Bet on it being a good night for Europe’s heavyweights

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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

Posted: March 3rd, 2010 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Slaven Bilic is now odds-on to take charge of Portsmouth

The final remaining Premier League vacancy may soon be filled*

Croatia boss Slaven Bilic is now the 4/5 favourite with Sky Bet to be named Portsmouth’s next manager after his agent confirmed the club had been in contact yesterday.

The prospect of a move increased further today when Andrea Gicic, a Croatian journalist and friend of Bilic, revealed that he would consider doing a Guus Hiddink-style job share until the World Cup qualifiers ended.

The former West Ham and Everton defender is highly-rated in the UK because of his team’s respectable performance at Euro 2008, which they qualified for at England’s expense. The fact that Croatia are struggling to even make the play-offs this time around is apparently irrelevant.

*Technically the Wigan post is still vacant, but it won’t be for long

Posted: June 10th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Bruno Alves loses his place on our Christmas card list

Porto captain ruins our 50/1 treble with a 93rd minute winner

When it comes to multiples betting, chickendinner is the ultimate pessimist, always wary of a late twist no matter how well everything appears to be going.

On Saturday however, even we started to believe our 50/1 treble of World Cup Qualifying draws had come up trumps. First Bulgaria and Ireland shared the spoils and shortly after Luka Modric equalised for Croatia to earn them a 2-2 home draw with Ukraine.

We were left anxiously waiting the final whistle in Albania’s clash with Portugal and as the score had stayed 1-1 from the 29th minute all the way through to the end of normal time, it really looked as if our unlikely treble was about to deliver a big profit. Unfortunately, Porto defender Bruno Alves popped up with a header in the 93rd minute to ruin our weekend.

Posted: June 8th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | 1 Comment

chickendinner go fishing for World Cup qualifying draws

Ireland, Portugal and Croatia are 50/1 to all draw with Bet365

England’s trip to Kazakhstan looks almost certain to end in an away win - England have won all five of their qualifiers, they’ve lost their last four - so we’ve diverted our attention elsewhere. Identifying multiple draws is a tough task but the rewards can be spectacular. There are three games where we think the spoils are there for the sharing and should all three miraculously come in, you will win £50.97 for a pound stake on Bet365:

Albania v Portugal (7/2): Portugal drew with Albania at home and have won none of their last four qualifiers, drawing three. They do have Luis Boa Morte back though!

Bulgaria v Ireland (7/3): Ireland have drawn their last two away qualifiers and drew at home to Bulgaria. The hosts have drawn four of their five.

Croatia v Ukraine (5/2): This one is a long shot because the only group game these sides have drawn so far came against each other in Kharkiv but neither of them have lost to anyone other than England.

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Posted: June 6th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | 1 Comment

Ferrer is a generous 2.44 to overcome Cilic in round three

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The first men’s seed-versus-seed encounter of this year’s Australian Open takes place tonight and surprisingly it’s the higher seed David Ferrer (2.44) who starts as the outsider against Croatia’s Marin Cilic [1.69]:

» Ferrer has reached round four at the last three Australian Opens and was eliminated by eventual winner Novak Djokovic in last year’s quarter-finals.

» The Spaniard struggled through the first round but found his rhythm in round two, easing past two-time quarter-finalist Dominik Hrbaty 6-2 6-2 6-1.

» Spooky coincidence alert! Ferrer was eleventh seed in 2006 when he faced a Croatian, Mario Ancic, in the third round and triumphed in straight sets.

Having trouble sleeping? You can watch all the show court action for free live on Betfair if you open an account. Click here to do that and claim a free £10 bet.

Posted: January 22nd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment