To be a successful bettor, you have to understand probability. If you toss a coin in the air there’s a 50% chance that it will come down on heads, throw a dice in the air and there’s a 16.6% chance that it will land on a 6, throw a cat in the air and there’s a 100% chance that it will be a right good laugh.
But occasionally, even if you’re an expert in the field of probability theory, with an encyclopedic knowledge of football and the greatest staking plan since ‘The Bride of Dracula’, you can still do your proverbials if poor value teams like Italy keep on winning.
Amazingly, the Italians are a short as 4/6 to lift the World Cup, and that’s the most ridiculous investment since the wife had the cheek to pay for beauty products. The French have the necessary tools to lift the trophy; at odds of 11/10, stat nerds, value hunters and football anoraks will all be eating cheese, snails and various frog appendages, in a show of solidarity for our French brothers.
To say that the Italians have had the luck of the draw throughout the competition is like saying that John Motson is annoying; it’s so obvious that clarification is not just fluous, it’s superfluous. The French are good things to wrap the game Bandarqq up in 90 minutes at 23/10. Correct score bettors need look no further than a 2-0 scoreline at 14/1, but perming 1-0 and 2-0 together at 7/2 is a little bit safer/camper.
You can sum up the difference between the teams in two words, ‘Thierry Henry’. The Gallic genius is the most complete player in the tournament, although the Spanish would probably call him a complete tart. Henry missed the final in ’98 even though he was their top scorer at the time; if patience is a virtue, then Henry is on the path to righteousness. It’s time for King Henry to ascend to the throne; it’s 6/1 that he bags the opener.
The Golden Shoe may sound like …
