Venue: Johannesburg – JSC, South Africa
Fifth favourites Holland meet with Denmark on day four of the World Cup in the opening match of Group E. The fixture will be played in Johannesburg at 13:30 local time.
As the first all European game in the tournament, this match will be watched with interest by supporters and neutrals alike, given that all of the preceding fixtures have much more diversity in the home regions of the teams playing. Both teams, being from northern Europe, will have the South African climate going against them throughout the tournament.
With comparatively unthreatening opposition elsewhere in their group from Japan and Cameroon, both of these teams will be aiming to progress and viewing this as an important fixture.
Holland, who are 12-1 to win the cup outright are understandably favoured against Denmark who are at around 150-1 to be crowned World Cup champions.
The odds for winning this match are, at best, 4/5 to the Netherlands, from Sky Bet and Boyle Sports. Best odds on Denmark are 4/1, offered by both Expekt and Paddy Power. The draw is offered at around 5/2 by most bookmakers.
Odds on the finishing scoreline are quite short for most of the most likely Holland win scenarios, with 5/1 on 1-0, 6/1 on 2-0 and 7/1 on 2-1 being the most common offerings. This goes up to 14/1 for 3-0 or 3-1.
A Denmark win with correct scoreline fetches better odds, as you might expect, with 9/1 on 1-0, 20/1 on 2-0 and 14/1 on 2-1.
Netherlands and Denmark have played before once recently, in May 2008 in a friendly. This match resulted in one all draw. The odds for the same result in this 2010 World Cup fixture are between 5 and 6/1.
In other bets, Holland are 4/5 on to keep a clean sheet whereas the same bet on Denmark will get you 23/10. Holland are 15/2 to win from behind, whereas for Denmark to do this it is 16/1 – both offered by William Hill. The odds of there being an own goal are 8/1, and the odds of this being the first goal are 16/1.
Prediction
This game could well be there for the taking for the Dutch team, with little to suggest Denmark will upset them. Holland will need to win this game to prove themselves worthy of their place among the very favourites.
With this in mind, and the high hopes for this year’s Dutch squad, the prediction for this match is 2-0 to the Netherlands. We have also listed more predictions for Group E.
