June 14 is when the big kick-off for the 2018 World Cup happens and even though most punters probably wouldn’t normally have the greatest of interest in a match between Russia and Saudi Arabia, this is the opening night of the World Cup and what better way to get the month-long festival football off with a bang than to pick the winner of that opening match?
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World Cup Opening Night Upsets
Russia are 1/3 odds-on favourites* (Betting odds taken at 11:46 p.pm..on June 4, 2018) in bet365 World Cup 2018 odds to collect that opening win against minnows Saudi Arabia.
But we have seen some famous upsets on the opening day of a World Cup before. Back in the 2002 edition the titleholders France were beaten one-nil by Senegal in their opening fixture, while in 2010 the host nation South Africa almost pulled off a shock win over Mexico and that was the same year that in the opening round of group stage matches that England drew with USA and Spain went on to win the tournament after suffering a shock loss against Switzerland.
Brazil Favourites to win at Russia 2018
Brazil are 4/1 odds favourites* (Betting odds taken at 11:46 p.m. on June 4, 2018) in bet365 World Cup 2018 odds to land the title this summer. In the build up to the tournament they have been right there and challenged by the current reigning titleholders Germany who are 9/2 odds* (Betting odds taken at 11:46 p.m. on June 4, 2018) who are gunning to become just the third nation ever to win back-to-back World Cups. The three other teams coming in a single figures options in the bet365 outright winner market are Spain, France and Argentina.
Bet365 World Cup Outright Winner Odds*
Brazil 4/1
Germany 9/2
Spain 6/1
France 13/2
Argentina 9/1
Belgium 11/1
England 16/1
Portugal 25/1
Uruguay 28/1
Croatia 33/1
Columbia 40/1
Russia 40/1
Poland 66/1
Switzerland 100/1
Denmark 100/1
Mexico 100/1
* (Betting odds taken at 11:46 p.m. on June 4, 2018)
World Cup Stage of Elimination
Of course, your betting on the 2018 World Cup can get a lot more varied than just focusing on the outright winner market. An interesting way to approach your betting for the tournament instead of just putting all of your stock into one team coming through the entire field and win the trophy is to look at the stage of elimination markets. For example, if you look at some of the chasing pack beyond the leaders of Brazil and Germany, there are the likes of Spain, France, Argentina, Belgium and England.
They should have the most potential to at least get to the business end of the tournament, without having to worry about them winning outright. You could perhaps back England at 5/6 in bet365 World Cup 2018 odds* (Betting odds taken at 11:46 p.m. on June 4, 2018) to reach the quarter-finals. Alternatively, for example, you could back resurgent Spain to go and reach the semi finals at 11/8 odds in bet365 World Cup 2018 odds* (Betting odds taken at 11:46 p.m. on June 4, 2018). So this could be a good alternative market and what’s the advantage of doing that?
Well in England’s case for example if they get past the group stage they would have to win just one game to go to the quarter-finals as opposed to backing them to win four knockout stage matches to lift the title. That is a bit more realism to your perspective World Cup 2018 betting options with bet365. So if this is an approach you fancy then you could always get out World Cup chart planner and see who is likely to go out at what stage and plan your betting accordingly.
Who will get the Golden Boot?
The bet365 World Cup 2018 odds top goalscorer market is also going to be hugely popular. There is a lot of bragging rights in getting this one right because it is much more difficult to predict than the World Cup outright winner market. You can look at the World Cup outright winner market at bet365 and really expect one of the big five teams to come through the field and get their hands on the title, World Cup history suggests that is what is going to happen.
But in the bet365 World Cup 2018 top goalscorer market you have a much deeper field to try and pick from and just four years ago we saw massive underdog land the golden boot which was Colombia’s James Rodriguez. Heading into this summer tournament it is Argentina’s Lionel Messi who is the 9/1 odds favourite* (Betting odds taken at 11:46 p.m. on June 4, 2018) to produce the most goals. Four years he got four goals during Argentina’s run to the final, and after a brilliant domestic season for Barcelona where he finished as the top goalscorer in Europe’s big five leagues, he has been taken plenty of backing to finish top goalscorer at the 2018 World Cup.
The options in the top goalscorer market shows just the vast array of glittering goalscoring talent that is going to be on show. The main challenger to Messi according to the bookmaker is Brazil’s Neymar who has apparently recovered from injury in time to take part in the tournament while France’s Antoine Griezmann has every chance of putting himself in the frame after another good season the club level and having finished as the Euro 2016 top goalscorer too. The list of the names goes on and on from Harry Kane to Cristiano Ronaldo, Timo Werner to Romelu Lukaku Thomas Muller, Isco and Sergio Aguero.
Bet365 World Cup 2018 top goalscorer odds*
Lionel Messi 9/1
Neymar 10/1
Antoine Griezmann 12/1
Cristiano Ronaldo 14/1
Harry Kane 16/1
Gabriel Jesus 16/1
Timo Werner 16/1
Romelu Lukaku 16/1
Luis Suarez 25/1
Diego Costa 25/1
Edinson Cavani 25/1
Sergio Aguero 25/1
Kylian Mbappe 33/1
Robert Lewandowski 33/1
Thomas Muller 33/1
Isco 33/1
Olivier Giroud 40/1
Gonzalo Higuain 40/1
Mohamed Salah 40/1
Eden Hazard 40/1
Bar 50/1
* (Betting odds taken at 11:46 p.m. on June 4, 2018)
There are already a wide range of markets available in bet365 World Cup 2018 odds and once the tournament starts and all that thrilling live in play betting action kicks up, there will be even more. Ahead of the tournament check out those alternative markets to complement your outright winner option and don’t forget all the good group betting action as well, were you can predict the winners, have straight forecasts, dual forecasts and even back which one of the four teams in a given group is going to finish with that group’s wooden spoon.
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