First Finalist Books Place At Soccer City.
We have our first finalist at World Cup Spread Betting as Netherlands overcame a dogged Uruguay on a 3-2 score line in Cape Town last night. It won’t go down as a classic but will be remembered for a wonder strike from Giovanni Van Bronckhorst in the 18th minute. There didn’t seem to be much danger when he received the ball wide on the left but after controlling the ball he unleashed a thunderbolt that evaded the keeper and arrowed its way into the top corner of the net. The straight line distance from where he was standing to the goal was measured at about 41 yards and when it comes to deciding goal of the tournament this is more than likely it barring someone doing something more spectacular in the remaining three matches.
The Dutch weren’t having any great luck in breaking down the Uruguay defence up until that and didn’t improve much after and just before half time Diego Forlan let fly with a curling shot that should have been kept out by the keeper but despite getting his hand to the ball couldn’t keep it out. The second half mirrored the first with no great cutting edge from either team. The Dutch then finished off the game as they thought with two goals in three minutes from Sneijder and Robben only for Uruguay to pull one back two minutes into injury time. They had a chance to lob a few balls into the Dutch penalty area but where unable to find the equaliser. So the Dutch are into there first final since 1978 and will be hoping it will be third time lucky when they take on Spain or Germany on Sunday.
Tonight’s match will be huge for both teams with a young German team who were not supposed to get this far against a Spanish team who have under achieved at major tournaments up until their win in the European Championships two years ago. I feel their will be more weight of expectation on Spain to get through but they also might have the psychological edge after beating Germany in that final. That said the Spanish have not beaten Germany in the three matches they have played in world cup finals, losing two and drawing one. Then there is the golden boot competition with Villa just ahead of Klose by one goal at the moment. Villa is one goal away from joining Raul as Spain’s all time leading scorer, and Klose needs one goal to equal Ronaldo’s fifteen goal haul at world cup finals so there are incentives for both attacks to make history. One thing for sure, I can’t see the Germans sitting back and defending deep as most of Spain’s opponents have done so far and with the counter attacking threat posed by the Germans the Spanish will also be wary. This could be a cracking match and a date with destiny awaits the winners at Soccer city on Sunday. If Spain makes it through we will be guaranteed a new name on the trophy and immortal status for the victors
One word of caution for all you spread betters out there; Paul the octopus has picked Spain over his home country Germany to win the semi final. He is been credited with predicting correctly all the games in which Germany have played so far. They put two boxes of food in his tank each with the flag of the two countries playing and which ever box he takes the food from is his prediction as the winner. And who said you had to spend hours analysing stats and form to make a few quid.
