World Cup: Odds For The First Game
March 19th, 2014 by G WaldorfThe Socceroos, when they run out in their first game of the 2014 FIFA World Cup against Chile on June 14th, will wear retro-style kit inspired by the 1974 Australia side that was the first to take part in a World Cup tournament. They will go into the game with a similar attitude, we suspect – in fact, the jersey’s collar bears a quote from the skipper of that trailblazing side of the 70s, Peter Wilson: ‘we can do the impossible’. Is it a worrying sign that coach Ange Postecoglu is busy managing our expectations of what the Socceroos are capable of actually achieving at the Brazil tournament? We don’t think so: Postecoglu has been careful to talk about the manner in which Australia’s young players will be expected to conduct themselves, and we think he’s on the right track. This crop of Socceroos finds itself drawn in as tough a group as you can imagine, but you’d be hard-pressed to think of a better way for them to gain experience at the very highest level of the game, and Postecoglu will know that the experience of a World Cup will serve his players in good stead for tournaments like the 2015 Asian Cup, and beyond.
Australia are in action as early as the second day of the tournament, against Chile, and it looks like the Socceroos will be the first of the sides to hit Brazil in the run-up to the World Cup. The official guidelines insist that a team arrive at least 5 days in advance of their first fixture, and Australia are giving themselves an extra ten days, touching down on May 28th. Possibly the hope is that stage fright will be less severe for players who’ve had a chance to settle in, or maybe it’s a bit of a chance to soak up the samba culture – we can’t say we would think less of them either way. That first clash with Chile is likely to be the one that Postecoglu is targeting as the game to steal a win in, and we’re already seeing some interesting odds appearing on Sportsbet. We’ll be breaking them down in detail in these pages between now and the tournament, but here’s a little taster of what’s on offer:
Both teams score, $2.00
Australia to keep a clean sheet $5.75
Australia to score first $3.22
We’ll be keeping an eye out for more Socceroos news, and you’ll see it here as soon as it breaks. In the meantime, make sure you check on Sportsbet for all your betting and odds, and check out our breakdown of Australia’s odds, too!
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