France v South Africa

A disappointing tournament for both teams but they still have an outside chance of qualifying. South Africa could become the first hosts to be eliminated from the World Cup at the group stage whilst France look likely to disappoint once again, having gone out at the group stage of Euro 2008. Can one of these teams pull off a shock and still qualify despite hacing just one point to show for their performances so far?

France v South Africa Match Odds

Match betting is a massively popular market and the first market most punters choose to look at as your decision in this market is likely to impact all other bets you place on the game.

France have been extremely poor so far in the World Cup 2010 and there seem to be some serious problems from within the camp, which means they are likely to be well below the standard they can play at when on good form.

Some will be thinking that the best South Africa can hope for is a draw but we think that is the least South Africa should be hoping for. The draw is a fair price and not without its chances but their should be much more value in backing South Africa to win the game, it could only be a narrow victory but that won't matter if they win the game.

France v South Africa Asian Handicap Odds

The Asian Handicap is an interesting bet as it usually gives one team a lead that should be enough to cancel out any superiority the favourites for the game have.

BACK SOUTH AFRICA +0.5

We fancy South Africa to get a draw out of this game at least, and probably win it, so the fact that South africa gain a head start in this handicap is great news for backers. This bet contains less risk than backing South Africa outright but is still a great price so this should be backed alongside South Africa winning the match, rather than instead of it.

France v South Africa Goals Odds

Take a look at recent results for the two sides to help decide what the best bets are in the over/under betting and also the correct score market.

France Recent Competitive Results

South Africa Recent Friendly Results

*Please note as hosts South Africa qualified automatically so they have no recent competitive games

BACK SOUTH AFRICA 1-0 AND UNDER 2.5 GOALS

France were pretty low goal scorers and goal conceders in their World Cup qualifying campaign, seven out of their twelve qualifiers had under 2.5 goals and although that might not seem that high, bearing in mind how weak some teams in qualifying were you would expect a team who have reached the heights France have in recent years to be putting three or four goals past most of these teams. Away from home France were particularly poor, in five of their six away games they scored exactly one goal.

South Africa qualified automatically for the World Cup as hosts and many of their best players have missed their warm up friendlies so they should improve on the results shown. What does standout is how strong defensively they have been. They conceded just two goals in their last five friendlies and in those games they scored seven goals, although four of them came against weak opposition in the form of Thailand. South Africa are going to be tough to score against but are capable of scoring the odd goal.

A low scoring game looks more than likely here, the first bet on the game just has to be under 2.5 goals and that could be one of the better bets from the group matches. In the correct score betting it should pay to back either team to win 1-0, whichever you think will win, and if you fancy the draw it looks more likely to be 0-0 than 1-1 but both could be worth covering. As we think South Africa are going to edge this game we are recommending a bet on 1-0 to the hosts.

France v South Africa Player Odds

Some of the most fun markets to bet on are the player markets, such as first goalscorer and anytime goalscorer. They are usually relatively big odds and can give plenty of reward if you pick correctly.

France v South Africa Team News

Nicolas Anelka has been sent home after a rant at the manager having been subbed off at half time against Mexico. Thierry Henry hasn't looked flavour of the month in the opening two matches so Andre Pierre Gignac could come in to replace him.

BACK KATLEGO MPHELA TO SCORE FIRST AGAINST FRANCE

Katlego Mpela might finally get a memorable World Cup goal on home soil, he plays at the tip of South Africa's attack and is usually one of the only players in the box so if South Africa are going to score it should come from Mphela, who has scored almost one in two so far for his country.

France v South Africa Half Time Odds

The latest tips that include the half time result in them, some of the most popular bets here are half time result and half time/full time.

BACK A HALF TIME DRAW

There is obviously a bit of risk attached to backing South Africa to win the game so rather than backing draw/South Africa here we will play it safe with just a draw at half time. Both of France's games so far have  been goaless at half time and this is likely to be tight and low scoring so go for anther half time draw.

France v South Africa Best Bet

BACK UNDER 2.5 GOALS

Whatever you think about the result of this match, every bit of evidence we have suggests the game between the hosts and the bickering French will be very low scoring. If there are two goals it would be a big surprise and that would still mean under 2.5 goals is a winning bet so three goals looks even more unlikely, under 2.5 goals is a good value bet.