Also rans.  Mid-table obscurity.  Think… Blackburn Rovers.

Normally not exactly where you want to be or what you strive for entering a competition.

However, this is no ordinary competition.  This is the betting equivalent of the 1970 World Cup.

As a result, a nice 10-15% profit is just not going to cut the mustard.  And so, I present to you our (profitable) mid-table no hopers.

No idea who these two jokers are, but here goes

Not Nixon’s WC predictions

Bet	Points	Odds	P/L
New Zealand to score between 1-2 goals	2	10/11	1.82
Nigeria under 4 goals	2	13/10	2.60
North Korea to score between 1-2 goals	2	5/6	1.67
Barrios top Paraguay goalscorer	2	4/1	-2.00
Serbia under 4 goals	2	2/1	4.00
Uraguay to score under 4 goals	2	11/10	-2.00
Messi to score more than Ronaldo	2	11/10	-2.00
Ronaldo to score between 1-2 goals in tournament	2	11/10	2.2
Brazil to win the WC	2	9/2	-2.00
South Africa to be most entertaining team	2	25/1	-2.00
			2.28

BOTW Review

A nice 10% profit here for resident sky blue Not Nixon.  A few very nice +EV selections in my eyes.

I spent 5 minutes trying to pick one of these bets to give a bit of a slating to to make Dayno feel better.  But to be honest I couldn’t really find one.

Without the benefit of hindsight, I liked these selections a lot pre-tournament, particularly the New Zealand, Nigeria and Messi vs. Ronaldo selections.

I have to be honest, I have made the sweeping assumption that the Black Stars or Diego and the boys were named as the most entertaining team… but I really have no idea.  Please correct me if I am wrong!

As an aside while we are on Not’s selections – He was kind enough to send me a goalscorer match bet pre-tournament.  Gonzalo Higuain vs. Jermaine Defoe.

Mr Nixon heavily fancied JD.

Only kidding.  He was actually correctly all over the Real Madrid ace like the Germans were all over the Aussie/England/Argie backlines… The question is why didn’t this cracker make it into the selections?!

Moving on…

Karl’s WC predictions

Bet	Points	Odds	P/L
France to qualify from Group A	4	2/5	-4.00
Argentina to win Group B	4	8/15	2.13
Germany to win Group D	4	10/11	3.64
Chile straight forecast Group H	2	5/4	2.50
Chile to qualify from Group H	3	4/6	2.00
Van Persie top goalscorer	1 e/w	22/1	-2.00
Aguero top goalscorer	0.5 e/w	66/1	-1.00
			3.27

BOTW review

So the bookies have cleaned up.  The top two pre tournament favourites won’t even be playing European football next season.

BOTW’s resident scouse red bows out early, albeit with a respectable 15% profit.

Again, there are a number of good selections here.  I would even still back the French to get out of that group around 70% of the time despite their shambolic turnout this time around.

Aguero’s role clearly misjudged a touch, but for such a tiny punt it is more of a missed opportunity than a loss.

Conclusion

Solid, efficient work.  Some would say they are like the betting equivalents of Phil Neville and Lee Carsley.

But not me.  I’m not that rude.

Still – tip of the cap from me on these gents.

So that leaves us three fighting out for the European places and the coveted BOTWCPC (“Bet of the Week Whirled Coop Predictions Competition”) title.

Who will be taking home the crown?  And will it be won by some Di Canioesque inspiration or by Zinedine Zidane style total domination?

All will be revealed tomorrow night…