Here at GG, we’re passionate about our horse racing. But we love other sports too! As it’s the World Cup starting on Sunday, our writers Rob Plumbridge and Tom Aldridge have compiled their best pre-tournament bets on this year’s tournament.
We’ve also highlighted some of the best offers from the bookmakers to help you get the best offer for your bet.
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Tournament Outright
Rob Plumbridge: ARGENTINA look very well placed to go deep into this World Cup. They obviously have the talent of star man Lionel Messi peaking at absolutely the right time. It feels like a more balanced Argentina side to the previous few. They now have a proper defence in Lisandro Martinez and Cristian Romero, and a midfield which has plenty of backbone. Lautaro Martinez is sharing the goals load with Lionel Messi too. Add to this the fact they won the Copa America, so have big tournament credentials, it looks certain that they go close. It’s an easy looking group too, so they should be able to rotate plenty and give the squad some minutes.
It’s a tournament where you can pick holes in all of the teams at the top of the market, but I felt that Argentina had the winning mentality right now, and recent experience of winning a tournament is absolutely priceless come the latest stages.
I do think England will prove better than many are expecting after some poor recent form. They have proven savvy at navigating through tournaments the last twice, and have a forward line as good as any in the tournament. Ultimately, there fate lies in how the defence performs and organises as to how far they go.
Selection: Argentina (7/1 generally)
Tom Aldridge: It’s not very original but I’m backing the favourites BRAZIL. Their squad depth is enviable and they’re in red-hot form going into the tournament. They went unbeaten through qualification, finishing six points clear of Argentina and have run out comfortable winners in four friendlies since.
They’ve got the choice of the two best goalkeepers in the Premier League, solid centre back options, an array of world class midfield options and the best attacking options of any country at the World Cup. Their only downside is the full backs, but they may push Eder Militao out to right back and he’s a solid enough option. For left back, they’ll be hoping for a return to form for Alex Sandro, who may prefer to play in the Brazilian backline rather than the troubled Juventus defence.
Their group doesn’t look too difficult, and it would be disappointing if they didn’t finish top. Looking at their route to the final from there, they could play the runners-up of Group H, which I expect to be Uruguay. Brazil beat Uruguay home and away in their qualification so I’m confident they will overcome that.
The quarter finals I’m expecting them to face either Spain or Croatia, and I’m confident they will prove too strong for either side. It’s the semi-final when things start to get interesting, where they could face South American rivals Argentina in a thriller. If they get through that, I can’t see them losing in the final, where I expect them to face the current world cup holders France. The French will be missing Ngolo Kante and Paul Pogba in the middle and the Brazilians should prove too strong.
Selection: Brazil (4/1 Betfred, 7/2 generally)
Golden Boot
Rob Plumbridge:
LIONEL MESSI has to be stand out here at the prices. He’s 12/1 currently behind some of the other ‘top’ names like Neymar, Mbappe and Harry Kane. That doesn’t feel right to me at all. He’s in great form for PSG and Argentina right now. He scored all five in a rout of Estonia, further proving he is the main man. He’s on penalties and free kicks and when you look at the Argentina group, it’s genuinely hard to see him not scoring at the very least three goals (approximately half what you normally need to win the Golden Boot). Argentina face Mexico, Poland and Saudi Arabia so you’d imagine they win that well and score plenty in the process. He’s a superb each way play here.
The other outsider picks for me are Uruguay duo EDISON CAVANI and DARWIN NUNEZ at an enormous prices. They are 100/1 and 50/1 with Bet UK right now. Uruguay are going slightly under the radar, but I can actually see them topping their group of Portugal, Ghana and South Korea. Cavani scored four goals in Uruguay’s last five games so has to be of interest at triple-figure odds. Nunez scored in their latest win, and is coming to the boil for both club and country. I’m hoping one of them can bag a brace or hat-trick early on to set up an each-way return.
Selections: Lionel Messi e/w (10/1 – generally), Edison Cavani e/w (100/1 – BetVictor, BetUK, Unibet), Darwin Nunez e/w (50/1 – Unibet, BetUK)
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Tom Aldridge: There’s plenty of world class strikers heading to Qatar, including Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and the previous Golden Boot winner Harry Kane. However, it could hardly be better timing for LIONEL MESSI, who after a slightly disappointing season last year, has now hit top gear again and comes here determined to prove to the world he’s the greatest player of all time!With seven goals in qualifying and an astonishing TEN goals in Argentina’s four friendlies this year, he could hardly be in better form. Add to that he’s scored 12 goals in 19 games for PSG this year, and Argentina are currently on a 36 unbeaten streak, there’s a good chance Argentina could go deep into the tournament. They have a favourable group which they should be winning, and their route to the semi-finals looks one of the easier routes. If they are to go deep in the tournament, they will need Messi to be in-form in front of goal and he should be raring to go!
The other one I like at a big price is RICHARLISON, who judging by squad numbers should be Brazil’s starting striker ahead of Gabriel Jesus. He scored six goals in just eight games during qualifying, and has since scored four goals in their four friendlies this year.Supplied by the likes of Neymar, Vinicius Junior and Raphinha, it’s crazy that he’s available as big as 28/1. Brazil have a favourable route to the semi-finals and he should be a key player for them in that run. I’m expecting him to net 3-4 goals in the group stage, and judging by recent golden boot winners it will only take a couple more goals in the knockout stage to see him win the golden boot.
Selections: Lionel Messi (10/1 generally), Richarlison (28/1 e/w – Skybet, William Hill)
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Longshot Bet
Rob Plumbridge: I’ve gone for URUGUAY OUTRIGHT for my longshot at a very generous 50/1. They look to have a well-balanced side and one with plenty of attacking nous. It is crucial that they win their group, making the game vs Portugal a must-win. This will allow them an easier route to the big games where they can cause upsets.
In Sky Bet’s Request A Bet section I also located two other plays I thought were very interesting.
Lionel Messi and Harry Kane to score 10+ goals between them (14/1) looked massive in my eyes. Both England and Argentina have very easy groups and I think both teams go as far as the Quarter Finals. They are both on penalty duty and are the main scorers for their team. This could get exciting come knockout time.
As you can tell from my previews thus far, I’m expecting Messi to have a huge tournament. 66/1 for Argentina to win the World Cup, Messi to win the Golden Boot and Messi to win the Golden Ball was just too tempting not to throw a couple of quid on!
Tom Aldridge: I like the chances of Sky Bet’s Argentina and Brazil to win all their group games and Costa Rica and Saudi Arabia to lose all their group games at 50/1. This may be big odds but I think it has a fairly good chance of landing!
Argentina are on the verge of breaking Italy’s unbeaten record and have a fairly easy group, where they should be confident of qualifying after winning their first two games against Saudi Arabia and Mexico. The hope is that even if they rotate their squad, they should still prove too strong for Poland, and can head to the round of 16 with a 100% record.Brazil also have a fairly straightforward group, where they will aim to start strong and face their weakest opponents Cameroon in their final game, so even if they also rotate they should still have far too much quality and I’m confident they’ll win all three group games.Saudi Arabia’s chances of reaching the last 16 doesn’t look good, considering they face Argentina in the opening round before games against Poland and Mexico, where all three will be expecting to win what they will consider to be their easiest game of the group.Costa Rica arguably have an even more difficult group to contest, facing Spain in the opener, before tough games against Japan and Germany. Spain and Germany will fancy their chances of qualifying, and will need to get three points against Costa Rica to do so. Japan have won their last two games against Costa Rica and will need three points against them to have any chance of qualifying.The odds of 50/1 with Skybet looks a huge price when you look into all four countries’ fixtures, and I think this has a good chance of landing. I’ll be sure to have a couple of quid on it myself!
For sentimental reasons, I’ll also put up England to win the World Cup + Harry Kane to win the Golden Boot at 33/1, purely because I’d be gutted if it came in and I hadn’t backed it! Gareth Southgate has got us to the semi-final and final of the last two major tournaments, and with the likes of Bellingham, Foden, Saka and Maddison to supply Kane, he’s got to be in with a shout of winning back-to-back Golden Boots. England have a winnable group and there’s every chance we could go all the way. If we do, expect Harry Kane to be one of the main reasons!