The FIFA World Cup begins on Sunday and before it does there is just enough time to look at the many specials markets which have been priced up for the competition, some which provide plenty of interest as well as value.
We have markets on a number of player statistics, team statistics and the tournament as a whole to get stuck into. Having looked through the majority of them I like bets in just three of them where I’m going for some value.
Golden Ball
The Golden Ball award is given to the best player in the tournament. Luka Modric won this last year with Lionel Messi taking the award before him. Both men were beaten in the final the year they won it so we are not necessarily looking for someone who is going to win the tournament to take this award.
Interestingly, neither of those are what you would call out and out strikers and in a tournament I sense will be low scoring it might be worth passing up the superstars and looking at the workhorses who might well have a chance to impress. That makes me think that Frenkie de Jong is overpriced at 66/1. The Barcelona midfielder is a class act in the middle of the park and if the Netherlands go as well as I expect then it is hard to see someone as good as him not standing out, especially as there is no Gigi Wijnaldum in this squad. He is 66/1 and plays a similar game to Modric so he could be overpriced.
We might look back on the tournament and wish we backed Jude Bellingham to be the best young player at the competition but if England succeed in this event then I’ve got to think the Borussia Dortmund ace has had a good campaign which could put him in the overall mix. If the former Birmingham City product isn’t already a world class player he is well on his way to getting there and he could easily carry England through this tournament. At 66/1 I’ll pay to see if he can impress enough to land this prize too.
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Golden Glove
There is also a market for the goalkeepers in the tournament too. That is the Golden Glove award. You would think that this will be won by the goalkeeper who keeps the most clean sheets but that isn’t necessarily the case. Instead it is the best keeper in the competition as chosen by a FIFA technical committee. Given that FIFA awarded this World Cup to Qatar in the first place they are probably not the most reliable set of people but there we have it.
Brazilian keeper Alisson is the favourite for this market but you just wonder whether at some point he will be rested to give Ederson a game and that might open the door for his pocket to be picked and I fancy it could be picked by Emiliano Martinez, the Argentina number one. Martinez impressed in the Copa America success a year ago and generally bails Aston Villa out of trouble. Clean sheets aren’t the overriding factor in this award but they can’t do any harm and there is half a chance that Argentina keep three in the group stage. He is a great shot stopper which could serve him well should Argentina encounter penalties at any stage and at 7/1 he looks my idea of the best keeper in the tournament.
Lowest Scoring Team
The other market I like a bet in comes in the form of the lowest scoring team in the tournament which is exactly what it says on the tin – we are looking for the team who will score the fewest goals in the competition. Saudi Arabia and Costa Rica are the favourites in this market and it might well be that the former do struggle in a group with defensively sound teams such as Argentina, Poland and Mexico but at the same time they have little to lose and might find a couple of goals somewhere.
You can make a case for a few sides here but the one thing we are definitely looking for is a team who exits in the group stage. Incredibly, every team in the tournament scored at least twice four years ago but I don’t see that happening this time around. The team I like here is Ghana. They are the lowest ranked team in the tournament and their squad looks threadbare in terms of attacking power. If you take the Ayew brothers out of the equation, the only other player in their squad who has more than four international goals is Thomas Partey. Add into the mix that in Portugal and Uruguay in particular Ghana face a couple of tight defences and their perceived easiest match in the group being the second one against South Korea which are often the tighter games, I can see a scenario where the 14/1 on Ghana lands in this market.
Tips
Back F.de Jong to win Golden Ball for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Betfred
Back J.Bellingham to win Golden Ball for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back E.Martinez to win Golden Glove for a 2/10 stake at 8.00 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back Ghana Lowest Scoring Team for a 1/10 stake at 15.00 with Coral
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