Olympics Football Preview

Bookmakers make Stuart Pearce’s team third favourites at 7/1 (general) to claim the gold medal. David Beckham is not in the squad, but Ryan Giggs, Micah Richards, Craig Bellamy and a host of talented young players are, it is a side that could go far in this tournament. Pearce has not been helped by the draw though, put alongside Uruguay, Senegal and the United Arab Emirates in Group A. The United Arab Emirates should be the whipping boys, but the other two sides should be strong. Senegal are likely to be lead by Newcastle forward Papiss Cisse who was on fire in the last five months of the Premier League season. African sides have a good record at the Olympics with two recent winners and a finalist from the last four tournaments. It is 50/1 (general) that Senegal claim the gold medal. Also in the group are Uruguay who could feature the likes of Luis Suarez and Edison Cavani and the senior side won the Copa America last year. This is a real dangerous team and at 9/1 (sportingbet/Blue Square/888sport) could be considered the value bet here. South American teams have a good recent record in this tournament with the last two winners having both been from South America (Argentina) and with four of the last seven finals have featured a team from this continent.

Bookmakers favour Brazil (9/4-general) to lift the trophy and with a group containing Egypt, Belarus and New Zealand should have few problems progressing into the knockout stages. The Brazilians will be real close by Spain who are next in the betting comes at 5/2 (general). The Spaniards are looking to add Olympic gold to the European Championships and World Cup success they have had. The Spaniards, like Brazil, have a winnable group up against Japan, Honduras and Morocco and will have a wealth of talent to call upon, with Juan Mata and Jordi Alba amongst the provisional squad.

Group B sees Mexico 16/1 (general) and Switzerland 11/1 (Coral) up against South Korea (66/1-sportingbet) and Gabon (66/1-general) in what should be the closest group of the four,

The Women’s Olympic tournament features 12 teams and four groups of three in groups of four with the top two from each group and the two best ranked third place teams reaching the quarter-final stage where the tournament precedes to the knockout stages.

USA are the 13/5 (Coral) favourites to claim the gold medal. History is on the side of the United States they have won three of the four previous Olympic tournaments, including the last two. Brazil are the second favourites at 9/2 (sportingbet) and they have gained the silver medal in the last two tournaments. Third favourites Japan are the World Cup champions and could represent some value at 5/1 (bet365/sportingbet/paddy Power). Japan knocked off Germany, Sweden and the USA en-route to winning the World Cup and just missed out on the medals last time. The FIFA rankings for the game have Japan third, just behind the United States and the absent Germany.

Sweden have struggled a little in recent major tournaments, but have proud history in Women’s football and are 9/1 (general) for the Gold medal. France are 11/1 (paddy Power) while home nation Great Britain and Northern Ireland are 16/1 (william hill). Hope Powell will hope home support will enable her team to play their way into medals contention,

For those missing the Euros then the Olympics could be just what is needed and looks to be an entertaining part of the two-week Olympic extraveganza.

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05/07/2012     © Frixo 2024