AFCON cup here I thought I’d take a look at the betting and see if there was any value bets floating around.

Two bets jumped out at me – Egypt (8/1) and Nigeria (7/1) on World Sports Betting looks like they offer some value. The only snag I see is that they are both in the same group, hopefully they don’t do eachother some damage.

It looks like a pretty open tournament with Ivory Coast the favourites at 2/1, Cameroon 4/1 and Ghana 5/1 followed by my picks.

Wake up Africa

Last night reports came in that the Togo football team had been attacked on their team bus as they arrived in Angola. Apparently millitants sprayed their bus with machine gun fire killing the driver and injuring a couple of the players and their support staff.

In a year where Africa is finally going to host a World Cup, this is the last kind of media attention that the continent needs.

Yes, for those who have some education, there is a huge difference between South Africa and Angola, but for first time visitors to the continent, much of it is tarred with the same brush.

Not so long ago, a similar attack occured in Pakistan on the Sri Lankan cricket team. The impact on Pakistani cricket is still being felt today with many international teams refusing to tour the region because of security concerns.

It irritates the hell out of me when I read about attacks on sports teams. These are international ambassadors with NO POLITICAL intent beyond playing a game which ultimately unites a country (hopefully behind their home team). Yet to make a statement we then see if we can kill people who are doing your country a favour and hopefully giving a bit of economic impetus to already fragmented businsess.

Wake up Africa.

Africa Cup of Nations

Calling all Soccer fans,

The Africa Cup of Nations tournament kicks off on Sunday 10 January with hosts Angola taking on Mali in the opening game of Africa's football spectacle. Our SuperScore prediction game gets you closer to the action by allowing you to predict the score for each of the 32 Afcon matches.

This is your chance to show off your football knowledge and win prizes with SuperScore. All you have to do is predict the result of each game with points available for correctly predicting the match result, exact team score and margin points for coming within a goal of the final scores.

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Good luck!

Super Dream Teams

How does it go...?

I must not mock the Manchester United fans, I must not mock the Manchester United fans...
I must not mock the Manchester United fans, I must not mock the Manchester United fans...
I must not mock the Manchester United fans, I must not mock the Manchester United fans...I must not mock the Manchester United fans, I must not mock the Manchester United fans...
I must not mock the Manchester United fans, I must not mock the Manchester United fans...
I must not mock the Manchester United fans, I must not mock the Manchester United fans...
I must not mock the Manchester United fans, I must not mock the Manchester United fans...
I must not mock the Manchester United fans, I must not mock the Manchester United fans...
I must not mock the Manchester United fans, I must not mock the Manchester United fans...
I must not mock the Manchester United fans, I must not mock the Manchester United fans...I must not mock the Manchester United fans, I must not mock the Manchester United fans...

Hehehhe well done Leeds, you gave me something to laugh about this afternoon... Maybe I should put some $$$ down on you guys to go all the way in the FA Cup