Group A Betting Preview

Group A Outright Odds
South Africa - 126.0
Mexico - 101.0
Uruguay - 126.0
France - 21.0

All attention will be on Group A for the opening games of the tournament on Friday. Hosts South Africa have started to hit form as they aim to prevent making some unwanted history; namely, becoming the first host nation to be booted out in the first round.

Naturally, France are the favourites, but given their struggles to qualify and discontent with unpopular coach Raymond Domenech, les Blues could get a shock against Uruguay in their opener in Cape Town. Remember Senegal in 2002? The French don't have Zinedine Zidane to bail them out like four years ago either.

Mexico have been busy during their preparations, notching up a 2-1 win over Italy and losing 3-1 to England in recent weeks. Coach Javier Aguirre has steadied the ship since the disastrous Sven experiment and has some talented players at his disposal, such as Manchester United's new signing Javier Hernandez.

South Africa will have patriotic fervour to help sneak them through the group. Carlos Alberto Parreira won the World Cup with Brazil in 1994 but getting Bafana Bafana to the last 16 would be a similar achievement. Recent form suggests they just might.

Uruguay have some of the best firepower in the tournament with Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan capable of hurting any opposition. Emulating the heroes of 1930 and 1950 may be a distant dream, but getting out of the group certainly isn't.



Betting Potential
You aren't going to find a World Cup winner from this group, so if you're looking for some value we need to look elsewhere. The bookies have taken note of France's shock China defeat and priced them at 2.10 to beat Uruguay, who are 3.75 in Friday's evening game. Good odds on both sides and how about Diego Forlan to score at anytime priced at 3.25? Well worth a punt.

After a decent run of results, South Africa's odds on making it out of the group have narrowed to 3.00. A few weeks back they were well into double figures. Remember every host nation has made it out of the group, so why back against history and home advantage?

To Qualify
France: 1.40
Mexico: 1.91
South Africa: 3.0
Uruguay: 2.10

Not to qualify
France: 3.25
Mexico: 1.91
South Africa: 1.40
Uruguay: 1.80

Best Bet
South Africa to score first against Mexico, which is priced at 1.86. Some 90,000 fans will be roaring them on and expect the hosts to start with a high tempo.

Outside Bet
France failing to qualify is an inviting 3.25. With their coach being dubbed 'Everybody hates Raymond' the players know he's on the way out and for many this will be their final time in the blue shirt. If Uruguay beat them it could be au revoir for les Bleus in the first round just like it was in 2002.