World Cup 2006 Group Stage Review - Phase Two- Part One

By:David Walker

All 32 teams have played two matches as the World Cup groups have started to take shape. Some teams have qualified for the knockout stage while others will sweat on the last match. This is a short round-up of Groups A to D, of the results as they stand after two matches.

Group A

1. Ecuador 6pts, 2. Germany 6pts, 3. Poland 0pts, 4. Costa Rica 0pts

Ecuador are the unlikely leaders of Group A and have secured their place in the last 16 with a convincing 3-0 win over rock-bottom Costa Rica. Second goals of the tournament from Tenorio, Delgado and one from former Crystal Palace flop Kaviedes saw a good value bet at 11/10.

Germany, on the other hand, were 1/2 odds-on jollies to beat a disappointing Poland but needed a last gasp goal from veteran Oliver Neuville to see them off and join Ecuador in the knockout stage.

Group B

1. England 6pts, 2. Sweden 4pts, 3. Trinidad & Tobago 1pt, 4. Paraguay 0pts

England were expected to trounce Trinidad & Tobago and cement their place at the top of Group B and the last 16. However, the Caribbean side put in a tremendous performance and only two late goals from Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard spared their blushes at 2/9.

Sweden also needed a late goal against Paraguay to put one foot in the second round. Freddie Ljungberg netted the winner with two minutes left on the clock for the 4/5 Swedes.

Group C

1. Argentina 6pts, 2. Holland 6pts, 3. Ivory Coast 0pts, 4. Serbia & Montenegro 0pts

Argentina treated a global audience to a feast of beautiful football as they demolished Serbia & Montenegro 6-0. Argentina were 4/7 favourites but the price was secondary to the best 90 minutes of entertainment of the tournament so far. Maxi Rodriguez after six and 41 minutes sandwiched Esteban Cambiasso’s effort on 31 to give them a commanding half-time lead. The second half produced three more goals from Hernan Crespo after 78 minutes, Carlos Tevez on 84 and Lionel Messi with two minutes left.

Buoyed on by Argentina’s glittering performance, 4/6 Holland wasted no time against the Ivory Coast and struck after 22 and 25 minutes through Ruud van Nistelrooy and Robin van Persie. However, the Africans hit back through Arouna Kone on 37 to set up a tense afternoon.

Group D

1. Portugal 6pts, 2. Mexico 4pts, 3. Angola 1pt, 4. Iran 0pts

Portugal qualified comfortably for the second round with a 2-0 win over bottom of the table Iran. A goal from Deco after 63 minutes and Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty with 10 minutes remaining, secured an odds-on win at 1/2.

Mexico were left sweating on second round qualification after managing only a goalless draw with Angola. Goalkeeper Joao Ricardo, who hasn’t had a club for three years was magnificent on the evening to set up an unlikely draw at 5/2.

Digg del.icio.us Blink Stumble Spurl Reddit Netscape Furl

Article keywords: free world cup bets, world cup 2006 review, germany 2006

Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

David Walker runs a free World Cup bets websikte. You can watch live football online during this year's World Cup.

Top Gambling Articles
1). Baseball Betting: bet on Phillies & Dodgers to continue streak! By : Bob Acton The good thing about wagering on sports this time of year is that with a plethora of activity, you may fine a soft line here or there if you probe hard enough. Two teams who are beginning to get healthy and make some noise are the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Philadelphia Phillies seek to push their winning streak to 10 games for the first time in nearly 15 years when they wrap up a three-game series against resurgent Tom Glavine and the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday.
2). Learn Caribbean Stud Poker Rules By : Pokkercards All the games we have looked so far involved betting against other players. But this game is different; here everyone plays against the casino or room which acts as a bank (dealer), paying out all winning bets. To win you have to beat the dealer’s hand, other player’s hands don’t make a difference. First each player makes an ante (initial blind bet) and is dealt 5 cards face down.
3). Top Online Casino Payout Rates By : Sage Kalmus Most all top online casinos voluntarily subject themselves to regular audits (usually monthly) by a qualified and reputable third party firm, such as Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC). These audits generally focus on two aspects of the online casino’s operations: their random number generator and their payout rates. The latter -- payout rates -- is the subject of this article.
4). Which games to play at online casinos? By : Michael Heighen Copyright 2006 Michael Heighen Online casinos, also known as virtual casinos, are online versions of traditional ("brick and mortar") casinos. Online casinos enable gamblers to play and wager on casino games through the Internet. Online casinos generally offer odds and payback percentages that are comparable to land-based casinos. Some online casinos claim higher payback percentages for slot machine games, and some publish payout percentage audits on their websites.
5). Premiership Season Preview 2006/07 - Charlton Athletic By : David Walker Charlton Athletic Odds: 1500/1 Last Five Seasons 2005/06 - 13 (Premiership), 2004/05 - 11 (Premiership), 2003/04 - 7 (Premiership), 2002/03 - 12 (Premiership), 2001/02 - 14 (Premiership). 2005/06 Cup Progress FA Cup Sixth Round (replay) vs Middlesbrough (a) - lost 4-2. Carling Cup Fourth Round vs Blackburn Rovers (h) - lost 3-2. Top Goal Scorer 2005/06: Darren Bent (striker) - 22 goals.
6). Cheating at Roulette - Can You Do It? By : Stephen Todd If you are searching on the net, you will find many authors who claim "cheating at roulette" is possible and by doing it you can win consistent profits.
7). Poker Money Management - Don't Make These Two Common Mistakes! By : Stephen Todd Here we will give you some general guidelines on poker money management and the two most common errors that players make, that increase the odds of losing dramatically.
8). Are You Interested In Playing Poker? By : Roger Wembley Maybe you recently caught a glimpse of the show Celebrity Poker and all it took was one episode and you found yourself hooked. Or maybe, all your friends have been raving about how addictive the game is and how much money they’ve won. Now you know you're getting a little bit interested, no matter even if you think taht curiosity has indeed started to kill the cat.
9). What Are The Odds – Big Slick Suited By : R Mongoose Every list of texas holdem starting hands has Big Slick suited (AKs in poker shorthand) near the top. It is a very powerful starting hand, and one that shows a profit over time if played well. But, it is not a made hand by itself, and cannot be treated like one. Lets look at some of the odds involving AKs before the flop. Against any pair, even a lowly pair of twos, Big Slick at best a coin flip.
10). Online Casino Bonus Is Hard To Choose, Even Harder To Profit From By : Ralf Vinogradov All online casinos offer a tremendous variety of bonuses to their players. Some of these bonuses are so huge that we have to raise our eyebrows and ask: Is it really possible to give away thousands of dollars and stay in profit at the same time? The answer is simple - yes it is. Although some very skilled Danish players (or if I may - bonus abusers) made constantly big profits and financially devastated some smaller online casinos who had to stop giving bonuses to Danish players.

New Gambling Articles
1). General Tips To Improve Your Poker Game By : Bob Bastian Poker is a game of chance. You play the hand you are dealt and the highest wins. So how can you improve your odds in such a game where your hand depends on the cards you hold?
2). Poker Tips: Understanding Good Hands From Bad Hands By : Bob Bastian Though poker is predominantly a game of chance, there is quite a bit of skill that is associated with your becoming a good player. Knowing what action to take and precisely when to take it can be crucial to your winning or losing the game.
3). Poker Chip Set And The Concept Of By : David Mclauchlan When we say, "poker chip set" we are basically referring to the whole package of poker chips. This is the common concept that most of the
4). Poker - The Card Game By : David Mclauchlan We all know that the poker card game is played from every part of the world today, but outside from this fact, the poker card game is widely
5). Five Tips For Improving Your Low-Limit Game By : Bob Bastian Poker is a game of chance. Your winning the game depends very heavily on the hand you have, but there is a certain amount of strategy that you can incorporate into your game that can, help you overcome that hand when used correctly.
6). Poker Tips: Watching Other Players To Improve Your Game By : Bob Bastian The more you know about the game of poker, and more specifically, the particular poker variant you are playing, the more you will understand about the other players. This is key to your game, and can even sometimes make the difference between winning or losing it.
7). Baseball Betting: number’s don’t lie! By : Bob Acton When betting major league baseball it is very wise to pay attention to the numbers, as teams and players seem to own certain pitchers or clubs, but also struggled mightily against others. We warned you at the start of the year about Johnson for the Yankees. Randy Johnson is 5-2 through seven starts. But that's not as good as it looks. Facing a Tampa.
8). A Friendly Game Of Texas Holdem? By : Warren Kuhl When playing online Texas holdem there is rarely such thing as a friendly game of poker. If you want to be a winning player at Texas hold em you cannot afford to keep the game friendly. Now you do not have to belittle players and talk trash to win, doing that is simply poor manners and being rude, but you do need to be aggressive in your Texas hold em playing strategy.
9). How To Choose Online Casino By : Ralf Vinogradov * Understand the BONUS This is always hard to understand for newbies - "$1000 bonus? Just for nothing?! Yay!..." - hoo-ooold it right there. There's lots of casino money given away in the industry, but no operator is such a fool to give it away for nothing. Come on, they want something back. They want your money! The calculations have been made which say that the average value of the depositing player is $600-$700.
10). A Thorn on Their Side By : Jonathan Wachs Once upon time, the Nets wasted draft picks on stiffs like Yinka Dare. Players with modest talent such as Chris Morris had the gall to write “trade me” on their sneakers. Players with more talent but not nearly as much as they thought, like Stephon Marbury, wrote “All Alone” on their ankle tape. And throughout all this, fans and New York media alike responded with Derrick Coleman-like enthusiasm: whoop-de-damn doo.