It's here!
Now most people are counting down to the World Cup in hours rather than days, worldwide anticipation is really gathering steam. While pub chit-chat is still dominated by Fabio Capello's squad selection, spread bettors are more interested in the number of headed goals, extra-time goals and bookings for simulation we can expect to see in South Africa. Sporting Index offer spreads on all of the above, at 30-32, 4-4.3 and 9.5-11respectively, among many others.
Aside from a lengthy list of special spread markets, Sporting Index's traders have of course also priced the outright index spreads, making Spain the favourites at 43-46pts (100pts for the winner, 75pts for runner-up etc.) followed by Brazil with a spread of 40-43 and England just behind at 39-42pts.
Capello's side will hope to avoid needless red cards which coincided with premature departures in 1998 and 2006 and sellers of England's total bookings spread at 100pts (25pts for a red card, 10pts for a yellow) will not expect such petulance under Don Fabio's watch. Spread buyers of total red cards at 21 should note that previous World Cup tournaments have seen an increasing number of red cards since 1970, when no player was dismissed, to 16 at Italia '90 and a record 28 shown in Germany in 2006. However, sellers of the spread will calculate that with 142 dismissals in 18 previous World Cups an average of 7.9 red cards have been shown per tournament.
Buyers and sellers can also challenge Sporting Index's spread predictions of the number of goals to be scored by each team in the tournament. Germany's quote of 7-7.6 goals might seem attractive to buyers when they consider that the side possesses two prolific but relatively unsung strikers in Lukas Poldolski and Miroslav Klose who have 85 international goals from 165 joint caps. Of further encouragement to spread buyers of Germany tournament and match goals as well as their Group D index spread at 15.5 is that Klose was the leading scorer in the 2006 competition with five goals and is joint seventh on the list of all-time World Cup marksmen with 10.
By betting on Sporting Index's tournament 'stop the clock' spreads buyers and sellers can have a great deal of fun, effectively predicting how soon a team will score. North Korea have by far the largest quote at 148-155 minutes, and sellers will be hoping for an early goal in their first match against Brazil - a team not renowned for a sturdy defence. Sellers of any team's stop the clock spread will be pleased to hear that the fastest ever goal in the World Cup finals was Hakan Sukur's effort after just 11 seconds against South Korea in 2002.
In the 'stop at a...' markets, Sporting Index offer spreads on the number of games until we see a red card, hat-trick and goalless draw, among other occurrences. Sellers of a 0-0 result at 9.5 games will be pleased to learn that in Germany four years ago, viewers waited until only the second day and fourth match of the tournament, when Trinidad and Tobago held Sweden.
Related links:
