Germany and Italy are both available at odds greater than evens to beat Argentina and Cameroon tonight – meaning that a £10 double on the second and third most successful nations in World Cup history with Betfair tonight will return £37.10.
If you’re a bit of a daredevil and think that bet is a little too straight-forward then why not throw an away team into the mix?
Croatia had a poor World Cup qualifying campaign but still managed to pick up twice as many points as Belgium, so odds greater than 6/4 on Slaven Bilic and
After such a magnificent - or, if you want to get all French about it, magnifique - career as a footballer, no one will ever forget the time that Zinedine Zidane decided to impersonate a Scotsman saying hello to a giant, by landing one right in Marco Materazzi’s chest during the World Cup final.
It earned the great man a red card that day, but in a recent interview with El Pais, Zidane insists that he will never apologise to Materazzi for the inconvenience. In fact, he’d probably rather die:
World Cups can have a strange effect on players, just ask the slightly softer-around-the-middle of the two Ronaldos. He had a really weird one once. Followed by a brilliant one.
Anyway, in the run up to the next outing, The Spoiler will occasionally be pausing to allow a small doff of the cap to the players who have truly risen to the occasion, often never to be seen nor heard of again.
Sporadically over the next few months, The Spoiler shall be running a poll to see who YOU think is going to run away with this year’s World Cup. A hunch suggests that the closer the nation comes to the competition, the more swollen the support of England will become.
Spain look strong, and whoever makes it out of this year’s Group of Death (Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal) will surely be in with a shout. Plus you can never count out the likes of Germany, Italy and France.
But who would YOU throw your money on, were the tournament kicking off tomorrow? Let us know with a vote and a comment after the jump.
Back Italy to win next summer’s World Cup at 15.0 on Betfair
The Spoiler is not cruel enough to lie to you and pretend Italy are anything other than crap right now. However, they were just as awful before the 2006 World Cup, and at times during the tournament, but still wound up winning it.
Charlize Theron and friends kindly handed them a bye to the quarter-finals, partnering them with Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia in Group F and then offering a choice of Denmark, Cameroon or Japan as second-round victims.
They’ve only once lost a World Cup quarter-final - on penalties in 1998 to eventual winners France, who were on home soil - and can also proudly claim to be the only nation not called Brazil to have retained the World Cup.
If you’re one of those clued-up gambler types then this bet is even more ideal, as you can pile in on Italy now at 15.0 and then trade out for a tidy profit as soon as someone scary creeps up on them, most likely Carles Puyol and Spain.
Who are the 50 best players in the French top flight? We don’t know either but these guys do
( The Offside )
A Czech paper has offered a whole lot of shekels to encourage San Marino against Slovenia tonight. If the Slovenians win, the Czechs will be spending next summer on the beach.
( Off the Post )
Interestment round up the week’s international action
Fabio Cannavaro tries to suppress his laughter at his boss falling over
( Dirty Tackle )
Jamie Redknapp glows in this lovely jacket
( Kickette )
Its not just Manchester United who score late, by Danny Harris
Republic of Ireland were robbed of a credible draw at the weekend, after scoring late only to see their opponents Italy equalise with stunning impertinence.
After the jump, we choose our six favourite similarly chaotic upside-down closing stages:
Fabio Capello made his professional football debut as an eighteen-year-old, and has been a key figure in the beautiful game ever since. Had he not discovered his talent for kicking a piece of leather, and subsequent talent for telling other people how to kick a piece of leather, the manager would have taken an entirely different career path.
He told the Italian edition of Marie Claire:
‘If I had not become a footballer, I would have flown Boeings. Football is just a job to me. The three things I could not give up are my own home, my family and travelling.’
While a career in flying for the military would probably be unlikely for a man who needs to wear glasses, it would not be a problem for a commercial pilot flying Boeings. A career in the airline industry would also have helped Capello avoid the shine of the media spotlight. While he may enjoy the benefits of fame, being an anonymous citizen would have made it much easier to keep his penchant for massive tax evasion under wraps.
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