Hi,

There's no doubt the World Cup will be a spectacle beyond compare with those annoying African horns only slightly more annoying than the attempts of not very bright ex footballers trying to fill in 15 minutes at half time (I hope they employ Dean Windass - on a par IQ wise with a not very bright chimpanzee) with observances like "the lad got the ball and kicked it in the net, and here we see a better angle. The lad got the ball, just there, and kicked it in the net".

The World Cup is a week away and if you want to profit, I would suggest looking into the betting angles now!

If you know specifically what you want to do, rather than approaching each event in a laissez faire style, you are more likely to profit.

So ask yourself, which markets will I be focusing on? Well for me, I will be using Betfair exclusively and the wide range of markets therein. Markets of interest for me will be:

- Halftime/fulltime markets which I will approach from a laying angle - the angle being it is difficult enough to win a match in full time, let alone at half time and fulltime as well.

- Under/over 1.5, 2.5 goal markets. Some teams will be set up to defend, others to attack.

- Match odds markets which I will approach from a backing/laying and trading angle. (Remembering that when we are laying, we effectively cover 2 out of 3 bets!)

- Goalscorer markets. We have, assembled in front of us, the best finishers on the planet (apart from Kevin Doyle alas who couldn't make it thanks to some cheating froggy) and in games which are likely to be mismatches, expect the cream to rise to the top.

- Correct score markets. These markets can be dutched (i.e. we can still profit by backing more than one outcome here and hope that we have covered the final score).

- Multiple markets. There may be days where there are many good betting opportunities that can be exploited in accumulators, and Betfair multiples will offer us the best accumulators as we can lay as well as back (although I do acknowledge that Betfair's prices leave a lot to be desired in their Multiples section).

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These will be my main markets and I will be looking for betting angles.

I will also be focusing on specific teams this World Cup. Just like I focus on specific leagues during the season, by specifying your betting to certain teams you will, I hope, get to know the personnel better: the likeliest goalscorers, any potential weaknesses (especially if certain personnel are injured) and so forth.

My teams to personally follow will be Slovenia (potential dark horses), South Korea (could be tough to break down), New Zealand (likely out of their depth), USA (likely improvers), Brazil (should spank teams when priced to do so), Eng-er-land (I know the personnel already), Argentina (crap manager but a wealth of attacking flair and if they gel, then they will be an attacking tour de force, likely vulnerable at the back = goals?), Spain ( if they click, well...), Netherlands (I mentioned Robben on more than one occasion this season and he really is crucial to their chances).

Knowing which teams to focus on can allow us to ignore certain matches from a betting perspective and focus on games involving teams we are more familiar with.

Between now and the World Cup, there will be World Cup supplements coming out of our ears! Do take advantage of these to garner opinion, and if certain opinions resonate with you, take them on board. Remember at all times though that other peoples' opinions are just their views and nothing else.

Nothing substitutes your own research. In a one off tournament there are likely to be a lot of teams with no collateral form. Do make your first stop Fifa and also take advantage of the tabloid websites for the likely up to date gossip on players, injuries, and what Posh Spice ate or breakfast.

I'll be weighing in with my tuppence thanks to the free service I will offer or the duration of the World Cup, in strategic matches. It will be in a live chat format, and not really exclusively me talking and you listening. I want it to be a 2 way street. I hope it will increase profits, so do sign up - it is priced very competitively (erm, free!).

Clive's World Cup Chat

How to fortell a likely scoreline...

Well there are 2 ways to foretell a likely scoreline this World Cup. One is to get Russell Grant's phone number (although he might be starring in Gladiator 2 as a very camp astrologer) and the other is to use the bookmakers.

This should work well in one off tournaments such as the World Cup, because, as mentioned earlier, there is a chance a number of teams will not have played each other before.

So, use the Asian handicap markets to ascertain likely scorelines.

Here are some recent examples.

England ladies v Malta ladies. The Asian handicap market had England priced up +6.5 goals. Translated into English, this means the market makers expected England to win 5-0, 6-0, or 7-0 to make deciding on under 6.5 goals or over 6.5 goals a difficult decision.

And they were spot on!

England's ladies won 6-0.

Zimbabwe played Brazil lately, and the Asian handicap market made for interesting reading. They gave Brazil a 2.5 goal start meaning they expected Brazil to win 2-0, or 3-0.

Brazil won 3-0.

Let's look at yesterday's friendly between Spain and South Korea.

On paper, expectation was or a comfortable Spanish win, but the Asian Handicap markets put up a quote of +1.5 and +2 or Spain, meaning they were expecting a tight game of around 1-0, 2-0.

Spain found it extremely difficult and eventually made a late breakthrough to win 1-0.

So, this World Cup, do check out the Asian Handicap markets (I use Betfair, but I am sure the traditional online bookies will be accurate) on matches that you find difficult to read. We are effectively using the might of the traders and market makers to give us a clue as to what they feel will be the likely scoreline for free.

So, prepare yourself now for the World Cup, and I hope to interact with a number of you during the World Cup.

I'm off now to try on some of my Nelson Mandela style silk shirts, and dance around a la Mandela ready for the World Cup!

Have a great weekend.

Clive

ps: Remember, if you want to get in on my free 2010 World Cup live chats make sure you put your name in here:

Clive's World Cup Chat