2012 Olympic Football - Men's 1st Round

Honduras (12/5) v Morocco (13/10)

Honduras and Morocco look to be fairly evenly matched based on their routes here – both were second in their respective groups on the way here, while Morocco were second only to Senegal in the CAF qualifying zone. The fact that Honduras kept just one clean sheet in what looked a weak group barring Mexico – who they admittedly pushed all the way to the final – is a fair negative though and that just lends out in link to Morocco. Both of their wins were 1-0 and at 6/1 that seems a good way to start the day with bigger fish to fry.

Advice: 1-0 Morocco (6/1 188Bet)

Mexico (5/4) v South Korea (5/2)

Mexico, winners of the Toulon tournament this summer, the Under 17 World Cup in 2011 and semi-finalists in the Under 20 equivalent that same year, have lost just two of their ten Olympic matches and look to have a cracking chance of beating South Korea and getting off to a flyer in their quest for the quarter finals and beyond. They have a strong squad for this level and plenty of youth, and govn there’s only 16-1 for the tournament, 5/4 for this opener is worth taking.

Advice: 4 pts Mexico (5/4 general)

Spain (4/11) v Japan (8)

Spain, the dominant force in world and European football after their Euros success and holders of the U21 European championship, have a serial winning pedigree for this event and should have little trouble overcoming Japan in their tournament starter. In winning the U21 Championship – much like their seniors – they kept 3 clean sheets in 4 games after an opening 1-1 draw, and monopolization of the ball may starve Japan of the chances to get into the game, so a win to nil at 6/5 seems a good choice.

Advice: 2 pts Spain to win to nil (6/5 Coral)

UAE (16) v Uruguay (2/7)

Uruguay are one of the best teams at this summer’s Olympic games and much like Brazil and Spain, are using this as a springboard to find new talent in preparation for the 2014 World Cup – possibly even more so than Spain and Brazil, whose talents are well known already – and they should be looking to put the UAE to the sword. The UAE did get here unbeaten but this is a much higher quality test for them and the value may be in backing Uruguay to push the game over 2.5 goals if their  class shows.

Advice: 1 pt Over 2.5 goals (9/10 Stan James)

Gabon (4) v Switzerland (4/5)

Switzerland were second only to Spain in the 2011 European under-21 Championship and a 1-0 loss to Senegal should have set them up nicely for a good crack at Gabon, despite the loss of star duo Granit Xkhaha and Xerdian Sahiquri before the tournament. The Swiss kept clean sheets against everyone but Spain and can make a winning start here based on those foundations.

Advice: 3 pts Switzerland (4/5 Ladbrokes, Coral), 1 pt Switzerland to win to nil (7/4 general)

Belarus (4/5) v New Zealand (3)

Belarus put in a good fight against Spain before going down in the semi-final at the European Championship and they’ll like their chances against New Zealand, who picked up one point in three games at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and face another big step up in class (10 of of their 11 qualifying goals were against Tonga).

Advice: 1 pt Belarus (5/6 general)

Brazil (2/9) v Egypt (18)

The quality of this Brazil side is just scary and they should face no trouble in getting towards the knockouts and righting the wrong that has seen them fail to win Olympic gold in football. Egypt should do just fine through this tournament and may have a bigger say later on but they should ease through. The 4/5 on them winning to nil should be taken before it goes.

Advice: 2 pts Brazil to win to nil (4/5 general)

Great Britain (4/6) v Senegal (5)

Great Britain have home advantage but are a long way shot of troubling the top teams on paper and their team having been thrown together at the last minute, they could take a game or two to warm up, as shown by their relative 2-0 tonking against Brazil. This is a step down but it could still be difficult and the 5/6 on under 2.5 goals makes a lot of appeal.

Advice: 1 pt under 2.5 goals (5/6 Bet Victor)