PPH World Cup Betting -- Americans Must Sit and Wait After Tie with Portugal
Was it a heart-breaking ending for the United States soccer team, not to mention PPH World Cup bettors who had a nice price on them to win, on Sunday in Manaus?
Well, we won't know about that until Thursday, when Portugal faces off against Ghana in what is basically a must-win situation for them. That became the case in a blink of an eye when Silvestre Varela- headed a ball right past an unsuspecting Tim Howard and salvaged a 2-2 tie for the Portuguese in a game where the U.S. played valiantly but failed to take advantage of several scoring opportunities. Michael Bradley was much more assertive then he was in the opening win over the Black Stars of Ghana, but missed a couple right in front of the net.
WagerHome.com patrons probably can't fault U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann, however, especially with the game plan he employed against Portugal's Christiano Ronaldo. It was the consensus that if there was an Achilles heel for the Americans, it was going to be on defense, but the objective was to make things miserable for the reigning world player of the year, and that is exactly what they did. Ronaldo took some shots that were badly off, and his opportunities were severely limited. In fact, he was irrelevant.
That is, until extra time.
It is said by many soccer observers, not mention people betting the World Cup at WagerHome.com, that the mark of a great player is that if they can't beat you one way, they can beat you another way. And one can not imagine a more perfect pass than the one Ronaldo fed a cross to Varela. It looked like there was a magnet that was directing it to his head, and the inevitable happened. As it turned out, that was essentially the last play of the game, although frankly, who knows what suffices for exact time in soccer.
It will be easy for the U.S. to hang its collective head after that game, because it turns out hey were just seconds away from clinching a qualifying spot for the elimination round. Listen - few people expect that the Americans are going to beat Germany; indeed, in the moneyline that is provided at WagerHome.com they are +909 underdogs to win straight-up, so in all likelihood they are going to have to sweat out the Portugal-Ghana match.
If you want to do some handicapping by comparison, you can note that while Germany blew out Portugal 4-0, they had a real scare from the Ghanians, escaping with a 2-2 tie. And it would be a tough sell to say that Ronaldo, who has been nursing a bad knee, is at the peak of his physical capacity. So maybe things are looking up for the U.S. after all. By the way, in Thursday's World Cup betting moneyline at WagerHome.com, Portugal is +128 to win, with Ghana at +190 (the draw is +270).
A quick word about the Costa Rican team, since many of the people we work with are down there. They report bedlam in the streets after the Ticos recorded not one, but TWO major upsets in Group D, beating Uruguay (a 2010 World Cup semi-finalist) in the first game, and then Italy (the 2006 World Cup champion) in the second.
Some controversy ensued, as seven members of the team were tested for drugs after the match, while only two from Italy took tests. It sounded like FIFA felt the win was too hard to believe, and Diego Maradona, the Argentine legend who is watching from the sidelines, cried foul over FIFA's actions, intimating that they were discriminatory because Costa Rica doesn't represent a nation where there is necessarily a lot of sponsorship interest.
The boys from CR can win their group by beating England on Tuesday (Noon ET), and here is where the psychology gets dicey. England is not going anywhere, having lost their first two games. Costa Rica might want to give some guys a rest before the next round. Who will come into the game with more incentive? In the World Cup betting odds at WagerHome, England is a big favorite, priced at -202 to win while Costa Rica is +483.
Maybe people still don't believe.
As of the end of Monday's action at Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were the solid favorites to win their respective singles titles at Wimbledon. according to the PPH betting odds that have been posted at WagerHome. On the men's side, Djokovic is +135, with Scotland's Andy Murray, the defending champion, at +300, French Open champion Rafael Nadal at +400 and Roger Federer at +450. Everyone else is pretty much a longshot.
On the women's side, 32-year-old Serena is +125, with Maria Sharapova at +450, Petra Kvitova at +850, and a triumvirate at +1000 (Victoria Azarenka, Na Li and Agnieszka Radwanska). Venus Williams is priced at +4000 at WagerHome. She has won Wimbledon five times, but the last time was in 2008, which was also the last time she won a Grand Slam singles event. Serena has won 17 Grand Slams, including five Wimbledons of her own, the most recent being in 2012. Last year's champion, Marion Bartoli, has retired due to lingering injury issues. She is the first woman in 17 years not to come back and defend her title at the All-England Club, and says she doesn't regret it one bit.
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