Bookmaker’s Corner: World Cup Scoring Underwhelming
Contributed by Richard Gardner, Bookmaker, Bodog Sportsbook
Another game, another under. That’s been the theme for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and bettors have certainly not been slow to catch on. At Bodog’s online sportsbook, we can only wish they’d been.
Wednesday’s action saw three more 1-0 games, including the United States’ dramatic victory in injury time versus Algeria that sent the Americans through to the round of 16. The only match that went over the total was Australia-Serbia, which was won 2-1 by the Aussies, barely eclipsing the 2.5 number.
Maybe it’s the new ball. Whatever the reason for the lack of goals, bettors have been pounding the under at the big soccer tournament, which has seen less scoring than a church dance. In the first round of group stage matches, only two games featured more than two goals. Of the rest, there were two nil-nil draws and six 1-0 decisions.
Scoring picked up a bit in the second round of group matches, but the snoozers were still plentiful. (That assessment, of course, belonging to the stereotypical North American who can’t appreciate a low-scoring affair.)
Consider for a moment the fact that the United States won Group C thanks to the fact they scored more goals than England. Now consider the fact that the United States has only scored four goals. That’s right, the United States and England were the two teams that advanced out of Group C and in six games combined the two countries scored a grand total of six goals. Algeria, for its part, didn’t score once in three games.
In a related story, Wayne Rooney is now a 40/1 long shot to finish as the World Cup’s leading goal scorer. The favorite is Gonzalo Higuaín of Argentina (3/1), followed by Spain’s David Villa (4/1) and Luis Fabiano of Brazil (5/1).
At any rate, we sure do hope the world’s best soccer players pick up the goal-scoring a bit in the round of 16, because we’ve been exposed on practically every single game of this tournament. I have to say, however, that I don’t hold out much hope. In 2006, five of the eight round-of-16 matches featured fewer than two goals. In the quarterfinals, three of the four went under two. In the semis, both went under two. The final, on the other hand, was a real barnburner at 3-1.
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