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

USA may cause Italy problems as Group B gets underway

USA have a chance to prove they can challenge the “Big Three”

The standard of Group A - barring Spain of course - was perhaps even worse than we anticipated, so much so that there’s a possibility that no team other than the European champions will win a game there or potentially even score a goal. The opening Group B fixtures take place today and it should be more competitive, with both Brazil and Italy involved and Egypt and USA attempting to show that they are capable of springing a surprise:

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Brazil v Egypt
Holders Brazil have played in the last five tournaments and their aggregate score in opening fixtures over that time is 12-1. They have won their opener to nil on four occasions (3-0, 4-0, 2-0 and 3-0) with the one exception coming when they last kicked off against African opposition in 2003, losing 1-0 to Cameroon before going out in the group stage. Four of the last five

Posted: June 15th, 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

Spain are favourites to win the Confederations Cup

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Arguably the least prestigious tournament in international football gets going in South Africa this weekend and we still don’t really understand what’s at stake. All the continental champions and the World Cup holders are there but they aren’t fighting to be crowned the best team in the world. In fact, the only country who really stand to benefit are South Africa, who didn’t have to earn their place in the Con Cup and will gain experience of hosting an international tournament ahead of one that actually matters next summer.

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» The Con Cup participants are supposed to be eight of the best teams in the world but the bookmakers clearly don’t see it that way. There is a huge gap between the challengers and the also-rans in the winner’s market betting, with Spain, Brazil and Italy all 7/2 or less while the other five teams - South Africa, Egypt, USA, Iraq and New Zealand - are 20/1 or more.

» The chances of South Africa, Egypt, Iraq and New Zealand are dealt a further blow by the fact that no team from Africa, Asia or Oceania have ever won the tournament. USA won’t be too confident either because the only CONCACAF winners have been Mexico, when they hosted it a decade ago.

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

Eleven superfacts about the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

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» Favourites Norway were given a good draw - 20th out of 25 - for the final. In six of the last eight years, one of the final eight acts on stage have won.

» Nine of the last ten winners have sung in English, with the only exception being Serbia in 2007.

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» The last eight Eurovision Song Contests have all been won by countries who had never previously tasted victory. This year, Azerbaijan and Bosnia and Herzegovina are the pick of the nations never to have triumphed, although Malta and Iceland could also challenge.

Posted: May 15th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | 2 Comments