Sports Betting Blog

They barely made it into the South Africa 2010 World Cup, having to play Costa Rica for the last spot between CONCACAF and CONMEBOL to the tournament. And despite not been among the top 15 teams in the odds to win this World Cup, Uruguay is the only South American team still alive in the semifinals.

Both the Netherlands and Uruguay are the only two undefeated teams playing in the tournament. Still, as of press time, and despite the Uruguayan fans, they are a clear underdog for this match.

The Netherlands have made it to the finals twice in two consecutive years, 1974-1978. But have not had such a remarkable success since. Since France 1998, the Netherlands has not made it to the semifinals. Back then, they were facing Brazil, but lost in the penalty shot outs. Ronaldo had scored the first goal, in a nice pass from the right. A couple minutes before the end, Frank de Boer sent a great pass from the right flank to Patrick Kliuvert who made a great header to take it to overtime and then penalties. The Netherlands missed a penalty shot and was sent home.

They then played Croatia for the third place. They lost 2-1 after Dabor Sucker from Croatia scored with little over 5 minutes to play. It was Sucker’s fifth goal in the tournament. The Dutch team finished fourth in the France 98 World Cup.

Uruguay, on the other hand, has won two World Cup Championships, including the first tournament ever held back in 1930, which they also host. They went on again and defeated Brazil in the now famous Maracanazo in 1954. But that seems almost like ancient history for most soccer fans today. Still, the team that was not expected to make it too far, had made it to the semis, that’s more then what can their South American counterparts of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina can say about themselves.

The Dutch team guided by Bert van Marwijk has defeated Denmark, Japan, Cameroon, Slovakia and Brazil in this tournament. With both Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben on the front, this could be their best shot ever to make it again back in the finals, and finally take one World Cup back home. They do have what it takes to defeat the Uruguayans. But there is one thing that those men from Uruguay do count on: courage.

Sure enough, Uruguay has not made it so high into any international soccer tournament since beating Brazil in the 1995 Copa America. Still, they do have some very talented players, and one heck of a defense. Luis Suarez has been just magnificent on the offensive end, scoring against South Korea in the round of 16 while Diego Forlán has made a great goal against Ghana to tie the game and define it by penalty shots.

After Jorge Fucile has been suspended after a double booking, Oscar Tabarez, the Uruguayan head coach has now to decide which of his defenders is going to take over the difficult task of guarding no other then Arjen Robben. Diego Lugano, another defender, has yet to make a full recovery and as of press time it is still unknown if he is going to take part of the semifinal game against Netherlands.

It’s a tough call when it comes to picking sides. As of press time, Online Sportsbook leader BetIAS.com  has made Netherlands the favorite on the daily World Cup Odds by ML-175. The Draw sits at ML+265 while the Uruguayan upset comes back with Ml+500. Sure it is a long shot, but heck, they were not suppose to make it this far. They could very well make it the Final game.