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Despite what the Americans say, Group D in the World Cup is the TRUE Group of Death. It’s the only group where there really is three ridiculous contenders in regards to who will win it – that being Uruguay, England and Italy.
Not that I think in every other group the two favourites will go through – there’s always upsets. But this is going to be an absolutely brutal group, and the most fascinating one to watch. Will Costa Rica upset the apple cart at all? Or will it go down to the death between these three teams?
The first game in Group D kicks off on June 14th, 2014 with Uruguay playing Costa Rica. Then a bit later that day, England will take on Italy. I can’t think of any better way to spend my Saturday – hopefully these two games are a lot more lively than the earlier one of Columbia vs Greece!
This game is actually quite interesting because Costa Rica looked great in their home games in qualification, while the Uruguyans struggled big time. They needed a playoff just to qualify for the World Cup – and when you look at the squad they have – man, that’s pretty bad.
Uruguay vs Costa Rica Betting Odds:
Uruguay To Win: 4/9
Draw: 3/1
Costa Rica To Win: 7/1
Over 2.5 Goals: 11/10
Under 2.5 Goals: 7/10
The best odds for Uruguay vs Costa Rica.
Uruguay vs Costa Rica Betting Tips:
There are a lot of questions about the Uruguay squad – all revolving around Luis Suarez and his fitness. That should honestly have little impact in this game – Uruguay have a lot of firepower. The question is how much of it will we actually see? I mean it’s the first day of the World Cup for them – it’d be natural for them to approach this in a cautious fashion.
Despite the absence of Suarez, I like Uruguay to win by a couple of goals here. They’ll be controlling the game and that’s where Costa Rica don’t do well – when they’re on the backfoot they usually get dominated as shown in qualification when they failed to win a single game away, but won every game at home.
The Costa Rican defense is quite tight though – and even if Suarez is fit, it’s possible he won’t play a lot of this game.
I’d personally stay away from all of the lines listed above. Instead, I’d get into the betting props for Uruguay vs Costa Rica instead. Our simulations of the Over/Under 2.5 goals lead us to believe there is no value there. Let’s look at the props:
Uruguay vs Costa Rica Betting Props:
I like Uruguay to get an early goal here. Our system says it’s slightly higher than 50% that they score in the first half here, and it predicts results of 1-0, 2-0 and 2-1 Uruguay. So it’s going to be a tight affair.
We’ve discussed it, and we feel Uruguay will get the early goal – if they have Suarez all the better, but without him they have something to prove. Either way we’re banking on Uruguay to win the game and take the lead early, which means the best bet is a Half Time/Full Time bet of Uruguay-Uruguay.
