When we’re talking about Betting on the 2010 Football World Cup, this time we’re talking the other football, the football without pads, with a round ball, and where flopping is not only permitted, it’s encouraged. North Americans may be rolling their eyes but the excitement for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa is already growing at a feverish rate almost everywhere in the world, except of course in North America. While some sportsbooks sit back, others are leading the way.
In North America we have more important sports things on our agenda that come before we can even begin to think about the World Cup, let alone soccer. We have NFL free agency, March Madness, the NFL draft, the NBA and NHL Playoffs and pretty much anything other than soccer is on the agenda. But it shouldn’t be. The 2010 World Cup is simply another opportunity for sportsbooks and gaming sites to expand their client base.
North America is filled with a diverse shit mix of blending cultures and countries, many of which are being represented at the 2010 World Cup. Whether North Americans like to admit it or not, just because we’re not good at soccer, and we aren’t, though the U.S is on the rise, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care about it. In fact, soccer is actually the most popular sport in the world. All that means is that sportsbooks should be trying to capitalize on that market as soon as possible. Some sportsbooks don’t even have proper odds up, I mean come on, really? The World Cup will be the biggest global event of the year, countrymen will rise and show their true colors, dawn the flags of their nation and most importantly, they will bet on their teams to win.
I know I’ll be betting on the 2010 World Cup as will millions of others. Currently, but not surprisingly Brazil is the favored team to win the coveted title. It seems every time the world cup is held on African soil the Brazilians bring their A game. They will be in tough this year as they are in arguably the hardest pool with Portugal and Ivory Coast. Spain is also heavily favored to take the crown. After their magnificent showing at the European Cup they will be looking for world supremacy in South Africa. They should have no problems getting out of their pool with the Swiss, Chile and Honduras.
I already got my sleeper pick scoped out. Ghana baby. The Ghanaian team has its share of premier league stars including Chelsea’s Michael Essien. The Ghana Black Stars had a spirited showing recently at the African Cup, where they sent pretty much their B team, due to numerous injuries, and still managed to make the final before losing to Egypt, but beating rival Nigeria along the way. I have to believe that at least one African team is going to contend, and to me, it will either be Ghana or Cameroon, given that Ivory Coast is in the pool of death. England, Argentina and the defending champions, Italy are also among the favored to take the glorious crown.
It won’t take much for the United States to catch world cup fever, if that shockingly talented US squad wins their first game look out.
