Well, it seems that if ye asketh of ye olde English Premier League, ye shall receiveth! I had only finished whinging about the predictability of the English Premier league a few days ago, when Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal all took hits in the EPL.

 

So, what has been the impact of the upsets on the table, the Twittersphere and the gossip landscape of the English Premier League? We find out ... as well as seeing what it might mean for your sports betting dollar.  

 

Chewing the Boot

We've so far been pretending that the English Premier League is above all that dirty scuttlebutt that dominates other sports. Of course we lie! Most soccer players have been trained to restrain their mouths, but there has been plenty of English Premier League gossip about for anybody that cares to listen:

• Steve Bruce, Sunderland's boss, says that Liverpool's goal was a 'joke'. Not one that was funny enough to laugh at though, apparently.
• Arsene Wenger's pursed lips were a delight to see, for those like myself who love a bit of competition! Great comedy value  ... much funnier than Liverpool's goal :-)
• Wayne Rooney's form is suffering in the wake of exposure of his extramarital dalliances ... though I do think that feeling sorry for him because of it is much like having sympathy for somebody with a hangover. Self-inflicted harm.

 

The Bookies' Boot

Apart from offering a few less cents for a Chelsea win, the bookies opinions haven't changed much ... despite the shock results for some clubs. Seem the likelihood of history repeating is simply too strong. Odds to win the English Premier League currently:

·         Arsenal FC: 5.50

·         Chelsea FC: 1.95        

·         Liverpool FC: 23.00

·         Manchester City: 15.00

·         Manchester United: 3.50

·         Tottenham Hotspur: 67.00

 

The Official Table

Well, the table still looks pretty standard, but the jostling at the lower end (and the associated ego-deflation for Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United) has certainly made this week interesting! I've included the full table this week, so the effects of the upset games could be clearly seen.

All clubs have played 6 matches to date:

1.      Chelsea, 15 points

2.      Man Utd, 12 points

3.      Arsenal, 11 points

4.      Manchester City, 11 points (Redemption is theirs again!)

5.      Aston Villa, 10 points

6.      West Brom, 10 points

7.      Fulham, 8 points

8.      Tottenham, 8 points

9.      Blackburn, 8 points

10.  Newcastle, 7 points

11.  Sunderland, 7 points

12.  Bolton, 7 points

13.  Birmingham, 7 points

14.  Stoke City, 7 points

15.  Blackpool, 7 points

16.  Liverpool, 6 points

17.  Wolverhampton, 5 points

18.  Wigan, 5 points

19.  West Ham, 4 points

20.  Everton, 3 points

 

Twits and the Brits

The Brittersphere seems to have temporarily moved to Indonesia, with quite a few Premier League tweets coming from Asia's far South East, randomly! There has also been plenty of talk of the defeats ... mostly in advertisement form, but there are a few 'real' people talking on Twitter. Some captured below!

 

--- F_Ostick: Does defeat by West Brom prove Arsenal are not good enough to win the Premier League? http://tinyurl.com/2b5hwn7

--- mukeshkini: @k1rn no team is easy dude.. that shows to all of them what the standard of Premier League is..

--- sonjabean: The nice thing about taping an English Premier League match is that I don't have to worry about anyone telling me the score before I see it.               (Errrrrr .... that depends how long you wait to watch it, and whether you use the internet in the meantime!)

--- SharriStorzBHOC: All hail Man Utd! The only unbeaten team left in the Premier League! :D (Y)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sigh ... the top of the Premier League table is starting to settle into it's old configuration, with Chelsea firmly up top on 15 points, Arsenal and Manchester United tied on 11 and Manchester City and Tottenham tied on 8. I propose an experiment ... switch a third of Arsenal's players, a third of Manchester United's and a third of Chelsea's players over to Blackpool, and see what happens. Would at least be entertaining!

 

 

 

 

Despite the predictability of the Premier League this week, there has certainly been quite a few interesting moments - we check them out here.

 

Brightest Booting Stars So Far

There are three or four teams propping up an entire English Premier League ... and it is sort of surprising to find that sometimes one or two players are propping up the entire team also! Here are some of the star players from within the star teams...

·         Theo Walcott: This Brit booting for Arsenal has scored 4 goals this season, offset by zero yellow and zero red cards.

·         Dimitar Berbatov: This Man U star has been designated goal scorer of the week across the Brittersphere, and has 3 goals and a single yellow card for the season

·         Didier Drogba: One of football's new big names currently has 4 goals for Chelsea

·         Florent Malouda: A much less feted Chelsea goal scorer, but just as prolific as Drogba! 4 goals, no cards.

 

Upcoming games

Manchester City will be facing off against Chelsea, in one of the bigger matches this week. Chelsea are favourites, but the bookies are definitely not discounting Man City, with odds of 3.32 to Chelsea's 2.12.

 

There might not be too many big names in the West Ham vs Tottenham Hotspur match, but it is set to be interesting nevertheless. Tottenham is tipped to win, with odds of 2.01, facing West Ham's 3.6.

 

 

The Official Table

It's all settling into its predictable place now ...

All clubs have played 5 matches to date:

1.      Chelsea, 15 points

2.      Arsenal, 11 points

3.      Man Utd, 11 points

4.      Manchester City, 8 points (Redemption is theirs!)

5.      Tottenham, 8 points (A stunning comeback from last week)

6.      Newcastle, 7 points

7.      Fulham, 7 points

8.      Aston Villa, 7 points

9.      Blackpool, 7 points

10.  West Brom, 7 points

 

Twits and the Brits

I'm still adoring the idea of the 'Brittersphere', so I'll continue using that title this week ... here is some of the best of the trash talking, hilarity and information from the most up-to-date 'news' site on the net :-)

 

--- MLBFanHouse: Lost 45 mins of Premier League Review to WPS. $#%#!!!!

--- IAMdailymessage: 1) Thought I might start following the English Premier League, taped the Man United v Liverpool game, think I've found my team, Man United.  

(A unique way to decide which sports team to follow, but certainly valid!)

--- followhan: Just realised that Liverpool is now on the 16th place on the Premier League, with huge debt-piling. How so fitting! LOL..  (Err ... easily amused, I suppose).

 

Given the Lucrativeness of having various aspects of AFL sponsored by Australia's big corporations, I was thinking of titling these AFL posts 'The PBL Sponsored AFL Blog', or perhaps 'The NewsLtd AFL Blog' and just seeing if either company felt like handing over any cash ...

 

Then came to my senses, of course :-). Today we look at the upcoming action for the AFL Grand Final, in the most dramatic and noisy end of the season.

 

 

 

The Odds

If you're looking for better odds for your team, for goodness' sake don't bet through the official AFL site! They've got the Pies sitting at 1.46, to St Kilda's 3.10. Here's the range of odds you'll find through Uwantabet:

 

Collingwood: 2.40 - 2.75

St. Kilda: 2.86 - 3.00

 

Grand at the G Preview

If you want to hear or watch the AFL Grand Final online, check out the official Match Centre (the Carlton Draught one, that is), on the AFL site. Here are some other fast facts we've been tackling  reporters to gather:

• Luke Ball's hamstring 'injury' is said to have been nothing more than a cramp, and he has been named by teammates at least, as a definite starter for Saturday
• Nick Del Santo and Jason Gram are also putting a brave face on and loading up on the (allowed) painkillers
• Mick Malthouse won’t have his starting list up until much later this week ... keeping the boys in black and white in suspense. His reasoning is that if any players turn out to be too badly injured to play, their replacements would be facing a rollercoaster that would sorely impact their performance.
•  St Kilda is widely seen to have 'the power of one' in their captain Nick Riewoldt. I wonder if that power of one will be enough to drag the whole team over the line?
• The Saints will be wearing their 'clash jumper' on Saturday, a mostly white jersey that aims to avoid confusion with the Pies' jerseys. I think they should be allowed to wear their normal colours... would certainly add an element of interest to the match!

 

The Twitter-oval

Guess it doesn't make much sense for Tweets about the AFL to come from the Twittersphere ... considering that one notable feature of the game is the non-spherical ball. So here's what the AFL Twitter-oval had to say for itself in week 3 of the finals ...

--- dablueroo @TripleM_NRL AFL will be the winner out of that crap ass game.

--- seaflea3 the human race ...well some of it....dissapoints me so much, we have so much potential...very sad. But then, there's AFL...YEAH !!!!!           (ROFL!)

--- daddyiwantapony I am going to an AFL Grand Final Party on Saturday. I have no idea what I am doing or who to pretend to back! This will be interesting...

 

By the way, the official AFL Twitter account is actually pretty good at answering tweets 9with genuine questions in them, at least!). Give them a try :-).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Premier League offered us a few very interesting games last week ... especially the win by Blackpool, one of the single worst placed clubs, odds-wise! What's the British Boot been kicking this week?

 

The Bookies’ Boot

The odds given for the overall winner of the English Premier League have shifted around a little - but mostly we're looking at the same six clubs in the running. Unfortunately Tottenham Hotspur's odds haven't improved since the van der Vaart transfer ... but that may just mean you make all the more on a freak Tottenham win!

·         Arsenal FC: 5.50

·         Chelsea FC: 2.00        

·         Liverpool FC: 21.00

·         Manchester City: 13.00 (Lengthened a little since the lofty 9.00 heights they reached last week!)

·         Manchester United: 3.50

·         Tottenham Hotspur: 67.00 (No change after the transfer!)

 

Upcoming games

Aston Villa will be playing Stoke City very shortly, and it looks to be an interesting game, with Stoke City placed at 2.68 and Aston Villa at 3.01. After that, we'll be waiting a few more days for a top-up of that Premier League fix; make sure you catch Manchester United playing Liverpool FC, one of the busiest and noisiest upcoming games of the week.  Check out the full list, there are some goodlooking sure things to be seen....

 

The Official Table

There are a couple of striking differences between the bookies opinions and the official table of points so far. Are some clubs maxing out their mojo early? Here’s the top 12 clubs in the official Brits Booting Balls story so far:

All clubs have played 4 matches to date, apart from Aston Villa and Stoke City:

1.      Chelsea, 12 points

2.      Arsenal, 10 points

3.      Man Utd, 8 points

4.      Blackpool, 7 points (They're placed fourth, but you can still get odds of 10,001.00 for Blackpool to win the Premier League with some betting agencies!)

5.      Birmingham, 6 points

6.      Fulham, 6 points

7.      Aston Villa, 6 points (Yet to play for this week)

8.      Manchester City, 5 points (Bit of a fall from grace - but they are still well placed in the odds)

9.      Wolves, 5 points

10.  Sunderland, 5 points  

 

Twits and the Brits

The Brittersphere has come through for us this week, with some interesting facts and commentary!

 

--- InfostradaLive: Liverpool have won only 27% of their Premier League matches without Dirk Kuyt compared to 57% of their PL matches with the Dutchman.

--- Liverpool_stuff: #Liverpool Gary Neville admits Liverpool dislike, aims jibe at City – Barclays Premier League http://bit.ly/a534DA

 

 

 

 

 

We're a few weeks into the English Premier League (Brits booting balls ... and not always badly!), and the odds are telling us that someone other than the big three (Chelsea, Arsenal and Man U) might actually get up there this time! The table tells a different story, though – so who’s your punting dollar safest with?

 

The Bookies’ Boot

Despite being far from the bottom of the table, Blackpool FC have some record low odds ... they are sitting at 10,001 with bet365, Bluesquare and Victor Chandler! Other than that oddity, we’ll just look at some of the stronger contenders. It’s surprising to see more than four clubs with odds under 100, but then again it is early days...

·         Arsenal FC: 6.00

·         Chelsea FC: 2.20        

·         Liverpool FC: 26.00

·         Manchester City: 9.00 (Surprise!)

·         Manchester United: 3.25

·         Tottenham Hotspur: 67.00 (But look for increases after Rafael van der Vaart’s transfer over from Real Madrid)

 

Upcoming games

We don’t have a batch of matches for another 9 days or so, and they’re mostly looking pretty one-sided  ... apart from a nailbiter between Wigan Athletic and Sunderland FC, where all 57 of the fans will be hanging off the edges of their seats ;-)  Check out the full match list– could be some good punting to be had!

 

The Official Table

There are a couple of striking differences between the bookies opinions and the official table of points so far. Are some clubs maxing out their mojo early? Here’s the top 12 clubs in the official Brits Booting Balls story so far:

All clubs have played 3 matches to date:

1.      Chelsea, 9 points

2.      Arsenal, 7 points

3.      Man Utd, 7 points

4.      Aston Villa, 6 points (Bookies odds between 126.00 and 501.00)

5.      Bolton, 5 points

6.      Birmingham, 5 points

7.      Wolverhampton, 5 points (Bookies odds: 7501.00)

8.      Newcastle, 4 points

9.      Man City, 4 points (The bookies strongest contender outside the big 4 is sitting at position number 9...)

10.  Sunderland, 4 points

11.  Tottenham, 4 points

12.  Blackpool, 4 points (Does that really deserve 10,001.00 odds?!)

 

Twits and the Brits

The Twittersphere has plenty to say about the Premier League ... we’ve siphoned off some of the most intelligible, original and meaningful here, along with an unexpected little bonus!

 

--- (HOT OFF THE TWEETPRESS!) JBruma: I can confirm that I have signed a new four year deal at Chelsea!

--- gfish3000: Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, wants to play soccer for Manchester United... http://yhoo.it/buEslp

--- OfficialFaceKIG: Man city's owner looks like a joker, the joke of it is they think they can win the premier league this season? GIGANTIC statement lol...

--- juventusoffside: EPL fans are angry folk. RT @cahiers_dusport: Ach, remind me to never Tweet about the Premier League again. Thanks. Not worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

For the 'other' 30 national soccer teams, it's all over. It has come down to a match between Don Juan and the Flying Dutchmen! Who will win? Everyone has an idea - today we preview the final match as well as checking out the last of the funny and fascinating World Cup reporting and Tweetage.

 

Which team has the craziest fans?

World Cup Finals preview: Spain  vs Netherlands

Spain:             1.95 - 2.11

Netherlands:    3.5 - 4.0

 

What history says:

In their past World Cup matches, Netherlands have a 4:3 edge over Spain, with 1 drawn match. However, Spain are the more prolific goalscorers, with a total of 12 to Netherland's 10. Netherlands are coming off a 24-match unbeaten streak, also.

 

What the Daily Mirror says:

Of the nine experts (although to be fair, one of those nine is an octopus) gathered by the Daily Mirror in England, eight of them say that Spain is going to win. Xavi, Iniesta and Villa are predicted to be the men of the match and possible goalscorers.

 

What Paul the Octopus says:

Paul the Octopus, housed in Oberhausen Aquarium in Germany, has picked Spain to win the World Cup. His deductive methods are unknown, but he communicates by eating mussels out of box labelled with the flags of countries about to play. He also predicted around 70% of Germany's results in the 2008 European Championship.

 

Reporter's Cup

• There will be a solar eclipse at the same time as the World Cup final. Unfortunately it will only be properly seen in French Polynesia and the Cook Islands.
• The reporters who were saying (before the World Cup) that they expected no problems with violent altercations in South Africa are now busy gloating. Thankfully, nobody died, was kidnapped or seriously injured.  
• In the European Championship 2008, the Polish prime minister threatened to murder Howard Webb, the referee for this World Cup finals match fpor awarding a last minute penalty to Austria.

 

 

Tweeter's Cup

We've already got plenty of conjecture on who will win. Tpoday we just soak up the virtual, Twittified excitement!

 

--- ChrisEFrost: RT @TheOfficeSweep: Should be an exciting #worldcup final between #esp and #ned. Its certainly a final of 1sts! http://qck.ly/bo

-- melmelet: RT @HomerJSimpson: The vuvuzela is the world’s most annoying horn and Bart won’t stop playing it! I’ll kill the international spirit of peace! #worldcup

--- Age9126: note to self- take a nap BEFORE #worldcup final tomorrow

--- G7SEV: #WorldCup final tomorrow! Can.... Not.... Wait..... for the non football fans, you wouldn't understand... carry on.

 

 

 

 

Soon enough, when somebody mentions South Africa we will once again think of Nelson Mandela rather than football ... when a fly buzzes past our ear we won’t instantly reach for the remote control to turn down that horrible vuvuzela tune ... and in Australia, sports journalists will be reporting on AFL instead of the Socceroos once again.  So today we take a quick look back at the semi-finals and the match for third place, prolonging the excitement and sense of history a little longer.

 

Uruguay          2:3       Netherlands

There was a fantastic distribution of goal kickers as well as goals across the span of this match - the semi-finals atmosphere combined with netted ball after netted ball made it a real thriller! Sneijder, Robben and Van Brockhurst scored for the Netherlands, while Forlan and Pereira's two goals were definitely earned ... but not enough to get Uruguay to the finals.

 

Germany         0:1       Spain

This match was pretty empty until the 74^th minute, when Carles Puyol's single goal of the match tipped the balance in Spain's favour. This was a repeat of what happened to score Spain the European title over Germany two years ago ... I'm willing to bet Joachim Low specifically works a counter to this strategy into his own game plan next time around!

 

Uruguay          2:3       Germany

With only 8 minutes left, this goal-fest of a match was brought to a close by Sami Khedira. Mueller and Jansen also scored, and Cavani and Forlan worked hard for Uruguay ... but to no avail. 

 

Did You Know?

And I thought soccer was all about the glory! Wikipedia recently enlightened me that every team exiting the World Cup, at any stage, will actually get a pretty sizable payout. The distribution is as follows:

• $8 million – To each team exiting after the group stage (16 teams)
• $9 million – To each team exiting after the round of 16 (8 teams)
• $14 million – To each team exiting after the quarter-finals (4 teams)
• $18 million – Fourth placed team
• $20 million – Third placed team
• $24 million – Runner up
• $30 million – Winner

All teams that don't make it past the group stage still get a consolation prize of $1 million.

 

 

Tweeter's Cup

Bless their twitty little typing fingers... apart from the ones that are still falsely claiming the vuvuzela was banned so that you will click on their links.

 

--- FredericoJota: Congratulations, Uruguay! #worldcup

--- EdwardMonton: As the World Cup comes to a close, keep the memories alive with Vuvuzela's Greatest Hits... http://twitpic.com/246pba #worldcup #vuvuzela

--- ninamania: RT @MrsStephenFry: FIFA #worldcup Joke 1: Question - What do you call an Englishman in the World Cup Final? Answer - Ref.

--- wisamarta: PETA urges people to free Paul, psychic octopus http://goo.gl/fb/8MUoz #worldcup

 

 

 

 

 

The quarter finals are well and truly here ... and unlike the UEFA Champions League, which seemed to take forever, the World Cup is buzzing past like a speeding vuvuzela! Here are the matches you have to look forward to, as well as some highlights from the reporters and public. Everyone's got an opinion ... today we check out some of them!  

 

World Cup quarter finals match: Argentina vs Germany

Argentina:       2.2 - 2.38

Germany:        3.0 - 3.4

The statistics are in Argentina's favour for this match. Will the big blondies finally be knocked out of the competition? The Aussies and English would certainly be glad to see that ... but the odds tell us that it will be a close call.

 

World Cup quarter finals match: Paraguay vs Spain

Paraguay:        8.0 - 9.0

Spain:              1.46 - 1.53

These two teams have met only three times before, with Spain winning one encounter and two draws. Commenters are reminding us to remember that the Netherlands beat Brazil ... so this could actually be a nice little earner for those will to put a bit down on Paraguay! Spain has not lost to South American opposition in the World Cup since 1986. Will this be a record-making match? 

 

Reporter's Cup

There's been some pretty interesting sideshows at the World Cup over the past couple of days! Pot, Paris Hilton, and pending retirements - here are the gory details.

• Javier Aguirre has quit as the coach of Mexico's national team, after Argentina ousted the Mexicans in the round of 16. It's the fifth successive time that Mexico has made it to the Round of 16, but not past it.
• Arjen Robben's 'clever corner routine' didn't go down too well ... he's being advised to either not attempt that sort of thing, or at least get it right!
• Paris Hilton was arrested outside Nelson Mandela Stadium for possession of marijuana. Bummer, dudette.

 

Who'll win the 2010 World Cup?

How long is a piece of string? We don't really know the answer to either question ... but we do know who the bookies reckon will win World Cup 2010. Since we missed out a few :

 

Argentina        4.50 - 4.75

Germany         6.25 - 7.0

Holland           3.0 - 3.25

Paraguay         41.0 - 56.0

Spain               3.25 - 3.25

Uruguay          9.0 - 13.0

 

Tweeter's Cup

You can certainly not dispute that soccer stirs the emotions, both for the shirt-headed, screaming, crying players and coaches ... and the fans! We get to experience the fans' emotions I writing though, through the (black?!) magic of Twitter:

--- MerinBenjamin: Felipe Melo shouldn't have lost it.. #World cup not the same without ma Brazil now :( :(

-- MayhemtheMC: Ghana & Brazil Lost today :( disappointed #world cup

Jul 2, 2010 10:53 PM GMT

--- jasaretta: This habit of choreographed dancing after a goal at the #world cup really needs to stop.

--- DeganeS: GYAN! what a miss #world cup #gha #uru SUAREZ what a gesture! he took one for the team, anyone would have done the same thing in situation

--- emjaymaxwell: It's a shame that all the good teams are being sent home #world cup

 

 

 

 

Nana na na ... nana na na ... heeeeeey! You know the rest. It's inevitable that just about every team (all except one, to be precise) will be knocked out of the running for the World Cup at some stage. Yet it still never fails to surprise - and maybe hurt just a wee bit - when the big guys and our favourites get knocked out. Today we check out the events that led to the cheers and tears in the round of 16 for World Cup 2010.

 

Uruguay          2:1       Korea Republic

Korea dominated possession but certainly didn’t dominate goal scoring. They also dominated yellow cards ...

 

USA                 1:2       Ghana

Much has already been said about this match, in football circles and the mainstream media! The USA were the better team on stats, although they did get 3 yellow cards to Ghana's 2. Andre Ayew from Ghana was elected man of the match.

 

Netherlands     2:1       Slovakia

Netherlands have now won all 14 of their matches so far.

 

Brazil               3:0       Chile

Chile had plenty of shots and plenty of possession time, but unfortunately not plenty of goals.

 

Argentina        3:1       Mexico

This game outcome led Javier Aguirre to quit as Mexico's coach. People are describing it as a very fair match, with a couple of unlucky goals from Argentina.

 

Germany         4:1       England

Goal powerhouses Germany did it again! This was a pretty predictable score, actually ... but poor England are suffering in the press.

 

Paraguay        0:0       Japan

Paraguay won on penalties, after a fairly even possession-shots match. Japan did cop four yellow cards though ... nasty!

 

Spain               1:0       Portugal

The parent has knocked their child out of the World Cup at their own expense. A sad but predictable result.

 

 

Tweeter's Cup

The World Cup's really getting into people's heads now...

 

--- finestcom: thought he had a #vuvuzela in his kitchen but turns out it was a fly, too much #World Cup?

--- taxhelprightnow: #BRA, #PAR, #URU are my favorite soccer teams in the #World #Cup I hope one of them get to the finals =) Go South America!

--- DanielaFSU: is wondering how many times today i've thought about #Harry Potter and/or the #World Cup... it's probably pretty sad

 

 

 

The 2010 World Cup's upcoming matches are looking a lot less messy, now that many of the long-odds teams such as Australia and New Zealand have been cut from the lineup. A few pundits have noted that figuring out who will go through to the Round of 16 in the World Cup is easy ... as long as you have a Masters Degree in Pure Mathematics! So it will be a relief for those of you who like to enjoy sport without actually having to work your math-muscles, that we are now at the stage of World Cup 2010 where if you win a game, you stay in ... if you lose a game you go out. Simple! Today we check out the matchups for the (mostly!) upcoming Round of 16.

 

 

World Cup matches 26^th of June

There were no shocks in the first two (already played) matches of the Round of 16 - Uruguay knocked out the Korean Republic 2:1 (who truthfully, did extraordinarily well to get to the Round of 16), and Ghana beat the USA 2:1.

 

World Cup matches 27^th of June

Today we have Germany playing England ... two strong teams, but in the Round of 16 only one can go through. England has a slight advantage in the stats, but their performances in the Knockout stage left a lot to be desired. Argentina also play Mexico in a game that may well end up drawing, as over 40% of these two teams' games have.

 

World Cup matches 28^th of June

Today the Netherlands play Slovakia, and while Holland has much shorter odds to win the entire World Cup, they don't have the best record against the Slovakian team. Brazil will also play Chile, and odds and stats say that it will probably be a clean sweep by Brazil.

 

World Cup matches 29^th of June

If Japan manages to stand up against Paraguay, there'll be a lot of happy punters ... though it isn’t likely! In the main game of the day, Spain has twice as many goals and three times as many match wins as Portugal in their World Cup head-to-head record ... but there have been 12 draws.

 

Who'll win the 2010 World Cup?

Well, we haven't quite got the Delorien repaired yet to go grab that books of sports results from the future! Neither is Wikipedia obliging publishing such information, though you can find out just about anything else on there. Here are the current bookies odds (and also our best guesses!) on who'll win the 2010 World Cup.

 

Argentina        5.0 - 6.0

Brazil               4.0 - 4.33

Chile                41.0 - 51.0

England           10.0 - 12.0

Germany         11.0 - 15.0

Ghana              23.0 - 26.0

Holland           7.5 - 8.0

Japan               81.0 - 101.0

Mexico            61.0 - 81.0

Paraguay         34.0 - 46.0

Portugal           21.0 - 23.0

Slovakia          151.0 - 251.0

Spain               5.0 - 5.5

Uruguay          11.0 - 13.0

 

Tweeter's Cup

A few good ones that we couldn't resist including:

--- sreevass #worldcup has created a record high tweet rate of 3283 tweets/second #omgfacts @omgfacts

--- jelanigreenidge RT @davidlerner75 I think I just heard a vuvuzela being blown in B-natural. Tune that thing! #worldcup Dude that's hilarious.

--- CaptDankMorgan #worldcup .... #usa lost & i hope you're finally happy #fifa officials