Soccer World Cup Odds

European Champions Spain head the markets at a fairly restrictive best price of 5.50 with Centrebet. The Spanish, perennial underachievers at the big tournaments, stromed through to win the 2008 European Championships in some style. Since then, an unlucky loss to the USA in the Confederations Cup has been their only defeat, and they quite rightly are the favourites. But at 5.50, are not a betting proposition in Africa.

Brazil are next best at 6.00 with Sportingbet, followed by England at 6.50 with all the online betting agencies. A laughable price for a team that is probably odds on to get beat on penalties in the quarter finals. Diego Maradona is lucky to be going to South Africa after some horrible group performances from his Argentina side, and the 11.00 on offer with IASbet is probably fair. IASbet appear to be squeezing the prices on all the big teams, and are the worst price available for Spain, Brazil, England and Italy.

Australia's chances are correctly reflected in the 126.00 offered by Sportsbet, rather than the 81.00 offered by Centrebet. Especially for a team totally reliant on Tim Cahill to score their goals.

More interesting are Serbia, and the 67.00 available with Sportingbet. A nearly flawless qualifying campaign in a tough group will give the Serbians the confidence to progress from the same group as the Aussies and Ghana. After which they will most likely play the USA or Slovenia. And the Serbs are a class above both of those teams.