World Cup Review
After 64 World Cup matches spread bettors all over the country will be reflecting on the finals and working out whether they made a profit or a loss. Spread bettors that bought Spain's outright tournament index at 46 points at the start of the finals will have celebrated long into the night having made a tasty 54 point profit. Spread punters that had bought the Netherland's outright win index at 30 will have been pretty happy with their outright spread make-up of 75, despite losing their third World Cup final.
Brazil began the tournament as second favourites on Sporting Index's outright index spread at 40-43 and sellers will have been delighted to see Dunga's side crash out in the quarter-finals to the Netherlands. Buyers will have been dreaming of at least another semi-final appearance as the side went 1-0 up before succumbing to two Wesley Sneijder goals. Germany yet again proved they have the talent and know-how to be a threat at any finals and buyers of their spread at 25-28 will have been overjoyed to see them finish third in successive finals. The Germans have now made it to the quarter-final stage in the previous five World Cups.
England once again failed to perform at a World Cup finals and sellers of the majority of their spreads will have had a profitable tournament. Fabio Capello's side were tipped for a strong showing and were fancied for at least the quarter-final stage with an outright spread of 39-42 points. Sellers of the team's supremacy and win index for their four matches will have been very happy to see the side win just one of their four matches. Before Group C began, England's Group Index was available to buy at 20 points (25pts for the winner, 10pts for runner-up and 5pts for third) and any buyer of the spread will have been left counting their losses as the side finish second behind USA. England finished with just five points which will have also been of benefit to sellers of their Group C points at seven.
If England's spread supporters felt the results were bad, they will have been left in disbelief with the side's lack of firepower. Having scored just three goals in South Africa, spread bettors that sold England's tournament goals at 11 will have made a healthy eight point return. Sellers of England's total goal minute spread at 535 will be ecstatic that they made-up just 64 minutes on the spread - all their goals were scored in the first half.
Spread sellers of England's 'Stop the Clock' market (time of team's first tournament goal), quoted at 48 minutes, will have been glad to see Steven Gerrard score in the fourth minute of their opener against USA.
The tournament total goals spread was set at 160 before all the action kicked off and it was sellers that benefited from that market make-up as it only reached 143 from 64 games. Spread sellers will have also made a one point profit from the tournament own goals market which totalled three.
Joachim Low's German side were the tournament's top goal scorers with 16, four more than the Netherlands in second place. Total goal buyers at 7.6 for Germany's matches will have been pleased to see the side score four in a game on three different occasions - against Australia, Argentina and England.
Germany's star performer was Thomas Muller and any spread bettors that bought his Golden Boot index (100 points for winner, 75 points for runner-up and 50 points for third) at 5 will have made a large profit. The Bayern Munich attacker was tied with four other players at the finals with five goals. David Villa, Diego Forlan and Wesley Sneijder were unable to break free of the pack and buyers of Villa's spread were left aggrieved when he was withdrawn in extra-time against the Netherlands.
The referees were kept busy throughout the tournament and by the time the final had finished there was a 39 point profit for sellers of the bookings spread - as 246 cards were brandished over the four weeks. Sellers of the total red card spread, at 19, will have also been pleased that there were only 15 players sent off at the finals, the most infamous of all being Luis Suarez's handball in the quarter-final against Ghana.
Unfortunately the final will not only be remembered for Spain's first ever World Cup trophy but for the aggressive nature of the clash. Spread buyers of the bookings index at 48 points will have been watching with a large grin on their face as Howard Webb brandished a record 14 yellow cards in 120 minutes. The nine yellows within normal time contributing to a spread make-up of 90.
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