Guinea to qualify from group A @ 2.25 Bluesquare 3/10
I think a few people have said Guinea could surprise in this group, they might even end up winning it. Ghana as hosts must be respected but it appears that not everything is quite going there way at the moment and there are still a lot of question marks surrounding them. In all reality though they should still win the group, which comes down to Morocco and Guinea for 2nd position. The north African side have disappointed before and I’m not sure they deserve such strong favouritism over Guinea here. I’d say odds of 2.25 offer some decent value and is worth betting on. With players like Pascal Feindouno and Ismael Bangoura then will score goals and that’s a key point. I’d say they have every chance of making the quarters.
Sudan to qualify from group D @ 6.50 Coral 1/10
Ok I will stake very small here, but I believe there is some value. Like I have said before in this thread, there have been some whispers about Sudan and that they could surprise. They haven’t had good results in preparation for this tournament, including one big 0-6 loss, but they weren’t at full strength. All of the players know each other well because they are selected from just 2 clubs. Cameroon should be away and gone as group winners and the other good thing is that they don’t play them until the last game, when Cameroon are likely to have already qualified so it could be easier. Egypt are expected to finish 2nd in this group and they aren’t a bad team, but there’s no way Sudan should be this big, so I’ll have 1 unit on them.
Ivory Coast to win group B @ 2.20 Bet365 3/10
Well the Ivories are many people favourites to win this competition and they should go quite a long way. Group B is definitely hard one and Nigeria and very strong opponents, bit I feel that Ivory Coast can pip them to get top spot. Mali cant be underestimated either but you’d have to think that the strength of the big 2 will be too much. A lot will rest on the opening group game between Ivory Coast and Nigeria, as long as they don’t lose it then they should get top spot IMO. We all know a lot about the attacking potential of the elephants and they are sure to score a lot of goals, which could be important should they tie with Nigeria at the top of the group. I think that 2.20 is quite a big price to see them at the summit and I’ll take a bit of it with 3/10 stakes. It would also potentially be very advantageous to avoid Ghana in the quarter finals and with the hosts likely to top group A, it suddenly becomes important that the Ivory Coast get the job done.
Samuel Eto’o top goalscorer @ 6.0 Coral 3pts EW (1/4 the odds, a place 1-2-3-4)
We know this man is a quality striker and will lead the Cameroon attack force. Most of the goals that they score are likely to be through this man and he’ll be taking the penalties. I’m pretty sure Cameroon will be going a long way in this tournament, at least to the semi finals which would give him 5 games to become top scorer. Its also worth considering that he should be able to feast on some potentially poor defences in the group stages which will give an even better chance of scoring goals. On the negative side, there is the injury doubt, but it looks as though he has recovered perfectly in time for the tournament so hopefully he wont get a reoccurrence. I’ll bet each way @ 6.0 and as long as he finishes in the top 4, then I’d get a place. For me though, there’s looks excellent potential for this man to finish at the summit of the scoring charts and as long as he stays fit then I think the bet will win outright.
Mamadou Niang top goalscorer @ 17.0 Coral 1pt EW (1/4 the odds, a place 1-2-3-4)
Well for my dark horse top scorer then I’ll go for this man. I believe Senegal could go on and win this tournament, if all goes to plan then they should hopefully at least reach the semi finals. This will give Niang quite a few matches to score goals in and also the quality of opponents shouldn’t be too strong in group D. Its not as if they will be playing against any of the big boys who would have a lot of possession against Senegal. Niang has been in great form this year for a Marseille side that hasn’t been playing too well. Already they appear to miss him greatly and his finishing touch is excellent, confidence will be high. I’m not sure who will be taking Senegal’s penalties, but I’d imagine Niang would be a strong contender, so this is another factor to consider. Odds of 16/1 are pretty decent IMO, especially as I consider Senegal could go a long way. I’ll have 1 unit each way on him, and get a small profit should he place. If he could go all the way and top score outright then all the better.