Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Olympic Special - Football, Tennis and Basketball

Not the best start to the month, but a few alternative bets today to get us on the move.

10 Brazil to beat Nigeria & Germany bt Korea Double 12/13 (WON -1.08 - Brazil cruised while Germany required a late winner)
A women's football double for you here. This is the last round of games in the group stages and so far Brazil drew with Germany and both sides then beat each other's opposition, so when playing the other team today, its fair to assume two more victories for the more established women's football nations - either of whom has a good shout for winning the gold medal.

11.30 Nalbandian & Gonzalez Double 11/10 (WON +0.02 - two straightforward straight sets victories)
Another Olympic double, in the tennis this time. Despite semmingly being around for a long time now, David Nalbandian is still only 26 and ranked 8th in the world. Four years ago Nicolas Massu was ranked 9th but has been on a downward spiral since and is now a lowly 125th, although the last time they played was at the height of Massu's form and Nalbandian won both the last two ties. So he can be expecting a straightforward victory.
Marian Cilic beat Fernando Gonzalez in 4 sets at the Australian Open back in January, but since then the form has gone in different directions. Gonzo has picked up two titles and won over 70% of his matches, while the Croat has just about won more than he has lost, so it seems it is that win in Melbourne and a recent Masters Series quarter final in Canada that is helping us get 8/11 about the Spaniard. So take advantage and double it up to get an odds against return.

3.15 Australia bt Argentina 9/2 (LOST -0.98 - 3-pointers again. This time Australia's fault only making 2 of 13 attempts. A reasonable 50% strike rate would have made it very close)
Both these basketball teams lost their opening games, so will be looking to make amends today. Australia were beaten by 15 points by Croatia but finished strongly, having been hammered by the Croats 75% success rate on 3-point attempts! A more normal success rate would have seen a much closer game. The Argies werent firing on all cyclinders either going down to Lithuania by a handful of points, so it may well come down to who can bounce back the better, as thre was only 4 points between these teams in a warm-up tournament a fortnight ago. So 9/2 looks a big price for a reversal.

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