World Cup 2018 Betting Tips and Odds Comparison – Russia 2018

10/12/2017 13:45

with the draw for next summer’s world cup 2018 over and done with, we now have the schedule for the biggest tournament in sport. with some top sides shaping up for a tilt at glory next summer, just who is going to walk away as the world champions? ahead of this summer’s world cup, we have the latest tournament preview, predictions and odds comparison right here.

outright winner: who will win the world cup?

after lifting the trophy in brazil in 2014, germany lead the way with the bookies ahead of this summer’s tournament. the germans are marginally ahead of brazil in the betting: our odds comparison prices the two up at 9/2 and 5/1 respectively with betfred. as far as the bookies are concerned, those two are joined by spain and france as genuine contenders for this tournament, while argentina are seen as the dark horses. will the tournament be that much of a closed shop, or could we see a side make a shock charge into the latter stages this summer?

all four of those sides have to be considered contenders, while we struggle to rule out any side featuring the inimitable lionel messi. given that this is certainly the last world cup which will have the messi/ronaldo rivalry, we think euro 2016 winners portugal are among the teams to consider. the fact that they can be backed at 25/1 with betfred while england are as short as 14/1 with coral on our odds comparison doesn’t really make sense as far as we’re concerned, since the portuguese have added more talent to their squad over the last two years.

when it comes down to it, we struggle to look past the main contenders. even spain and france can be slightly picked apart, despite all their talent. the french haven’t found a way to harness all their ability, with didier deschamps looking like the wrong fit for their brilliant frontline. meanwhile, spain struggled in the last two tournaments, they’ve been handed a tough draw with portugal and they lack a cutting edge forward to wrap up their midfield play. while they should impress, we think brazil and germany are too strong for them.

you can back those two sides to meet in the final at 12/1 with betvictor, which seems like a great bet. picking between them is difficult, but they’re both heavily backed to win their groups. should they top their pools, they are guaranteed to not meet until the final, and we think both sides are good enough to set up a rematch for that infamous 2014 game. we think brazil’s progression and managerial change may just edge it towards them, so they’re our pick to win it for a record sixth time.

group g winner: how will england fare?

england were toiling under some real negativity in the lead up to the tournament, until they were handed a seemingly kind draw. of course, facing belgium isn’t exactly the ideal set up for the three lions, but they’re widely expected to make it through the group ahead of tunisia and panama this summer. it seems like they’ll be battling roberto martinez’s side for top spot, although the top big nations don’t clash until the final round of the group, by which point they’ll probably both be through and attempting to rest players.

having essentially fallen at the first real hurdle at the last two international tournaments they’ve entered, making the last 16 here would be a good result for england. we can’t see them beating belgium to first place in group g, so we have to side with eden hazard, romelu lukaku and co when it comes to picking a group winner. they can be backed at 5/6 with coral on our odds comparison to secure top spot, which should give them a slightly easier last 16 game.

england should be happy with a place in the last 16, but it’s hard to see them going too far past that point. they’ve struggled to win knockout matches of late, with their last win outside the group stage of a major tournament coming in 2006 against ecuador. aside from that they’ve failed to deliver on the biggest stage, going out through penalty shoot-outs, a group stage exit and some humiliating eliminations. with that in mind, we like the 11/8 which betvictor are offering for england to crash out in the first knockout round, which would at least be an improvement on roy hodgson’s side in brazil.

group a winner: are the hosts in trouble?

after russia received a pretty straightforward draw for the tournament, many were quick to point out the good fortune of the hosts. however, this russian side are the lowest ranked hosts of a world cup, having really disappointed in recent years. they don’t seem to have the talent to make a run here, and we think it’s worth backing uruguay to top group a given the lack of quality sides around them. this is the kind of group which should be kind to edinson cavani and luis suarez, so coral’s 11/10 on uruguay topping the pile seems far too good to ignore.

to make matters worse for russia, they now have to deal with the talents of mohammad salah, who is impressing for liverpool in the premier league. he’s key for egypt, and his talents could just be enough to take his country through the last 16, as they are arguably better equipped than russia and saudi arabia. we think it’s worth keeping an eye on salah to be his nation’s top scorer at 13/8 with betvictor, while the same county are offering 11/4 on egypt being the most successful african side. that makes them the third favourite, despite having the easiest draw of the bunch in our eyes.

elsewhere, the tie of the group stage has to come in group b, with the last two winners of the european championships going head to head. only one euro final this millennium hasn’t featured either spain or portugal, while the former won the world cup in 2010. there’s serious pedigree between them, and we think some may be underestimating the portuguese. they built on their euro 2016 success by adding more youth to the squad, and their side has become more offensive as a result. they can really mix up their styles, and we’re backing portugal to spring a surprise and top their group, which can be backed at 9/5 with coral.

group d winner: messi to lead the way for argentina

while the majority of the favourites for this year’s tournament are european, we can see a couple of south american sides forcing their way through to make a solid run in this competition. the most dangerous outsiders have to be argentina, who have the immense talent of lionel messi up front. the barca man is 8/1 with betfair to be the tournament’s top scorer, but we think there’s value in betvictor’s offer of 4/5 on him to be his nation’s top scorer. he carried his country through their qualifying campaign, with no argentine player scoring a competitive goal for the country other than messi since november 2016. given that run, surely no one will outscore him on the biggest stage?

along with a potential run from argentina, we can see colombia impressing at this tournament. they come here with a favourable group to negotiate, with poland the seeds in their pool. we are backing the south americans to see off the likes of japan and senegal too and take top spot, given their incredible attacking talent. speaking of their impressive forward line, another top scorer bet we like is falcao to top the charts for the colombians, which can be found on our odds comparison at 5/1 with betvictor ahead of this summer’s tournament.


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