Group E Betting Preview

Group E
Netherlands
Denmark
Japan
Cameroon

Twice beaten finalists Holland are the favourites to romp home with this group. Oranje are a decent outside bet at 13.0 go all the way. Behind them we expect the winner of Denmark - Cameroon to grab second place with Japan the makeweights.

Cameroon's preparations were thrown into disarray with star striker Samuel Eto'o threatening to walk away after being criticised by Italia '90 legend Roger Milla. The Indomitable Lions haven't exactly lived up to their name in preparations with Eto'o's attitude in question after seeing red in their defeat against Portugal. If the Inter striker is interested they could sneak out of the group. If not they'll be home early and I suspect the latter.

Denmark were excellent in qualifying seeing off rivals Sweden and finishing above Portugal in their group. Morten Olsen will have his team well set up but they can be a tad predictable and susceptible to a counter attacking outfit. They lost two of their three warm up games including losses to Australia and South Africa.

Holland should have far too much class and should comfortably top the group as they did in Euro 2008. The Netherlands have scored goals for fun in the warm-up
matches and possess several players who can change games in a flash. Mark van Bommel's return adds some needed spine to the team to complement the vast array of attacking talent.


To Qualify
Cameroon 2.05
Denmark 2.05
Netherlands 1.13
Japan 3.75

Not to qualify
Cameroon 1.70
Denmark 1.70
Netherlands 4.50
Japan 1.25

Best Bet
Holland with a -1.5, -2 handicap to beat Japan at 2.20. The talented Dutch have been scoring goals for fun recently (6-1 Hungary, 4-1 Ghana) and have enough firepower to put Japan to the sword when these sides meet on June 19th in Durban.

Outside Bet
Group E to be highest scoring group at 8.0. As we flagged up above we expect Holland to score plenty and while the Dutch and Denmark are strong defensively Cameroon and Japan certainly aren't so there should be a fair share of goals
among this quartet.