Confederations Cup
2013-06-17 - Tahiti vs Nigeria
A Sports Betting Pick by DownUnder
Football : FIFA Confederations Cup 2013
Venue: Estadio Nacional - Brasilia
Friday, Brasilia June 15th 2013 – Kickoff 16:00 (:LOCAL) 10:45 GMT
Form:
Head to Head
All matches: Played 0
Only Previous encounter
FIFA U-20 World Cup 2009 in Egypt. Nigeria prevailed 5-0
Last 6 games
Tahiti LWLLLL
Nigeria DWDDWW
Tahiti
Tahiti will be representing Oceania for the first time in their history at a major Fifa tournament, Oceania with Australia’s defection to Asia in 2005, is without a doubt the weakest of all the Confederations.
Tahiti are currently 138 in the fifa world rankings and of the 11 teams that represent Oceania 7 teams have a worse ranking than 180 !!
Tahiti first dismissed New Zealand 2-0 in the semi finals ( this day has gone down in Kiwi footballing history as the “Horror of Honiara”) and then saw off New Caledonia in the final.
Tahiti's form since qualification has been a shocker. They lost five of their six matches in stage three of World Cup qualifying, conceding 12 goals and scoring only two.
The build up for this tournament has been no better, Tahiti lost a warm-up game last week to a local club reserve side in Brazil, the team ( and management) are all home-grown amateurs, playing in the local league.
It is easy to question why Tahiti are here, but it is the confederation Cup, and it would be ridiculous to not have all confederations represented.
Fifa have poured over $120 million in to Oceania football since 1999 to lift the game in the region and the $1.5 million US dollars they got for qualifying will certainly help the development of football in Tahiti, and should supplement the money and expertise that France is pouring into its pacific “protectorates”.
Whilst it is farcical to think that Tahiti will put up a serious challenge, I remind you that when Scotland debuted in the World cup (1954) they managed to be thumped 7-0.
And the last word goes to the Tahiti’s centre forward
“….however for it not to become a nightmare we have to keep working really hard so we are ready for the first game..” Steevy Chong Hue.
Nigeria
The most populous country in Africa has chosen to go with youth to this tournament, but the dream began to unravel even before touching down in Brazil.
The players refused to board the plane in Namibia until their win “bonuses” had been paid, the management flew into Brazil without them, and the Nigerian Football association gave in. The players reached Brazil on the 15th, giving Tahiti 8 days more to acclimatise.
Nigeria have a good record at the Confederation cup, and got to the semi-finals in 1995.I can’t see them getting ahead of Spain and Uruguay, but Tahiti should be a good first up moral booster for them.
The Betting Verdict
Nigeria will win, so it comes down to what is a fair return for your money.
And you will not get better money on the team playing Tahiti than this match. So its a case of do you want to make a safe 170% return, or do you want to get those big returns before the bookies realise that Tahiti are rubbish.
$1,08 for the straight win is only a consideration in your multi-bets (it’s a banker). For Nigeria to Win without conceding is paying a safe $1.50 but I can see Nigeria wining this by a large margin so I’m prepared to match the risk with bigger returns.
The Pick :
Tahiti 0 - 5 Nigeria
BEST BETTING TIP :
Shrimp on the Barbie (main bet)
Take More than 3 goals in the match @ 1,73 at Bet365
and of course you want a small salad with that (second bet) ...
Go for Nigeria to win by 4 Or More Goals @ 2.50 at Paddy Power
