World Cup Betting at VietBet – Costa Rica vs Netherlands
By Charles Jay
How improbable is Costa Rica’s run during this World Cup? Well, this is a nation of just 4.5 million people and they are among the final eight teams remaining. So that’s rather improbable. But does that dream of going one step further gravitate over to the impossible? That is one thing World Cup bettors will have firmly on their minds as they line up for quarter-final action that is set to get underway on Saturday at 4 PM ET in Salvador.
The opposition comes from the Netherlands, the squad that swept through this event four years ago to get to the title game before losing to Spain. And that is the same Dutch team that blew the defending champs away in the opening Group B game by a 5-1 score. They are the kind of club that can, even though it has a young and relatively inexperienced backline, score in bunches, and this is going to put a tremendous amount of pressure on the Ticos’ defense.
* INCLUDING EXTRA TIME & PENALTIES
Netherlands advances -440
Costa Rica advances +370
VietBet patrons really couldn’t fairly say that Costa Rica’s soccer program has come out of nowhere; indeed, this country got to the Round of 16 in 1990. But they have only qualified twice since, so it is safe to say that there were not particularly high expectations for this club, especially as they had to deal with a group that included Italy, England and Uruguay.
But that was child’s play.
Costa Rica has not lost yet – after the huge upsets of Uruguay and Italy in the first two games they rested players and still got a draw with England, which clearly needs to go back to the drawing board. And in a rather remarkable first game in the knockout phase against Greece, they had to play a man down for nearly an hour, as Oscar Duarte was sent off with a red card. They did blow a one-goal lead when Greece scored late, but held on through extra time and proceeded to emerge victorious in the penalty kick stage.
We don’t know if most World Cup bettors are aware of this, but Jorge Luis Pinto is the first coach the Ticos have had who has survived all the way through the qualifiers. This is an impatient federation down there, but for the moment, the man is regarded as a guru.
But you need to have the personnel if you are going to keep it that way. And Pinto has talent at his disposal that has experience with overseas leagues. This includes midfielder Celso Borges, as well as the attackers like Christian Bolanos, Joel Campbell and Bryan Ruiz (who plays his club football in Holland). Campbell was hassled constantly against Greece, and he was understandably dead tired toward the end of that game.
Here’s the dilemma – Duarte is not available here because of his foul, and that cuts into the depth and quality of Costa Rica’s defense. If they were facing a defensive-minded side this wouldn’t be as much of a potential problem as it is against the Dutch, who boast two players who are still very much in the running for the Golden Boot, which goes to the top goal scorer. Arjen Robben (+1850 to win it, according to VietBet) and Robin Van Persie (+1250 in World Cup betting for that award) are world-class threats, to be certain. There is little question that even with the caliber of opposition it has faced so far, which includes four of the top eleven teams in the FIFA rankings, the Netherlands (which has outscored the opposition 12-4 so far) is the most explosive.
If you get your kicks out of handicapping the corner kicks, you will love the new feature VietBet has. It’s called “Live Betting Extra” and it lets you place wagers on all kinds of things that are taking place during the game. Open an account and try it out!
