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The 2010 World Cup is just about to start and it’s a great time to open a few online betting accounts. That’s because the bookmakers want your business during this summer of football and are offering customers some excellent introductory offers as a result.

Over at bet365, new customers can qualify for a 100% matched bonus up to £200 when they sign up which immediately doubles your betting balance for the World Cup. When it comes to betting on the outright market, there is a promotion called ‘Penalty Payback’ which means your stake is refunded if your team are knocked out in South Africa on spot-kicks.

That could mean we visit this bookie when it comes to backing Spain, considering that the only way that any team might beat the Red Fury is by taking them to a penalty shoot-out.

Bet365 also have the Bore Draw offer available, where losing stakes are refunded on the First Goalscorer, Anytime Goalscorer, Correct Score and Half-Time / Full-Time markets if the match ends goalless.

Meanwhile, Ladbrokes have a tremendous opening offer where you simply have to bet £5 on any World Cup market and you’ll get £25 in free bets. As you might expect, the Magic Sign are offering a wide range of betting opportunities for this huge event and will also be covering every match In-Play.

As usual, Paddy Power are providing punters with plenty of extra value when it comes to betting on the 2010 World Cup. For starters, you can get a free £25 bet when you register with this excellent bookmaker and place £25 or more on any market.

In addition, Paddy Power will be offering a range of cashback promotions throughout the tournament and they have a cracker for the England v USA match on Saturday 12th June. Wayne Rooney is the great hope for the Three Lions and if the Manchester United striker scores in the game, all losing first goalscorer, correct score and scorecast singles will be refunded.

Sky Bet are giving England supporters every reason to open a betting account as they will refund all losing stakes on the outright market if Fabio Capello’s team win the 2010 World Cup. With a fairly easy path through to the semi-finals, it could turn out to be an expensive promotion for this particular bookmaker!

Sporting Bet are also offering new customers a free £25 bet when they sign up, while Boylesports offer £1 million to any customer who can correctly predict the outcome of the World Cup groups and knockout stages. You can also get a free £20 bet with this firm when you sign up.

Blue Square are commemorating the winning England team of 1966 by offering £66 worth of free bets to all new customers, something that’s available in a ‘hat-trick’ format. They are also celebrating the World Cup by offering a hat-trick of daily specials and, at the time of writing, you can get 33/1 on Portugal winning the tournament.

Just click on any of the above bookmaker links to make sure you get the very best offers!

It’s amazing how many people I’ve met recently who fancy Argentina to win the 2010 World Cup. The milkman, the postman, two blokes I play golf with, the lady who works at the Post Office and my pet rabbit all seem to think that the Albiceleste will land the spoils, something which would make Diego Maradona the second person to win this competition as player and manager.

William Hill currently offer a best price of 13/2 that Lionel Messi and Co win the World Cup, although personally I think this bet is as mad as Diego himself. Yes, you can point to the raft of brilliant strikers in the squad, although the decision to leave out Esteban Cambiasso is criminal and let’s not forget that the south American team struggled in qualifying.

Let’s instead cut to the chase and make it clear that Spain are the team to beat in South Africa this summer.  Never mind whether Fernando Torres is fit, it shouldn’t matter considering how much quality exists within the squad. Now that David Villa has been signed, the entire team will have a Barcelona backbone and that should mean plenty of ball retention and goals.

Bet365’s 4/1 should be snapped up (even if Vicente Del Bosque’s team have previously been a bigger price), especially as this bookmaker are offering your stake back if they go out penalties.

The other team worth backing for a decent sized stake is Holland. This is another team who are good at keeping possession, something which should be to their advantage at high altitude. While the Netherlands’ defence isn’t as strong as the Spanish, the attacking players should ensure that the pressure is taken off the rearguard and the defensive midfield capabilities of Mark Van Bommel and Nigel De Jong shouldn’t be underestimated.

The Dutch are 10/1 with Ladbrokes at the time of writing and it appears as though Arjen Robben might make a miraculous recovery from a hamstring strain to play a part at the World Cup. Along with Wesley Sneijder, he can supply plenty of ammunition for a dangerous Robin Van Persie.

We shouldn’t get too excited about a Brazil team which are a far cry from the days of Pele, Jairzinho, Careca, Garrincha, Romario and Bebeto. Manager Dunga is very much all about safety-first and bet365’s 9/2 is probably a touch short. As for England, there are 101 reasons why we shouldn’t touch the Three Lions with a barge pole and the bookmakers are starting to drift their price out steadily. William Hill are one of many offering 8/1 about Wayne Rooney and Co.

It’s not so much the injury to captain Rio Ferdinand, or the fact that Gareth Barry is recovering from ankle ligament damage that’s the problem. However, the team simply don’t keep hold of the ball and seem unable to move it around at pace. Attacking moves appear stifled and the inclusion of Emile Heskey suggests that Fabio Capello is fully prepared to resort to Plan B and lump it to the big man as soon as Plan A stops working.

2010 FIFA World Cup Betting Preview and Tips: How much does World Cup history play a part in what happens today? Can the annals of the World Cup influence where you lay your money on the Outright Winner of the 2010 FIFA World Cup? In World Cup history, the general rule is that any team which is unfancied at the start of the tournament, will not make it past the semi finals. That is a prime example of how tough it is to win the World Cup, and even in tournaments past, the champions of Europe have not particularly fared too well when going to the world stage. European Champions Spain, this time around, are probably in a stronger position than ever before of the European Champions, and betting on Spain at the World Cup will continue to flourish. Here we take a look at some of the factors, which should be considered in betting strategies for the World Cup.

Title Retention
Usually the act of retaining a trophy or title comes into play, just because it is such a difficult thing to do. In the case of the 2010 World Cup, Italy are one of the two teams ever to have done it (Brazil of course being the other). Because of how hard it is to replicate success in a row, it may push Italy further out in the odds. That doesn’t mean they should be discounted completely, it just a matter of weighing up World Cup Stats. Is retaining a title harder than winning it for the first time?

Number of World Cup Winners
Eighteen World Cups and just seven winners. This stat alone is something which should send you running to nobody else than outright favourites, Spain. But of course, in order for there to be seven winners, it means that there has been a new name has appeared on the trophy six other times than the original winners, Brazil. So of course, it does happen, however rare in the grand scheme of the tournament. The strong Spaniards are seemingly in pole position to make this rare event happen again. Will Spain become the eighth nation to win the World Cup? They do have one major piece of World Cup history to overcome, as explained in the next section:

Continental Tired?
Home advantage really does count for something. In the history of the World Cup there has only been one winner who has triumphed outside of their home continent. That was five time winners Brazil, naturally, and factors such as extra home support, altitude and the prestige of being the home nation, does make a difference. Is that all set to change again, with the tournament being held on the African continent for the first time? The African teams participating in the World Cup don’t seem to have what it takes to win the tournament, and yes, Spain are favourites, but a European team has never won outside of Europe. Does the continental shift give an advantage to the strongest of the African sides, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Ghana? It’s heading into the winter season in South Africa, and the cold climate could tip things in the favour of the European teams. But what of the hosts South Africa? Well they come under serious scrutiny in the next titbit of history.

Home Nation Pressure
The home nation has never failed to make it to the second round. So is this one good, outside World Cup bet to take notice of? This all falls on the shoulders of host nation South Africa to keep up appearances, and they are definite outsiders to do just that. The odds are long, as South Africa are out at 2/1 at Bet365 to Qualify from Group A which has France, Uruguay and Mexico. The Bafana Bafana clearly are not going to win the World Cup, but can they at least reach the second round from a group which is clearly not one of the strongest groups in the tournament. Will they be able to emulate what the unfancied South Korea did on their home turf a couple of World Cups ago, when they reached the semi finals?

Length of the Tournament
This is something which definitely gets overlooked when weighing up a World Cup bet. In order for a team to win the World Cup, there are seven matches which need to be negotiated safely. While an early slip up in the group stages can be covered up by other teams and their results, once teams hit the knockout stage of the second round, it is glory or bust. Invariably from that point on, there will be tough opposition, and endurance and consistent talent will come into play. This is why only the cream of the crop really do rise to the top on the World Stage. Think of how the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United are able to push for the top of the Barclays Premier League year after year. Underdogs can pull off shock results, but can they pull off enough of them to win the tournament? Unlikely.

Current World Cup Outright Odds
Spain 4/1 at Skybet
Brazil 5/1 at Bet365
England 7/1 at Bwin
Argentina 15/2 at Sporting Bet

World Cup Betting Tips
Betting may not be the most exciting when trying to pick an outside winner. Spain and Brazil are favourites in World Cup betting for very good reason. The closest two to them in terms of World Cup Odds are England and Argentina. England are not excepted to have the quality in depth, especially if Wayne Rooney can’t play. As for Argentina, they have the talent, but look disorganised and struggled through qualification. The inexperience and perhaps irrationality of coach Maradona may put them at a disadvantage. The gulf between the top two and the rest of the competitors is clearly there to see at the online bookmakers. Proof of how hard it is to win the World Cup, and a hint perhaps where your World Cup betting should lie.

With no side from Europe having won the tournament outside of the continent, things could be edging towards Brazil. But fortunately your World Cup betting is not limited to just the Outright Winner Market. Over the month long tournament you can pick up on things like Live In-Play betting, Score casts, First Goalscorer, Group Winners, To Qualify and much, much more. Look out for World Cup Free Bet Promotions to further your enjoyment of betting on the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Last Friday, 32 nations discovered their fate as the draw for next summer’s World Cup took place in Cape Town. Never before has the draw received so much attention, with the media keen to identify ‘Groups of Death’, despite the fact that every team playing in the competition are there on merit (with the exception of South Africa).

A couple of bookmakers have already decided to offer a generous cashback special on the World Cup, with Sky Bet offering to refund all losing outright bets if England are triumphant. This is possibly an attempt to encourage less English people to back their own country, with many UK bookmakers likely to run up liabilities on Fabio Capello’s team ahead of the tournament starting.

Similarly, Boylesports are offering to refund all losing outright bets if France repeat their 1998 victory and win the World Cup for the second time. This is a reaction to the controversial way in which Ireland were eliminated from the play-offs by Les Bleus, although this is not a vintage French team, with Blue Square offering 16/1 that Raymond Domenech steers them to glory.

The bookmakers have already gone into overdrive with a wide range of markets on the 2010 World Cup, with every group match already priced up by the likes of Paddy Power and Sky Bet. In addition, betfair have set up the matches on their website, although it might be some time before there is reasonable liquidity. Paddy Power have also priced up correct score, double chance and HT / FT opportunities for each game, with each of these related to the match betting.

Coral, Sky Bet, Paddy Power and bet365 have also priced up a ‘Stage of Elimination’ market for 14 of the 32 teams, with England available at 9/2 (Coral) to go out of the competition at the semi-final stage. For those that think that Brazil might suffer in the ‘Group of Death’, Paddy offer 5/1 that the five-time winners go out at the group stage, although Portugal might be a more sensible bet with the Irish firm at 6/4.

Totesport have priced up a ‘Top African Team’ market and it’s no surprise to see Ivory Coast available at even money, although a tough group could see Ghana (9/2) or Cameroon (11/2) go further than their continental cousins. Totesport also offer ‘Top European Team’ which is naturally a competitive market, but will anyone get further than Euro 200 winners Spain (11/5)? It’s no surprise to see Europe a best price 4/9 (bet365) to be the winning continent, with South America next at 9/4 (Blue Square).

Finally, Blue Square have opened a market on which England players will make the 23-man squad that jets out to South Africa in the summer. Shaun Wright-Phillips is clearly a borderline decision at 10/11, with Gabby Agbonlahor an interesting price at 9/4. His Villa team-mate James Milner looks more likely to take a place on the plane, with his odds at 4/11 right now.

England v Argentina
Twickenham
Saturday, November 14th
Kick Off: 2.30pm

The Pumas are the next visitors to Twickenham for England’s Autumn Test Series, with the South Americans having won two of the previous three encounters. Martin Johnson’s England started sprightly against Australia last weekend, but faded in imagination badly after the half time break. Things that were going well at the start, simply got stunted, with balls being thrown laterally and hardly any movement being made over the gain line. With the forwards not securing such good ball, and the backs hanging too far back instead of stepping up to give the Australian backs something to think about, Johnson has rung the changes. Four of them anyway.

What is most surprising about one major change for the England v Argentina match, is that prop Duncan Bell gets a start after a David Wilson, who started last weekend, picked up an injury. The most surprising part is Bell’s age. At 35 the veteran is more than unlikely to be making an appearance at the next World Cup, and critics are questioning whether Johnson should be blooding young talent instead. There is a lot to be said for building for the next World Cup right now, as these Autumn tests will give some indicators ahead of next year’s Six Nations tournament early in the year. Johnson however, has called up a rookie prop, Gloucester’s Paul Doran-Jones to the bench, so one supposes that the manager is trying to find a fine balance between building a team, and producing results to keep his job.

England, admittedly, are still a long way short of fielding what many would deem to be their best team, with injuries having ravaged the pack especially. Regular forward names such as Julian White, Andrew Sheridan, Jason Hobson, Phil Vickery, Alex Corbisiero and Dan Cole are all battling for fitness for reason or another, so Johnson has had to dig deep to find quality to fill out the pack. Bell is one of four changes that Martin Johnson has made to England. James Haskell comes in at number eight, after Jordan Crane, last weekend’s starter in that position, was released back to his club, Leicester.

Comeback hooker Steve Thompson, whose far-more-miraculous return to international rugby was overshadowed by that of poster boy Jonny Wilkinson’s, drops to be replaced by Dylan Harley, who is a young dynamic ball carrier. There has also been a change at the pivotal position of scrum half, the link between the back of the scrum and the backs. London Irish’s Paul Hodgson gets his first start in an England shirt there, with Danny Care being relegated, or, as Manager Johnson puts it, having gone to the bench where he can from to make an impact. So long as Hodgson makes a mess of things, one supposes.
 
The lack of pace in the second half against Australia, and not being able to keep up to the full level of Test rugby, are the main areas of focus in which Martin Johnson has been directing his comments. Some things were done well, but the entire team needs to have direction, consistency and some creativity when it counts, for 80 minutes of the match. Argentina are no pushovers, and are looking to prove themselves and further their global development, by joining the southern hemisphere’s Tri-Nations, which they should do in 2012 (as long as some conditions are met). Playing against Australia, South Africa and New Zealand will only enhance their prospects over time. Look how far Italy have developed since joining the Five Nations.

England’s best performers last week came from two of the more experienced heads. Captain Steve Borthwick led very well, something not always seen from him, and Johnny Wilkinson played with the most drive in the backs. Shane Geraghty also had a good game, at least from the point of view that he was scrapping to be inventive, even if it did not always go so well. So it is four changes for England from last weekend’s defeat against Australia. While that indicates that Johnson is fairly happy with the direction that his team may be taking, it is still a long way short of being on top of the world again.

England to win: 1/4 at 888Sport
Draw: 25/1 at Bet365
Argentina to win: 4/1 at SportingBet

Betting Advice. Perhaps Johnson has called on the experience of Duncan Bell, because of the nature of the Argentinian game, which is focused on good scrimmaging. The Pumas are a powerful unit up front, and England need to be able to deal with the immense threat which will be posed in that area. Fernandez Lobbe has been named new skipper of the Pumas, who themselves have a blend of youth and experience, some the inexperience coming through forced changes because of injury. They will however, give England a big test, possibly more so up front than even Australia did. Don’t let the odds above fool you, this could be a really close, tough game.

England winning margin 1-12 points: 15/8 at Bet365

England v Argentina: Banahan, Bell, Borthwick (capt), Croft, Cueto, Deacon, Hartley, Haskell, Hipkiss, Hodgson, Geraghty, Monye, Moody, Payne, Wilkinson. Replacements: Thompson, Doran-Jones, Lawes, Worsley, Care, Goode, Erinle.