Group H Betting Preview

Group H Outright Odds
Spain - 4.40
Switzerland - 151.0
Honduras - 501.0
Chile - 51.0

They who shall be last shall be first or words to that effect. Red hot favourites Spain will hope that the above comes through as they along with Switzerland are the final teams in the tournament to see some match action. Along with Chile and Honduras this is a group that has the potential to provide more goals than any other.

Chile qualified in second spot behind Brazil in the South American group. It was their best ever achievement as La Roja reached their first finals since 1998. Repeating their third-placed finish from 1962 may be a distant dream but getting out of the group is their initial target. If any side is going to have a crack at Spain then it's Marcelo Bielsa's entertaining outfit.

Honduras are making their first appearance at the finals in 28 years after qualifying in dramatic fashion. Results went their way on the final day as they sneaked past Costa Rica and with several of their team playing in Europe they are not the whipping boys many are portraying them as. Recent form hasn't been good and away from Honduras they are patchy but they will be hopeful of picking up at least a point.


Spain are the red hot favourites and go into the tournament on a wave of goodwill and patriotic support. Rampant in qualifying the Spanish have demolished any side which has encountered them since that shock defeat against the USA a year ago. Boasting an incredibly well balanced squad with multiple game changers it's understandable why the bookies favour them to land their first world crown. Only questions is, have they peaked too soon?

Switzerland showed they are a team for the future by scooping the Under-17 World Cup last year. Transferring that form to the senior team is a bigger task for the savvy Ottmar Hitzfeld as the Swiss struggled big time in friendly matches before a morale boosting draw with Italy. They will be organised but lack the star quality to progress beyond the group stage.

Betting Potential
Clearly backing Spain is the way to go so put your money on them to win all three games and consider the handicap market. Against Honduras for example the favourites at -2 is a tasty 2.04. A dual forecast of Spain/Chile to progress is 1.57 while you will get long odds of 9.0 of Vincent del Bosque's side being eliminated in the first round.

To Qualify
Chile 1.05
Honduras 5.50
Spain 1.05
Switzerland 2.50

Not To Qualify
Chile 2.10
Honduras 1.10
Spain 9.0
Switzerland 1.50

Best Bet
Obviously Spain to go through at 1.05 which won't make you rich unless you are placing major sums. A better bang for your buck is David Villa to score in every group game at 6.5. He will rip the best defences to shreds and the three sides in Group H are certainly not in that category.

Outside Bet
Over 2.5 goals at 2.17 in Chile Switzerland game. As we expect the Swiss to lose their first match against Spain they will need to adopt a more positive approach against a Chile team who generally play open attacking football. Goals look likely as we will be past the tentative opening phase.