Argentina have booked their place in the World Cup finals and have seen their odds cut to become one of the favourites for victory in Russia next summer.
The majority of the line-up is now complete and the favourites are very much in place after the Argentine’s confirmed their place with a 3-1 win at Ecuador – with Lionel Messi helping himself to a hat-trick.
Now Messi and Co are amongst the hot favourites to claim the trophy next summer…indeed, the top-five in the market are dominating.
“Although we are some eight months away, the Bookmakers are on the ball here – although we understand some wise Punters were quick to get on Argentina when they were as big as 20/1 in some places for the World Cup during their struggles in qualifying,” revealed OddsMonkey spokesman Peter Watton.
“Now the Bookmakers have reacted and generally they are 8/1 across the board, Germany are just edging the market at 6/1 but there is not much between the top give – Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Spain and France.
“Clearly this is a market where we can see some value – with it 14/1 bar the top five.
“And whilst Messi’s Argentina are amongst the favourites, the same can’t be said for Cristiano Ronaldo’s European champions Portugal – they also only sealed qualification in their final game, but they are as long as 25/1 in places.
“England are showing little support and have gone out as far as 22/1 and other European heavyweights like Italy are equally unfancied – also around 22/1.”
Selected World Cup odds:
Germany 5/1
France 5/1
Brazil 6/1
Spain 7/1
Argentina 8/1
Belgium 14/1
Italy 20/1
England 20/1
Portugal 25/1
