Sports fans all over the world are less than 96 hours away from dealing with a painful withdrawal as World Cup 2010 wraps up. But there is one thing left to do – crown a champion!
All eyes will be on that championship game in Soccer City Stadium on Sunday, featuring the all European matchup between the Netherlands and Spain.
The Dutch earned a berth by defeating Uruguay in a 3-2 thriller in the semifinal, while the Spanish played their best game of the tourney in defeating the Germans 1-0.
Online sportsbooks have released odds for the title game. SPORTSBETTING.com have the Dutch at +198, while the Spaniards have been established as -111 favorites.
Over/Under bettors note that the Total has been set at 2.5.
Spain is no stranger to championship games recently, as they are the defending Euro champion, having taken the 2008 tournament in Vienna. In fact, looking at the World Cup odds heading into the 2010 tournament, Spain was the favorite to win it all at odds of +400.
The Spanish, however, have been slightly one-dimensional on their offensive attack.
The team has only netted seven goals through six games in South Africa, but five of them have come from forward David Villa.
On the other hand, goalkeeper Iker Casillas has been brilliant, allowing only two goals and making 12 saves thus far.
Spain has amassed 5 wins, 0 draws and 1 loss during its 2010 campaign and with that, 1 Over and 5 Unders as well.
Despite being listed as underdogs by sportsbooks, the Netherlands have come through to the final game boasting a nicely balanced attack.
The Dutch have scored 12 goals, which is good enough for second amongst all the teams in this World Cup (Germany currently is the highest scoring team with 13).
Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder leads the squad with five goals, like Villa, but has had more support.
Fellow midfielder Arjen Robben has a pair of goals followed by four players with a goal each.
But while the Netherlands has scored more goals than Spain, they have also allowed more as well – goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg has watched five balls go by him.
The Dutch have had the honor of going through South Africa 2010 without conceding a loss thus far (6-0-0 SU) but then the question is, will they finish with a perfect record or are they due for a loss?
They have 4 Overs and 2 Unders to go with the six wins.
SPORTSBETTING.com manager Brian Taylor gave us some insight into the World Cup betting for the final, “it’s been pretty even action so far, with 41% on Spain, 36% on the Netherland and 23% on the “Draw after regulation” option.”
Total bettors have 61% on the “Over” 2.5 goals heading into Friday betting action.
As a side note, Uruguay and Germany will play the third-place game on Saturday and sportsbooks have the Uruguayans listed as heavy +410 underdogs and the Germans as -188 faves with a Total of 2.5.
It’s been a fun month filled with great goals and some really bad officiating (we won’t dwell on the negative though).
Enjoy the World Cup final.
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