World Cup Soccer - 6001 Mexico @ 6002 South Africa
I believe that we have some value with Mexico DNB/PK in this contest
as basically we can get the chance to bet in the better team with
decent odds. I’m aware that there are many historical trends favoring
the host team to not lose in their first game, for once I can say that
Host nations have never lost an opener and have reached at least the
second round of each World Cup, with six winning it. Also in the last
three tournaments, the hosts have gone 10-0-2 in the group stage!
History can gave us great things however please let’s not forget
that South Africa is the lowest-ranked team in the tournament and the
lowest-ranked hosts in the history of the World Cup so the overall
quality of the team (or the lack of it) it’s even more important than
any historical trend.
The Mexicans are one of the most technical teams present in the WC
as they love to keep possession of the ball. The key for their system is
the movement from almost every player on the pitch and plenty of width
when attacking. They made some friendly games against top notch teams
like England, Netherlands and Italy and in all of those games the
Mexicans showed an interesting ball movement and they created plenty of
chances to score even though they failed to score if we look for their
opportunities. In order to enable such offensive strategy the opponent
must be patient and play a conservative game and that’s exactly what I
don’t expect from South Africa in this contest.
South Africa has a lot of pressure to perform and win in front of
their public and I just can’t see them to have the tactical patient to
watch the Mexicans exchanging the ball in the midfield so they will try
to attack the ball and obviously this will open some gaps in the back.
I understand that they are in a 12-game winning streak but most of
the opponents that they faced weren’t talented teams and despite
defeating recently Denmark 1-0 I remember that Denmark was without both
Bendtner and Sørensen in that game and also the Danish team was still
trying to adapt to the South African soil when they meet.
Mexico had two full months to prepare for the tournament (for
example almost all the other teams had less time) so they will be full
prepared for this contest. I’ve also read some comments about the
altitude being a friendly factor for South Africa but I remember that
Mexico usually plays in high altitude as well back home at the Azteca
stadium so this isn’t a truly advantage factor for South Africa.
In my opinion we are getting some value with Mexico as a potential
scenario of a draw won’t hurt our bankroll while I believe that Mexico
has better chances to win the game.
Single Dime Play on Mexico PK @ -115 on 5 Dimes / Betus
NOTE: probably I'll have a premium play for the other game of the day, please feel free to post your thoughts, thanks and good luck for all!