African nations to shine in long-shot World Cup accumulator
Published:Pele once claimed that an African nation would win the World Cup before the year 2000 and while the Brazilian may have been wrong on that point, backing the African representatives to deliver opening game wins could see you cash in.
With Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Nigeria looking good for victories while Ghana and Algeria will be out to upset the odds, backing all five to win with Ladbrokes could see you claim a return of £4,317.30 off just £10.
Best of all the One Out? Our Shout!* offer means, should one team fail to take maximum points, your stake will be refunded to you as a free bet!
The Indomitable Lions may have been embroiled in yet another dispute over bonuses recently, but that shouldn’t put you off backing them to see off a sorry Mexico team in their group opener.
El Tricolor laboured through qualifying, while recent results have been poor with defeats to Portugal and Bosnia in their last two games. Couple those results with a credible draw for Cameroon against Germany and a win over Moldova in their last two and the African side are worth backing.
It’s now or never for the Ivorians but an opening game against a defensively-frail Japan team represents the perfect start in what is otherwise a decidedly tricky group containing Colombia and Greece.
Japan shipped three goals against Zambia last time out, as part of a run that has seen them concede in eight of their last nine games. These two met in a friendly back in 2010 with the Elephants triumphing and we expect a repeat.
Arguably the most reliable of the African teams backed, the Super Eagles will know that victory over Iran could put them on course for the second round and only requiring a win against Bosnia to progress.
Nigeria may have lost to Team USA last time out but the African Cup of Nations holders are well versed in big game tournament football and should have enough to see off an Iran team with one win from their last five.
Ghana’s recent World Cup warm-up match results may not have been fantastic, but if the Black Stars can play with the kind of freedom that saw them smash Egypt 6-1 in qualifying then Team USA could be in trouble.
Jurgen Klinsmann’s inexperienced team have kept just one clean sheet from their last five, with Ghana representing something of a bogey team for the Americans, having beaten the US at the previous two World Cups.
The outsiders of the five-fold selection, Algeria will nevertheless be desperate to cause an upset against one of the biggest, and most importantly untested, dark horses for the competition.
On a run of four straight wins, Algeria’s hopes will be boosted by Romelu Lukaku’s recent injury and the emergence of potential dangermen like former Wolves and current Porto forward Nabil Ghilas as well as Nabil Bentaleb of Tottenham and Sofiane Feghouli of Valencia.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
Fancy a flutter? Sign up today to claim up to £100 in free bets.
