Breaking Bets: Back subs to keep having World Cup impact
Published:
Being in the starting line-up of your country’s World Cup team is the stuff dreams are made of but as last night’s game between Greece and Nigeria showed it’s not the be all and end all.
Two of the goals in the 2-1 win for the Ethniki came from the bench, while Colombia got in on the substitute action with their victory over Japan, and Ladbrokes is offering odds to anyone who thinks this trend can continue in tonight’s fixtures.
Andreas Samaris came on to replace Panagiotis Kone and had the Greek fans in raptures after collecting a one-two from team-mate Georgios Samaras before slotting the ball past Boubacar Barry to put the Greeks ahead.
Not to be outdone, Wilfried Bony, himself a replacement for Cheik Tiote, put the sides on an even keel after pouncing on a Gervinho pass to beat Orestis Karnezis.
Elsewhere, Manchester United and Tottenham target James ‘Hamez’ Rodriguez put the gloss on a 4-1 win for Colombia over Japan by coming off the bench to net in the 89th minute against the Blue Samurai.
Ladbrokes is offering tempting odds of 9/4 on three or more goals being scored by substitutes in today’s matches, which see Bosnia face Iran and Nigeria take on Argentina before the late kick-offs pit Ecuador against France and Honduras against Switzerland.
With France and Argentina already through it could pay to back the big guns like Karim Benzema and Lionel Messi to come off the bench and score.
Didier Deschamps and Alejandro Sabella could be tempted to rest their star men with a view to keeping them fit for the knockout stages,
However, with topping the group offering both sides a preferable rout to the final don’t be surprised to see either player make a cameo appearance if the results look in doubt.
Benzema is a 4/1 shot to fire the last goal in France’s match against Ecuador, while Messi can be backed at 5/2 to round off proceedings against Nigeria.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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