World Cup 2014 Qualifiers Betting

As the noise of the vuvuzelas fade and South Africa becomes a distant memory, it’s time to think about using some free bet offers as we look forward to Brazil 2014.

The qualifiers start on 22 March, and with the World Cup due to take place from 12 June to 13 July 2014 the bookies are already giving away some betting offers to start the ball rolling.

This will be the second time Brazil has hosted the World Cup, the first being way back in 1950. Brazil is the fifth country to host it twice, along with Mexico, Italy, France and Germany.

It’s actually the first World Cup to be held in South America since the 1978 competition in Argentina and the odds for World Cup 2014 to be the most bet on tournament in history are pretty high with bookies expecting a massive turnout.

World Cup Favourite Betting

Of course, playing on home turf can be an advantage – just look at England ‘66, West Germany ‘74, Argentina ‘78, and France ’98 – and it seems to be working already for Brazil, currently the favourite to win at 3/1 at most online bookies.

But if you don’t fancy Brazil there are plenty of other teams to use those free bet offers on.

The other teams in the top four are Argentina 5/1, Spain 5/1 and Germany 8/1. And then there are a host of other teams to consider. The Netherlands and Italy are at 15/1 at the best bookies, with under-performing England at 20/1, Uruguay and France at 25/1, and Mexico at 30/1.

Brazil has won the World Cup five times, home support will be massive, and they have a vibrant, young squad with the ability to beat the best. Maybe they are a good bet when deciding how to use those World Cup betting offers like Ladbrokes free bet offer for new customers.

Of course, Argentina will be hungry to beat their arch-rivals. They have a great team which includes Lionel Messi and Erik Lamela and are well equipped in attack, but their defence might prove an issue, something that online bookies have reflected in their odds.

Spain became the first European team to win the World Cup away from Europe, beating Holland in South Africa in 2010. Outside of Europe once more, they are definitely worth a punt especially if using one of the free bet offers that bookies are promoting.

Despite poor performance at the European Championships, Germany is a young and hugely talented side who’ll reach their peak around 2014. If they strengthen their defence and work harder when not in possession, they’ll be real contenders in Rio and worth backing if you can get some decent odds to go with your free bet.

Of course it’s really wide open at this stage and hard to know who's going to give you a return on your free bet. Uruguay have never failed to qualify and will present a strong, skilful side. They were semi-finalists last time and are definitely worth thinking about.

World Cup Betting On England

England’s problem is likely to be ball retention; they may have Rooney, but it’s the same, old story that’s dogged England for years. Mind you, miracles happen and if you fancy a punt on a probable outsider you might want to use your betting offers here as the odds will be good - especially with more European bookmakers as UK bookies tend to offer lower odds.

Holland were runners up in South Africa and will be hoping to better their performance this time around which can only be achieved by winning World Cup 2014. The odds for them are likely to shorten, so it might be worth using free bets now and backing them quickly.

Right now, there’s everything to play for and scores of World Cup betting markets to choose from; top goalscorer, competition winner, group winners, hat-trick and penalty shoot-out betting specials. So join the carnival and get your betting offers ready before next July when the 32 finalists meet at the Maracana Stadium in Rio for the 2014 World Cup!