World Cup Bets

World Cup Bets

The wait is almost over as not much time is left for the preparations for the 2016 FIFA World Cup. The “Socceroos”, the nickname for the Australian National Team, has already qualified for the championship, making the wait all the more worthwhile. This will be the fourth time; they will appear in the finals since the 1974, 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Not surprising, the event is going to be a major sports betting extravaganza. Punters will be able to bet online and get a sense of being close to the action. The online betting websites have pooled the resources together to get instant results, stats and betting odds as well as the best football betting tips around to give you the edge. It is easier than ever to put out your wagers and make wise betting decisions.

FIFA World Cup Qualifiers

The FIFA World Cup tournament has been going on since 1930. It has been contested after every four year interval, without fail except for during the Second World War. Australia first qualified for the FIFA World Cup Championship in 1974 and after a long wait they managed to qualify for the tournament again in 2006. This gave a much needed boost to the existing National Soccer League at home. Since then, Australia has qualified in the 2010 and 2014 tournaments.

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Australia has won the Oceania Football Confederation championship four times which places them currently at their highest ever FIFA ranking, the14th in the world. So come the summers of next year, it shall be an interesting time for the national team.

On April 11, 2001 in the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification match against American Samoa. Australia made two world records, which are still standing; the biggest win in an international match and the most goals scored by a single player. The final score of the match was embarrassing for the opposition as Australia won at 31-0 with Archie Thompson and David Zdrilic scoring 13 and 8 goals, respectively.

Soccer at home!

One of the recent book titles by John Grisham, the renowned novelist, is called “Playing for Pizza”. It makes for an interesting read, as it narrates the story of an American Football player who goes to Italy, the heart of soccer in Europe, to play a “no-so-popular” sport. I imagine, a soccer player from Italy might find himself in a very similar scenario if he makes the trip down to Oceania.

Soccer or Association football might be coined as arguably the “most popular sport” around the world and the masculine agility may often be associated with the game, but it’s a different story in Oceania. Australian football and Rugby definitely have a much greater foothold over here.

The FIFA World Cup is a major championship at the international level, but a lot of the action worldwide lies in the domestic & international club level leagues as well. Clubs are usually associated with the city or area they hail from for e.g. the Sydney City club from Sidney.

The story of the evolution of Association football in Australia is one of struggle. It’s not that Aussies have not embraced the sport at all but crowd numbers are not in any way comparable with a Rugby Union or Rugby league match. This is the reason that the league calendars for the soccer league is made so as not to overlap with the Australian Football and Rugby league season.

Unfortunately, the Australian soccer league collapsed shortly afterwards in 2004. This was in part, because of the cancellation of the 2001 FIFA World Cup Championship. Also the growing number of national club players leaving to other international clubs for more lucrative opportunities, left an exodus in the national league.

The league was revived in the later part of 2005. However most of the players in the Australian National Soccer team’s line-up are from other international clubs, as the domestic league is not considered up to the standards of the international championship.

Even so, Australia were at the top of their group in the FIFA World cup qualifying rounds, which makes them one of the first nations to qualify for the championship finals. This means that the road to Johannesburg looks promising; who knows, this might be a time when the Socceroos will rise from being the underdog and claim their rightful place in soccer history. Australia is no longer immune to the world’s favorite sport!

Betting in the FIFA World Cup

The internet offers some of the best opportunities to get some action on the FIFA World Cup games. Betting information is kept up-to-date, where punters can simply browse through the listings with all the information a bettor would require. In addition to these, many websites offer bracket information for the next FIFA World Cup Championship in South Africa. There is always something new to discover about the sport teams and the match-ups. Content like field analysis, whether forecasts, team performance charts, as well as news from the personal lives of the players are all available in one place.

The stakes will be higher this time round, and so will be the rewards. When it comes to the World Cup, anything can happen, no matter what the outcome turns out to be. All the tools are available online with fixed odds available on many website and more. Each fixture will be followed very carefully and major bookmakers already accept wagers in advance. So put your game face on, the wait is almost over!