6/21 World Cup 17-12-4; +9.0
3-1-1 yesterday. I counted my Paraguay/Slovakia OV 2' (+165) Loser and my Brazil/Ivory Coast OV 2' (+130) winner.
Portugal (-1) (-135)
Portugal (-1') (+135)
North Korea was plucky and relatively impressive against the Brazilians. Portugal got outplayed by Cote d'Ivoire and escaped with a 0-0 draw. They have struggled to score goals. North Korea played good defense against Brazil but they are not a good defensive team by any means. Portugal coach talking about opening it up more. Talking about and doing it are two different things, so this is far from a sure thing. This is a must-win for Portugal though since they have Brazil on deck. It may come down to goal differential with Portugal and Ivory Coast.
Chile (+136)
Spain didn't play that bad against Switzerland, but they didn't convert chances. The Swiss played decent, but they didn't exactly outplay Spain. Chile only won 1-0 against Honduras, but make no mistake, if ever there was a 1-0 blowout, this was it. Humberto Suazo (Real Zaragoza-Spanish La Liga) returns for this one. The heavy-set striker played 17 games for Zaragoza and had 6 goals. He was on loan from Monterrey in Mexico. Zaragoza was close to relegation from La Liga and he sparked the team and they finished 5 pts clear of relegation.
Swiss defender Phillippe Senderos (newly signed with Fulham of the EPL) is out for this one.
What we are seeing is that the African and some of the European teams have been overrated and the South American teams are underrated. Uruguay is likely to advance in Group A. Argentina is looking sharp in Group B. Paraguay leads Group F by 2 points. Brazil has been Brazil. Honduras loss to Chile is the only South American loss in the WC so far.
Still deciding what to do in the Spain-Honduras matchup if anything.
