A Closer Look At Groups E, F, G and H
This article was first published to the Ultimate Stats Betting Pack, World Cup group
A copy of the Ultimate Stats Betting Pack for the 2018 World Cup in Russia available here.
Latest World Cup News
Morocco put in a strong performance, winning 3-1 in Estonia to extend their unbeaten run to 18 games. They'll be going into their first match against Iran on Friday with confidence.
Serbia showed what they are capable of when they put their mind to it, thumping Bolivia 5-1 ahead of their game against Costa Rica on Sunday.
Sweden and Peru played out a nil nil draw which doesn't tell us anything new about the teams but Peru's uneaten run does at least remain in tact.
Although you can not read too much into friendly games, particularly this close to the tournament, still, Denmark's 2-0 victory against Mexico was impressive.
Spain did just enough to see off an in-form Tunisia one nil and both will be happy with their preparation before the tournament starts next week. While it took a late Mbappe goal to secure 1-1 draw with the USA, for France.
World Cup Betting Strategy
Group E – Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia, Costa Rica
Brazil are one of the major favourites for the tournament, and rightly so, and I do not see them having any issues in getting out of this group. In all the groups we have reviewed so far, this is the one I would be most confident in saying I expect the group favourites to win all three matches.
The side I a most interested in here is Serbia. Based on the earlier ranking analysis, Serbia look like a potential surprise package and backing them to finish second at the expense of Switzerland looks value.
Costa Rica were one of the teams of the tournament in 2014 but I don't feel like the team has improved in that time, just got four years older. There is still value in them coming bottom of this group.
Group F – Germany, Mexico, Sweden, South Korea
Like with Brazil in Group E, I see no problem for Germany navigating this group and most likely with a 100% record.
South Korea have shown nothing in their recent pre-tournement friendlies to suggest they will put up much of a fight here and they are rightly favourites to finish bottom. It's not something I'll putting money behind and will wait to see how the start performing once the real action begins.
It's a similar story for Mexico, I just can't get a read on how good they really are right now. It doesn't help that they have just been embroiled in a prostitution scandal. They won't be boring and I'll look forward to their games, but perhaps the stoic Swedes are the ones to offer us value i this group right now.
Group G – Belgium, England, Tunisia, Panama
I've no interest in betting on the group here. It looks a clear 1-2 / 2-1 for Belgium and England to qualify which explains the odds on the dual forecast is 1.22.
Not even the England of old could mess up qualification here and I really like this current England side, not saying they are tournament winners but I can see sticking around for a while with a lot depending on how the ties fall in the knock-out stages. With that in mind, I'll be more focused on betting game-to-game in the group.
Panama have zero chance (sorry), while Tunisia's best hope is to beat Panama and hope to take a point of England or Belgium but honestly don't even see that happening.
Group H – Colombia, Poland, Senegal, Japan
This is a really interesting group and it is really quite open. For me it is a three-way between Colombia, Poland and Senegal and that makes the group winner odds on the Africans at 6.00 quite appealing.
I won't be getting to heavily involved in this group from a betting perspective. There are probably better markets to look at if you fancy a side in here to go well or progress.
Today's Pre-World Cup International Friendlies
Germany's conquerers Austria now welcome Brazil. It's probably not a game to get involved with from a betting perspective, but Brazil should, at minimum, avoid defeat here. Expect Neymar to get another run out as well.
The only other game of interest today is South Korea v Senegal, with both probably more interested in shuffling their pack and tweaking formations then the actual result. Even less of a betting game than the one above.
This article was first published to the Ultimate Stats Betting Pack, World Cup group
A copy of the Ultimate Stats Betting Pack for the 2018 World Cup in Russia available here.
Jon is the Founder and Chief Tipster at Football Advisor and Predictoloy. He started life as data analyst in the digital marketing field before find his true calling in the world of Football and Horse Racing Betting.
Jon has been sharing his professional expertise since 2009 and specialises in using objective data analysis and subjective experience of betting built up over more than a decade of professional betting.
In 2014, Jon also launched (and continues to run) the trusted Football Advisor service service which provides a variety of football and horse racing betting models and portfolios. A few years later, Jon launched the Predictology platform which is the worlds first betting system builder and analyser covering a wealth of football betting related statistics covering more than 200,000 matches.
Jon has also lent his knowledge and expertise to several of the trusted Premium Services offered by the respected Secret Betting Club, including Football Lay Profits. Racing Bet Profits and, most recently, Racing Lay Profits.