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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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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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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