2010 FIFA World Cup Previews – Group E

2010 FIFA World Cup Previews – Group E

Group E contains the Netherlands, Denmark, Japan and Cameroon. The Dutch were the only European side to win all of their qualifying matches and will be looking to make short work of the group and go onto the knockout stage in style, will they be able to do so? How will the other three sides fare? BetRepublic.com previews the group here.

Outright Group Winner Odds : Soccer Betting Tip

Netherlands – 8/13

Cameroon – 4/1

Denmark – 4/1

Japan – 11/1

Group Qualification Odds:

Netherlands – 1/6

Cameroon – 10/11

Denmark – 6/5

Japan – 9/4

These odds were supplied by BetRepublic.

The Teams:

Outside of the top two teams in the FIFA world rankings (Brazil and Spain) Holland are probably the best equipped side to win the World Cup in South Africa. They won all eight of their qualifying matches averaging over two goals a game as they found the net on seventeen occasions and conceded just twice. They have history on their side, as the last side to win all of their World Cup qualifying games was West Germany in 1982 and they reached the final before going down 3-1 to Italy.

As well as this they have some outstanding talents in their squad, with an outstanding trio of midfield players in Arjen Robben, Rafael van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder. As well as this they have Arsenal strike Robin Van Persie back from injury and in form to find the net for them. The bookmakers have the Netherlands as favourites to win this group and I happen to agree with them.

Of the other three sides that make up the group the bookmakers have Cameroon favourites to progress ahead of Denmark, but only by a slight margin. Despite being the highest ranked African side at the finals, at nineteenth in the world, they have failed equal the achievements of the Cameroon side from twenty years ago that reached the Quarter Finals of Italia ’90 before being eliminated by England in extra time.

They have qualified for all but one of the World Cup finals since 1990, only failing to reach Germany in 2006 courtesy of a missed penalty in their final qualifying game, and have failed to progress from the group stages on all three occasions, winning just one match from the nine played. Should Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto’o be on form they will stand a chance of scoring goals and making the knockout stages, but a lot will rest on his shoulders.Denmark, the 1992 European Champions, have an excellent record at the World Cup.

South Africa will be the fourth occasion of them playing at the finals and they have reached the knockout stages on all three previous visits, reaching the Quarter Finals on two occasions. The Danes were drawn in Group 1 of the UEFA qualifying group alongside Portugal and Sweden and went on to top the group ahead of the Portuguese, losing just one game. Strangely Denmark are available at 125/1 to win the World Cup while Portugal are available at 22/1 despite Denmark beating them 3-2 in Portugal and holding them to a 1-1 draw in Denmark and clearly deserving of topping their qualifying group. Can Denmark continue their impressive World Cup form?

2010 FIFA World Cup Soccer Betting Tip

Japan are deservedly the outsiders to make progress from the group on their fourth successive showing at the World Cup finals. They qualified for the finals automatically after finishing second in the AFC final qualifying group behind Australia. Except for the 2002 finals, which they co-hosted with Korea, the Japanese side has failed to win a match. They won twice on home soil in 2002 and reached the last sixteen stage before being beaten 1-0 by Turkey. They will find it difficult to progress from what is a tough group.

Who will progress to the last sixteen stage?

The Netherlands are the deserved favourites to win the group because of their talented squad and their qualifying record. I’m in agreement with the bookmakers and I feel that the Dutch will progress as group winners. With regards to who will join them in the knockout stage, I will write out Japan firstly. They have an aging squad and have a poor record outside of Asia, and they may get a draw in one or two of the matches, but I cannot see them claiming a victory.

This just leaves Cameroon and Denmark. Cameroon will want to prove that they deserve to be ranked 19th in the world but I feel that Denmark are the better side, as proven by topping a qualifying group that contained Portugal and Sweden, and they have an excellent record of reaching the knockout stages at World Cup finals.

BetRepublic Recommends: Back the Netherlands to win the group @ 8/13 with Denmark to qualify @ 6/5.