Trading Talk ? South Africa 2010 World Cup Preview
Spread bettors up and down the country are united in their anticipation for the 2010 World Cup. Punters are no doubt itching to get stuck in on Sporting Index’s myriad spread markets on every single game as well as the tournament as a whole. To whet the appetite, the firm have already got a number of spread markets live, including the outright index which awards 100pts to the tournament winner, 75pts to the runner-up, 50pts to the losing semi-finalists, 25pts to the losing quarter-finalists and 10pts for reaching the last 16.
Spain are favourites according to their outright spread of 43-46pts and buyers will hope that the side can keep star strikers Fernando Torres and David Villa fit. Sellers will be hoping that Vincente del Bosque’s side are unable to emulate France and win consecutive major international tournaments, following up their 2008 European Championships triumph. Spread sellers will also be pleased that no European team has ever lifted the trophy outside their own continent. Second favourites Brazil, currently at 40-43pts on the outright index spread, have had no such problems. The Samba Kings have claimed World football’s top prize in Europe and Asia as well as North, Central and South America. Spread buyers will hope Dunga’s side can add another with victory in Africa.
Sporting Index have also made their eight outright group markets live this far in advance of the tournament allowing spread punters to challenge their traders’ predictions on which teams will escape from the three-game group stage to the last 16 knockout. In these spread markets, 25pts are awarded to the group winner, 10pts to the runner-up and 5pts to third place, and few would dispute the index spreads assigned to most teams. There are a number of tough groups though and spread buyers and sellers will be relying on these for the best returns. Group A features the hosts South Africa alongside Mexico and France. With an index spread of 15-16.5pts, Les Bleus are favourites to win the group, but spread sellers will remember a disastrous attempt at the defence of their crown in 2002, when they finished bottom of their group. Mexico, with a spread of 8.5-10pts, have reached the knockout stages in each of the last four tournaments.
Brazil share the best candidate for ‘group of death’, Group G, with North Korea (0.5-2pts), Ivory Coast (9.5-11pts) and Portugal (10-11.5pts). Assuming Brazil are most likely to top the group, spread buyers and sellers are fairly evenly split on the other group members.
In England at least, the World Cup can hardly get mentioned without the image of a white-shirted captain (whoever it may be) flitting across spread bettors’ minds for the briefest of moments. Sellers of Capello’s side’s outright spread at 39 hope the team will again get no further than the quarter-final stage – the round which they have reached in the previous two competitions. Sporting Index are also offering a number of England tournament specials to satisfy patriotic (or otherwise) spread punters including spreads on the total number of goals the team will score, currently at 10.3-11, and their number of wins, set at 3.4-3.7.
