Later this afternoon from 15.00 GMT, the draw for the 2018 Football World Cup will take place. All eyes will be on England to see who they come up against in the group stages of the competition and whether we have a chance of progressing out of the pool. The further England go in the cup, the more we will be able to celebrate whilst we make more money with matched betting.
Here’s what Gareth Southgate, the current England manager, told BBC Sport ahead of the draw:
‘We’ve got to attempt to win each game, be as prepared as we can be, and see how far we can go. Of course, a lot of these players are going to peak in two to four years’ time, but we can’t just write off the tournament. I don’t think anyone in England would accept that.’
‘We can’t go to a World Cup and not try to win it.’
England have not been incredibly successful at the major tournaments in recent history. They’ve not won a knockout game since the 2006 World Cup held in Germany, when we were later knocked out in the quarter-finals by Portugal.
Potential Draw
So, what other countries may we come up against in our pool?
Well, you could the say the good news is we know we won’t be facing Spain in the group stages as we’re in the second pot of seeded teams.
A tricky draw for the Three Lions could see them meet five-time winners Brazil, Egypt and Serbia all in the first few weeks of the tournament. This would certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons.
An easier draw for England would see them play Poland, Iran and Panama. However, we all know that England seem to have struggled against the perceived weaker teams in the past.
Odds and Predictions
Currently the favourites to win the 2018 World Cup are Germany, Brazil or France. You may even add Spain into the runnings but it’s unlikely another team will take the cup home. Below are the odds at the time of writing for the favourite three teams.
Bet365
Germany: 6.0
Brazil: 6.0
France: 6.5
Ladbrokes
Germany: 6.0
Brazil: 6.0
France: 6.0
Smarkets
Germany: 6.2
Brazil: 6.6
France: 7.6
Let’s not right off England though. At Bet365, they have odds of 17.0 (16/1) to win outright. A long shot maybe, but we’ve still got to believe.
You can check out a complete comparison of odds and teams using Oddschecker.
Matched Betting and The 2018 World Cup
As usual, matched bettors thrive off major sporting events. We can make a serious amount of money in quite a short space of time. Many bookmakers will be offering generous offers to increase betting revenues and profits during the 2018 World Cup. With matched betting, we can make a guaranteed profit from a lot of these offers. You can find out how this possible by checking out our make money with matched betting article.
Read our what is matched betting article here.
The better England do in the 2018 Russian World Cup, the more offers we’ll have to complete back here in England. It’s a win win for us.
You won’t want to miss out on any of these offers, so be sure to stay tuned in here at The Sure Bettor. We’ll provide all the information, tools and support required to help you make money online from the 2018 Football World Cup.
In the meantime, let’s hope England get a comfortable draw later today.
Update
So England were drawn in a fairly easy pool alongside Belgium, Panama and Tunisia. The only tough team in our pool being Belgium. It will be a huge disappointment for us back home if England don’t make it through to the knockout stages. There’s no underestimating the Belgium team though. Here’s what Gareth Southgate said after the draw:
‘We need to find out more about Tunisia and Panama as we haven’t been tracking them.’
‘We know everything about Belgium. I think that will capture the imagination back home as they have so many players in our league. They have probably the best group of players they’ve ever had.
My experience of tournaments is you need to get a result in all three matches. In the past we’ve assumed we’ll be in certain rounds but we need to make sure we get out of our group.’
England have not lost to Belgium in their past 11 games so if that’s something to go by then we should do alright.
Who’s got the toughest group?
So the big question, who’s got the most difficult group? Arguably, Group B is the hardest group to qualify from. It contains Portugal, Spain, Iran and Mexico, all of whom have a decent football pedigree.
Group F also look like a tricky group with the reining champions Germany alongside Mexico, Sweden and South Korea.
Stay tuned in and you won’t miss an opportunity to profit from the 2018 Football World Cup.