World Cup hosts South Africa won’t suffer a group stage exit

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Today’s bet is fairly simple. Back South Africa at 15/8 to get through World Cup Group A - where they are joined by disjointed France, aging Mexico and so-bad-they-were-outclassed-by-Maradona’s-Argentina Uruguay.

The main reason to fancy them is that no World Cup host has ever failed to

Posted: January 21st, 2010 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Five reasons why England can regain the Ashes this summer

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Despite being whitewashed in Australia, England are just 3.35 on Betfair to regain the Ashes. The reason for the rather short price, beyond patriotic punting, is that Australia have lost some big names while Andrew Strauss’ men are much harder to beat at home. Here are five reasons to be optimistic:

1. Since Australia last won the Ashes away from home in 2001, England have contested 15 home series. Of those they have won ten, drawn three and lost just two, boasting an aggregate test score of 30-8.

2. That contrasts with England’s poor form prior to Australia’s last win here in 2001. Ahead of that, England had won just six of the last 15 series they had hosted and had a negative aggregate test score of 18-20.

3. Prior to the last six Ashes series, Australia had won at least four of their previous five test series. This year they arrive in nowhere near as convincing

Posted: July 1st, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | 2 Comments

Five stats to help you bet on the Confederations Cup Final

USA/Brazil, Sunday 7.30pm, BBC Three, Best Odds, Free Bets

The reaction of the American media to their national side ending Spain’s 35-game unbeaten streak may have been unbearable but it would have been just as bad - if not worse - over here if England had done it. The USA have brought excitement to this pretty meaningless tournament over the past week and after watching Brazil stumble past South Africa last night in the other semi-final, they will fancy their chances of winning it. The bookies don’t though and some of the trends make it easy to see why:

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1. Brazil have won 14 of their 15 matches against USA (one after extra-time). The USA’s one win over the holders came in the 1998 Gold Cup Final, with former Everton winger Predrag “Preki” Radosavljevic scoring the winner.

2. USA haven’t scored against Brazil in three previous Confederations Cup meetings, with Dunga’s side beating them 1-0 in 1999 and 2003 and winning 3-0 against them last Thursday.

Posted: June 26th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

USA are 7/2 to win the Confederations Cup after beating Spain’s invincibles

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chickendinner might not understand the purpose of the Confederations Cup but there’s no doubt that the USA have made sure it’s worth watching.

Four days ago they pulled off the six-goal swing needed to qualify from Group B having looking dead and buried and last night T-Ho, JdeM, C-Demp and the gang denied Spain the chance to extend their unbeaten run to 36 games, which would have set a new record in international football.

With Spain applying a lot of pressure, the Americans were still available at evens right before their second goal but memories of the European

Posted: June 25th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Six reasons why the Lions can win the series in South Africa

Ian McGeechan could lead the British and Irish Lions to glory

Despite some impressive results so far on their South African tour, the British and Irish Lions are still 3.95 on Betfair to win their series against the Springboks, which starts on Saturday. Here’s why we think it’s worth having a punt on them:

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1. The Lions won on their last tour of South Africa in 1997, triumphing in the first two tests to take the series with a game to spare.

2. Appointing Limerick-born Paul O’Connell as captain was a wise move. The last time the Lions’ travelled to South Africa with an Irish captain - Willie John McBride in 1974 - they whitewashed the Springboks.

3. Head coach Ian McGeechan has led the Lions on three previous tours with a lot of success. He was in charge in 1989 when they came from behind to beat Australia and took New Zealand to a decider in 1993, ten years after the Lions were thrashed 4-0 by them. His last tour was the South Africa won in 1997 when he masterminded victory over the reigning world champions.

Posted: June 16th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Spain are 1/12 to win on their Confederations Cup debut

New Zealand aren’t likely to end Spain’s long unbeaten run

Even though we’ve questioned the importance of the Confederations Cup, we’re grateful for any football that we can watch live on TV over these barren months. Here are some statistics on both matches taking place on Sunday:

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South Africa v Iraq
The opening match in this showcase of the world’s greatest footballing nations pits Iraq, who are below Wales in the world rankings and lost 4-0 to Oman earlier this year, against South Africa, who only qualified for the tournament as hosts, have never been past the group stage at the World Cup and failed to qualify for next year’s African Cup of Nations. South Africa have won six of the last seven games that they’ve hosted and home advantage should prove enough to overcome an Iraq side who will be marking the one-year anniversary of their last win on Sunday - 2-1 away to China.

Posted: June 12th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment