Oddsboard Sports Betting Articles

MLB Baseball | NBA Basketball | NCAA Basketball | NFL Football | NCAA Football | NHL Hockey

View All Sports Handicapper Articles

Every four years, the World Cup rolls around and all of your skinny friends who played soccer in high school and all of your foreign mates get all worked up over what is the most important, most exciting, most incredible sporting event in the entire world. You usually just get drunk, realize the jersey you bought as a would-be-bandwagon-fan is too tight, catch a couple of games and then mostly forget the whole thing ever happened.

But the times are achangin. More and more people in the States are getting into the worlds game, making the trash talk and the viewing experience more enjoyable than ever. At it doesnt hurt that America isnt dreadful, anymore, nevermind its performance in 2006. With all of the games happening before you go off to work or around your lunch time (that is, if you arent a fanatic whos decided to take four weeks off of work), the television schedule works out pretty well for us here. Throw in the fact that ESPN or ABC will be showing every single game, and using the incredible Martin Tyler (English Premier League commentator of the decade) and John Harkes (the man who scored the first goal in MLS history and a player from the 1994 squad), and you have all the elements for a perfect presentation. Sure, decent scheduling and great commentators cant make the games go faster or make the teams score more goals, and theyll do little to drown out the infernal buzzing from the noisemakers in the South African stadiums, but they help.

If youre going to be throwing down pints for almost a month surrounded by people more knowledgeable than you, you should have a little bit of knowledge to make it look like you know what youre talking about. Besides, the majority of women who dig soccer are fairly hot (unlike female fans of American football), so it helps to be able to carry your weight just a little, or at least fake until the match is over and she needs someone to drive her home.

What follows is a thumbnail sketch of some of the biggest contenders, put in terms of American sports to help you understand and not just sit there nodding your head like some dumb dog.

We should start with our own boys first. While the Americans are not yet consistently ranked in the top 10, we are getting better and better. After making it to the quarterfinals in 2002, we fell apart in 2006, winning no games in our eighth World Cup appearance. Think of the Yanks as a team that has moved to a new market, maybe akin to the New Orleans Hornets. We had some success very early, specifically soccers greatest upset against England in 1950, and then went away for a long time, terrible for decades. Then we surged a bit (consider 1994 our move to New Orleans) before faltering in the late 90s (early years in New Orelans) and then returning to good form in 2002 (consider this the Hornets in 2008 NBA playoffs).

This year we enter the Cup kind of in a middle ground. Were better than 2006 but probably not as good as 2002. One thing we can do is score goals. Landon Donovan is arguably the greatest American soccer player in history, and Clint Dempsey is as legitimate threat as almost anyone in soccer to score a goal. He is a fierce competitor whose claws have been sharpened thanks to years of playing against the best competition in England. They are joined by Edson Buddle, who has been amazing for the L.A. Galaxy and young phenom Jozy Altidore, a 20 year-old who has played at every level for the U.S. team. Not quite LeBron James, well call him Brandon Jennings for now. In goal is Tim Howard, one of the best keepers in the world. You will hear about him no matter what happens in the match, because he has a form of Tourette Syndrome, and the announcers need to remind the uninitiated quite a bit.

So, weve got good scorers and a great keeper, we must be all set, right? Not exactly. One, we have a tendency to give the ball to the other team. Thats always a problem and even a bigger one when you get to our second biggest issue defense. The Americans are soft and porous on defense. Call us the Phoenix Suns of years past. We dont handle stronger and more physical teams well. Our biggest defender is Oguchi Onyewu, and hes not even fully recovered from injury. Call him Amare Stoudemire.

I predict we Yanks lose to England and then pull out one win and one tie against Slovenia and Algeria. That would leave us with four points, and probably enough to take us to the second round and a likely match against Germany. Matches against Germany and England in the same World Cup would make for a pretty historic couple of weeks. If we got by Germany, my math says wed play the winner of Argentina vs. Mexico. But were getting ahead of ourselves.

Now that youre all caught up on U.S. soccer, lets have a few comparisons for the main contenders. After all, if the girl youre hitting on at the pub might not be American.

Always a bridesmaid, only once a bride, in 1966. The English always seem to play with such a profound pressure applied by themselves and their fatalistic fans. Rarely do they live up to the hype. Well call them the pre-2004 Boston Red Sox. They are led by Wayne Rooney, one of the worlds best players.

Argentina has won two World Cups and has some of the great talent. However, they barley made the Cup, having to rely on 90th minute goal by Mario Bolatti to beat Uruguay and qualify for the Cup. The biggest news of late has been their coach, Diego Maradona, whom Argentines consider the greatest soccer player of all time. Turns out he was a better player than a coach. His intense personality ran off the teams star player Juan Romn Riquelme. The team seems to be a mess of late, but sometimes heavily criticized teams surprise everyone. In 2006, many said Germany attacked too much and could not play defense, and they ended up being a few miracle Italian goals from the final. Which Argentine team will we see amidst all the drama? Who knows. Well call them the Jerry Jones Cowboys.

David Villa and Fernando Torres are probably the best striking pair in the world and lead the Spain, one of the two favorites at this World Cup. In addition to their strikers, they have the best midfield in the world and incredible keepers, and their defense aint too shabby, either. Amazingly, they always fail to live up to expectations and have never won a World Cup. However, they won the EuroCup in 2008 and have won all 10 of their World Cup qualifying matches. This may be the tournament where they stop being the soccer worlds Buffalo Bills.

Brazil: 5, Italy: 4, England: 1, Argentina: 2, Germany: 3, France: 1, Uruguay: 2

The Yankees, the Celtics, the Duke Blue Devils. Make whatever comparison you want, Brazil is the greatest       team the world has known. Sure, Italy has won four titles, but it feels like nobody is close to Brazils five titles in 1 cups. How good are they? The world famous Ronaldinho isnt even on this years team. Dont be surprised if they return to their rightful place in the title match.