One of the most impressive teams so far vs. the World Cup odds at the sportsbook has been Argentina. Many people that looked at sportsbook online odds expected that Argentina would struggle under their emotional and sometimes irrational head coach Diego Maradona, but so far Argentina has looked great.
Maradona has shown a lot of emotion in Argentina’s first two wins and it seems to be carrying over to his players. Argentina has two wins and probably will win Group B. They are coming off a 4-1 rout of South Korea as Lionel Messi made a number of great plays while Gonzalo Higuain had the hat trick. Messi is the best soccer player in the world and when he is on his game Argentina is nearly impossible to beat. He has not played that well in the past for his home team but he looks to be comfortable in this year’s World Cup.
Argentina might have the best front line of any team in the World Cup with Messi, Carlos Tevez and Higuain. Messi is capable of ripping through opposing defenses and dominating a game while Tevez and Higuain can finish. Messi wasn’t even at his best against South Korea and he still created a lot of chances. If these three players can avoid getting into ego battles and if Maradona doesn’t do something stupid, Argentina could go a long way in the World Cup. Argentina may not have the best defense but so far in this year’s World Cup there doesn’t look to be a lot of overwhelming offensive talent.
The round of 16 matchup definitely looks to be favorable for Argentina. If they win Group B as expected, they would face the second place team from Group A. That team will likely be either Mexico or Uruguay. Neither of those teams is extremely strong. If they faced Mexico it would be an exciting match since Mexico likes to press the action while they could have a tougher test against Uruguay who has a strong defense. France and South Africa still have outside chances but it looks to be Mexico and Uruguay that will emerge from Group A.
The group stage is still in progress but so far, Argentina looks like one of the better teams in the 2010 World Cup.