If you are considering betting on the outcomes of the groups in the 2010 World Cup, Bodog.com is offering a number of different betting combinations and options, from predicting the group finishing positions of the teams to a straight forecast.

Group A is the only group not to include a team seeded by FIFA, because South Africa, were in the pot with the top seven seeds from the FIFA rankings as a result of being the hosting nation. Whilst they do have the home advantage, South Africa are not strong contenders as they are a reasonably weak footballing nation. They have, however, put a lot of preparation into their side and the local support and ambience, the better acclimatisation to the altitude of their stadiums, and, going on past competitions, a tendency for decisions to go in favour of hosting countries at times, they may get some surprise results in this group.

France, the strongest ranked team according to FIFA and finalists in the 2006 World Cup, are the favourites to win the group. In the straight forecast market, France followed by Mexico is the favourite with Bodog.com, with odds of 4/1. France followed by Uruguay is 17/4, and France then South Africa 6/1. This is in spite of a weak qualifying campaign by France and a perceived lack of inspiring football being played by the French over the past couple of years.

In a reverse forecast, you can take France/Mexico at 11/.5, France/Uruguay at 5/2 and France/South Africa at 15/4.

Those who remember France spectacularly bombing out of the 2002 World Cup without scoring any goals, may be reluctant to back them given current form as well. If you choose a reverse forecast with Mexico/Uruguay you get 7/1, Mexico/South Africa is 10/1, and the outside choice, though in this group, anything is possible, is Uruguay/South Africa at 11/1.

Bodog.com are also offering betting on each position in the group, so you can take for example, France to finish second at 5/2. For second place, interestingly, those 5/2 odds are offered on Mexico and Uruguay as well.

To finish bottom, the favourites as expected are South Africa with odds of 13/8. Uruguay 12/5, Mexico 13/5, and France good value if they do spectacularly fail again, at 13/2.

To bet on one of the teams only to qualify, i.e. coming first or second in the group, Bodog offer 3/10 on France, 19/20 on Mexico, Uruguay 11/10 and 9/5 on South Africa.

With this group wide open without having a top seeded side and with its weakest team also being the hosts, there could be some interesting opportunities to make money on Group A. Favourites France going through is by no means a forgone conclusion, and South Africa could surprise in the same manner South Korea did in 2002. Uruguay and Mexico are both good, if not spectacular teams, and the result of this group could well challenge the bookies’ predictions.