Do you want to make a ton of money on next month’s World Cup with little investment? Why not take a $10 flier on the tournament championship game to eventually pit Brazil against Team USA? Such an outcome pays out 100/1, according to Sportsbook.com, so your ten bucks can turn into a grand over the course of a few short weeks. Beat that stock market! Now, the catch is the Yanks have to reel of an unprecedented run in World Cup play to get to a final. After all, the Yanks are 66/1 to win the whole thing and still 28/1 to even make it to the final game. So dont go spending that grand just yet. But, if you must bet the World Cup, and if your jingoistic side demands some investment in the Good ‘Ole USA, then there are plenty of more reasonable, more winnable games out there to play. None will pay off as juicy as the above 100/1 shot, but these would actually have a chance at winning. That’s a fair trade off, right? Anyway, lets take a look at some of the basic bets and odds available on the United States in the 2010 World Cup.
Even though their first game remains more than a couple of weeks away, you can already place on bet on any of the three Team USA games in group play. Actually, every single game in all eight of the groups are already on the big board, so if you like a particular matchup, go ahead and play it now before the odds change. For now, lets just focus on the three matches involving the Yanks.
Team USA opens their World Cup pursuit with a juicy match against England on the second day of the whole tournament. A rivalry that dates back to Lexington and Concord manifests itself on soccer’s brightest international stage, giving the opening days of the event some buzz from some of world’s biggest media epicenters. In the realm of soccer, however Team USA’a history against England is spotty at best. Even if it did occur in a World Cup match, its never good when your best moment against a rival occurred more than half century ago when the Yanks topped the Three Lions in the 1950 event. America didnt even qualify for the event for the next 40 years and, outside of that 1950 victory, they havent really beaten England. The last two matches between the two, England cruised to wins. The odds reflect that history. America is 5/1 to beat England in this match. To put that in perspective, thats a better payout than you can get with upset wins by Chile over Spain, Greece over Argentina, Serbia over Germany and Ivory Coast over Brazil. In this match, a draw plays out 2.8 to 1, while on an English win you must wager 188 to win 100 on the -188 moneyline.
The Yanks are favored in each of their other two matches in group play. In their second game against Slovenia, Team USA still pays out better than even odds for a win. A win nets a +115 payout. Hey now, at least thats better than laying juice and losing. This is expected to be a tight game as a Slovenia win only pays out 2.2 to 1. In a game with such tight odds between the teams to win, you think a draw would be chalk, yet at 2.3/1 an even game actually has the biggest payout in this match. Based on that, I’m guessing there are nuances to grasping soccer lines that a novice like myself cant even begin to unravel at this point. In Game 3, the Americans are a slightly juicy -145 to win against the Algerians. A draw is 2.5/1 while an Algeria win pays out at 3.75 to 1.
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