Octopus picks Spain, but is future orange?
What a final we have in prospect as the mercurial Dutch face the Spanish pass masters.
Paul the octopus has picked Spain to win the final and they are the favourites at 11/10, but Holland are on an unbelievable unbeaten run so can’t be ignored at the best price of 11/4.
This match is expected to break all betting records and most football fans won’t begrudge either side winning their first World Cup.
Outright
11/4 Holland Win
11/5 Draw
11/10 Spain Win
Both teams will be hoping to win the tie inside 90 minutes before tiredness, cramp and nerves take over during extra time and a penalty shootout.
Neither side has a great record in shootouts so we could be in for a long night if it goes that far. FourFourTwo's betting partner, Paddy Power will refund all losing 1st/last goalscorer, correct score and score cast bets on the match if it ends 0-0 after 90 minutes.
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Despite all their intricate passes Spain haven’t scored the glut of goals their play has argubaly deserved, David Villa has scored five of their seven goals and Fernando Torres is out of sorts.
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Holland will feel that if they shut out Villa and try to keep Spain away from their penalty area soon the Spanish will become frustrated, allowing the Dutch to catch them on the break.
Bert van Marwijk's side certainly have the players to hurt Spain. Wesley Sneijder is a 9/1 chance to score the first goal in the World Cup final and given his form this bet has plenty of value.
Villa leads the market though as a 4/1 shot, but can Torres have another baron game or will he repeat the feat of scoring in the final just like he did in the European Championships final two years ago? He’s 6/1 to score first, the same price as the last goal too.
First Scorers
4/1 Villa
6/1 Torres
13/2 Van Persie
9/1 Sneijder
9/1 Robben
9/1 Pedro
14/1 Iniesta
14/1 Fabregas
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Given Spain’s lack of goals in the tournament you may want to plump for a small scoreline; they are 5/1 to win it 1-0 like they did in the semi-final, or you can have them as 2-1 winners at 17/2.
Neither side has won a World Cup before so there is no past experience to draw upon, with the pressure on both sides likely tol be immense. Can Sneijder top off his Champions League win with a World Cup winners medal too? It’s 15/2 he scores and Holland win.
Correct Scores – 90 minutes
15/2 Holland 1-0
16/1 Holland 2-0
12/1 Holland 2-1
5/1 Spain 1-0
15/2 Spain 2-0
17/2 Spai
Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.