This means the South African’s could face one of the continent’s top teams, such as Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, or the Ivory Coast, in a two-legged playoff round with a home and away game for each team. Kirsten Nematandani, who is the president of the South African Football Association, stated the obvious when he said it isn’t good news for South Africa.

He said that south Africa had hoped to earn a spot among the top five nations in Africa so they would be seeded and wouldn’t have to play one of the continent’s other top teams. He added that anything can happen in an open draw and they’ll just have to play the best they can to beat whoever they’re drawn against in the playoff round.

South Africa were lucky enough to have received a bye in the first round of qualifying games for the 2014 World Cup, but will face Central African Republic, Botswana, and Somalia or Ethiopia in a round-robin format in the next round of qualifying. This qualifying stage will narrow the teams down to the final 10 teams who will then have to pair off against each other.

Fortunately for them, South Africa is the top-ranked nation in their qualifying group and is expected to make it to the final 10 teams. However, the other favourites in their groups are Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Algeria, and Tunisia. This means the playoff rounds for the five 2014 World Cup spots in Brazil are going to be hard for all of the teams involved and a place in the Finals will be well earned.

Seventh-ranked New Zealand faces third-ranked South Africa in a Cricket World Cup quarterfinal match at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Bangladesh on March 25th. The two teams have played each other 51 times in the past with South Africa winning 30 of the games, New Zealand 17 time s and four of them were no results. However, New Zealand has a 3-2 lead when it comes to head-to-head meetings in World Cup games.

New Zealand ended up in fourth place in Group A with four wins and two losses for eight points while South Africa won Group B with five wins and a loss. South Africa beat everybody in their group: Netherlands, Ireland, Bangladesh, West Indies, and India, but lost to England. New Zealand beat Pakistan, Canada, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, and lost to Australia and Sri Lanka.

This looks to be South Africa’s game for the taking, but they have a bad habit of falling apart when it comes to the knockout stages of the tournament. They really need to concentrate and focus if they are to beat New Zealand and advance to the semi-finals.

South Africa has played well and has been quite consistent in this tournament with their loss being a close game too. They’ve been in good form in bowling, batting, and fielding. A B De Villiers has led the way with the bat while Dale Steyn has been their top bowler so far. Spin bowlers Robin Peterson and Imran Tahir have also been playing well. Jacques Kallis has been a bit of a disappointment with his bat though. But this could be the game where he breaks out of his slump.

New Zealand came into the World Cup as a struggling side, but has played well up to now, especially in their win over Pakistan. If they play up to the best of their capabilities they can beat any team on any given day. Ross Taylor has been the best batsmen while the others have been rather consistent though. Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum will need to produce some runs. The bowling and fielding has been quite good with and captain Daniel Vettori could be ready to play after sitting out the past three matches with an injury. It’s hoped that Jacob Oram, a fine all-rounder, will also be healthy.

A key matchup in this match will be the batting of New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum against the bowling of Steyn. If McCullum is held in check it’ll be a long day for New Zealand and the South Africans should advance to the semi-finals.
The likely teams will be

South Africa: Graeme Smith (c), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers (wk), Jean-Paul Dumminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, and Morne van Wyk (wk).

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (Captain), Ross Taylor (Vice Captain), Hamish Bennett, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Jamie How, Brendon McCullum (Wicket Keeper), Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Kane Williamson, and Luke Woodcock.

Sportsbook bodog.com has the odds of a South African win at 4/11 and the odds of New Zealand winning at 2/1.

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South Africa hopes to win their group and this game could go a long way in achieving that. They will be going in as a confident group after beating South Africa in a thrilling game, winning in the last over even though they were once at 267 for 1.

Ireland lost their last game to the West Indies. However, they were playing pretty well until an error by the umpire caused batsman Gary Wilson to be called out. After that, things went downhill rather quickly.

South Africa still has to play Bangladesh after Ireland and a win against both of them could vault them to first place in the group over India. The top team in the group will then take on the fourth placed team in Group A in the next round of the Cricket World Cup. Ireland still has to play the Netherlands and have a small chance of advancing, making this match vital.

Ireland will need to get some exceptional bowling and some early wickets if they hope to derail the strong South African batsmen. Ireland will also need some fine performances by the O’Brien brothers, William Porterfield, John Mooney, and Ed Joyce. South African bowlers Dale Steyn and Robin Peterson will try to keep up his fine performances at the tournament so far and keep the Irish run production to a minimum.

On paper and going by history, South Africa takes this game though. The Irish could prove to be a bit awkward, but South Africa is a bit too strong for them at the moment and look for them to take this match to cement a spot in the quarterfinals. This will send the Ireland side packing and knock them out of the tournament. We at wcbetting.com will place our money on South Africa

Bookmaker William Hill has the odds of an Ireland win listed at 8/1 with the odds of a South African win at 1/16.

The likely teams will be:

Ireland: KJ O’Brien, NJ O’Brien, AC Botha, DT Johnston, WTS Porterfield, AR Cusack, JF Mooney, WB Rankin, PR Stirling, AR White, GC Wilson, N Jones, EC Joyce, G Dockrell, and A van der Merwe.

South Africa: GC Smith, AB de Villiers, JH Kallis, M Morkel, DW Steyn, HM Amla, J Botha, JP Duminy, RJ Peterson, LL Tsotsobe, WD Parnell, MN van Wyk, CA Ingram, Faf du Plessis, and Imran Tahir.

Two of the best cricket teams in the world face off against each other on March 12th as second-ranked India takes on fourth-ranked South Africa match at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur, India. The clubs have played each other 65 times in the past with South Africa leading the series 39 to 24 with two no results. Two of the South African wins have come in the World Cup.

We found good odds and world cup live in-play betting for this top game at William Hill sportsbook.

India sits on top of Group B with three wins and a draw while South Africa is in fourth place with two wins and a loss. History points towards a good performance by South Africa here, but India could just end up putting a fly in the ointment. India has won four and drawn once in their last five matches while South Africa has won four and lost one. The game could decide who tops the group, but England will definitely have a say in that.

India has played the smaller teams so far, other than England and gave up a draw to the English on the last ball of the match. They’ve beaten Netherlands, Bangladesh, and Ireland. South Africa lost to England by six runs and has beaten West Indies and the Netherlands. An Indian win should guarantee they end up in the top two of the group.

These teams have played each other eight times over the past year and a half with each team winning four times, so we could see a close match here that goes right down to the wire. The pitch at Nagpur is pretty tough on the bowlers and we could see a bucketful of runs. The bowlers will have to be sharp and look for India to replace Piyush Chawla with R. Ashwin as he’s struggled in the tournament so far.

South Africa will be relying on another big game by AB de Villiers as he’s already hit a couple of centuries already. Hashim Amla needs a good game too, like he had against England. The South African bowlers have been doing pretty well so far. Imran Tahir was injured, but it’s believed that he’ll be ready to play in the game.

India has been a bit inconsistent so far and even though they’re at home, I think South Africa will pull this one out of the hat.

William Hill has the odds of an Indian win at 4/6 while the odds of a South Africa victory are at 6/5.

The likely teams will be:



South Africa: Hashim Amla, Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Jean Paul Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Morne van Wyk, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

India: Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, and Ashish Nehra.

South Africa sits on top of Group B with two wins while England is in fourth place with a win, loss, and a draw. The match seems to be crucial for England if they hope to continue to the next round of the World Cup. They have been batting well enough and scoring runs, but their bowling and fielding have let them down tremendously.

They managed to beat the Netherlands with just eight balls to go in their first match and then drew with India on the last ball of the game in their next match. They were embarrassed by Ireland in their third game. England scored 327 for eight in their innings, but Ireland beat them by three wickets after storming back and putting up 329 runs for seven in 49.1 overs. Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien set a World Cup record as he scored a century in just 50 balls. He ended up with 113 runs from 63 balls with thirteen 4s and six 6s.

Andrew Strauss will need to captain his side effectively and produce runs from the get go. Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell have been contributing, but Paul Collingwood needs to do more. If they lose this match then England will need to win the rest of their games in the group stage. South Africa can probably afford a loss here and still make it into the next round. South Africa has a fine batting line up to go along with some excellent bowling. The England batsmen will have to come up with a remarkable effort from the top to bottom of the order.

The Africans will depend on AB Devillers, JP Dumminy, and Hashim Amla to lead them to victory. Devillers already has two centuries in the tournament and Amla has one. Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith have been struggling though. Bowlers Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn have been terrific and Kallis is a good backup. Imran Tahir is also bowling well as is Johan Botha and Robin Peterson.

The likely squads will be:

England: Andrew Strauss (c), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara , Kevin Petersen, Matt Prior (wk), Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell , Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright, and Michael Yardy.

South Africa: Gaeme Smith (c), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers (wk), Jean-Paul Dumminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, and Morne van Wyk (wk).

England is such an unpredictable side. They’re either going to bounce back in this game and put it all together or will get thumped as everything falls apart. It’s do or die for them now, but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and go with a close England win.

Bookmaker William Hill offers live odds on the game and the starting odds of an England win listed at 13/8 while the odds of a South Africa victory are at 1/2.

Third-ranked South Africa will be taking on the Netherlands in a Group B Cricket world Cup match at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali, India on March 3rd. The two teams have met twice in the past with South Africa winning both games, which were at the 2007 World Cup. South Africa sits fourth in the group with one win while the Netherlands is in seventh and last place with two losses.

England beat Netherlands in a close game in the first match when they won with just eight balls to go. However, they were completely outclassed in their second match on Feb. 28th when West Indies smoked them by 215 runs. South Africa beat West Indies by seven wickets in their only game on Feb. 24th.

Both teams will likely go with the same lineups as in their last contests. However, Westdijk and Zuiderent need to pick their games up or they could find themselves on the bench after this match.

Jacques Kallis missed the game for South Africa against West Indies and he could be back for this match. Ryan ten Doeschate will need to play like he did against England if Netherlands are to have a chance. He scored a century against them, but struggled against the West Indies.

Predictions of Holland vs South Africa

If South Africa bats first it will probably be a tough day for Netherlands. De Villiers, Duminy, and Smith will be counted on for runs for the South Africans and du Plessis, an all rounder, hopes to do well after not getting into their first game. We recommend going for the special bets instead of money line, and you’ll find them all at William Hill or Bodog (US) where you can bet on cricket.

This is a big cricket game for the Netherlands as they play Ireland and Bangladesh in the future and both of those games are winnable if they play like they did against England. They were like night and day in their matches against England and West Indies though as they went quickly downhill in a matter of days. Both the bowling and batting needs to improve greatly if they are to beat South Africa. Kervezee is another one who will have to pull up his socks.

The likely teams will be :

Netherlands: Alexei Kervezee, Wesley Barresi, Tom Cooper, Ryan ten Doeschate, Bas Zuiderent, Tom de Grooth, Peter Borren (c), Mudassar Bukhari, Pieter Seelaar, Bernard Loots, and Berend Westdijk.
South Africa: Graeme Smith (c), Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB De Villiers (wk), Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, Johan Botha, Robin Peterson, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, and Imran Tahir.

South Africa has won its last five matches while Netherlands have won just once and lost four. Look for South Africa to win this one quite handily.

Bookmaker William Hill has South Africa as heavy favourites with odds ob 1/66 while the odds of a Netherlands win are 16/1.

The seventh match of the 2011 Cricket World cup will feature fourth-ranked South Africa against the eighth-ranked West Indies at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi on Feb. 24 in a Group B matchup. South Africa has never won the World Cup, but looks to be a pretty strong contender this time around. The West Indies have won the tournament twice, in 1975 and in 1979 and lost in the final in 1983. It’s been all downhill since though, with just one appearance in the semi finals.

The two teams have met 50 times in one-day internationals (ODIs) with South Africa winning 37 matches and West Indies taking 12 of them. They’ve met each other four times in World Cup play with each team winning twice. The team batting first has won all of the World Cup games between them.

South Africa will be relying on their captain Graeme Smith, as well as AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, Jacques Kallis, and Faf du Plessis to have big games. The bowlers include Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, and Lonwabo Tsotsobe, and they’re a pretty strong and confident bunch. South Africa are also fielding well and are going into this game with four wins and a loss in their last five matches.

West Indies beat Kenya by 61 runs in a World Cup warm-up game and were beaten by four wickets against Sri Lanka in another. The West Indies will be relying heavily on batsmen Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul to produce runs, with captain Darren Sammy, Kieron Pollard and Darren Bravo needing good games too. The team may have to play without Adrian Barath and wicket-keeper Carlton Bough due to injuries. Kemar Roach and Andrew Russell should feature as bowlers.

The pitch is reported as good and the weather will be warm for the game at about 22 degrees C. Going on their recent form, South Africa will definitely be favoured in this match and they should come out on top unless too many players let the pressure get to them.

Bookmaker William Hill has the odds of a South Africa win listed at 1/3 and a West Indies victory at 12/5.

The teams for the game should look like this

West Indies: Darren Sammy (Capt), Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith, Sulieman Benn, Nikita Miller, Andre Rusell, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kirk Edwards, Devon Thomas (wk).

South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers (wk), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Morne van Wyk (wk).

France and South Africa still have an outside chance to advance to the next round even though they only have one point each in Group A. However, to have any hope at all, they will need to pick up all three points when they meet each other at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on June 22.

South Africa is hoping to avoid becoming the first host team in World Cup history to get knocked out of the competition in the first round. However, a win still won’t guarantee them a place in the knockout stages if Mexico and Uruguay, the two group leaders, play to a draw. France is in the same boat as the maximum points they can achieve are four, while a draw between Mexico and Uruguay would give them five each.

South African midfielder Steven Pienaar said it would be a catastrophe if the team went out in the first round.

If Uruguay or Mexico loses and France or South Africa wins, this will cause a logjam in the table with two teams equal at four points for second place. The all important goal difference would then come into play. Uruguay have the edge at the moment with a plus 3 rating, while Mexico is plus 2, France is minus 2, and South Africa is minus 3. This means France or South Africa must also score a few goals to have any hope of advancing, while hoping Uruguay or Mexico get beaten by a few as well.

France and South Africa find themselves looking up from the bottom of the group after France drew 0-0 with Uruguay and lost 2-0 to Mexico. South Africa drew 1-1 with Mexico and were beaten 3-0 by Uruguay.
Even though France is ranked ninth in the world by FIFA and South Africa is 83rd, this could be a close game as the French squad is in disarray at the moment with striker Nicolas Anelka being sent home, the director of football, Jean-Louis Valentin, resigning, and the players at odds with each other and manager Raymond Domenech and refusing to train the other day. France has been playing bad enough lately without all of these distractions, so they certainly won’t help.

Valentin said the French situation is a scandal, for both the team and the country’s football federation. He added that it was unacceptable and he resigned because he was sickened and disgusted. Look for striker Thierry Henry to take Anelka’s spot in what may be his very last game for France. It’s likely it’ll also be Domenech’s last match as he will be replaced as manager by Laurent Blanc after the tournament. A lot of fans will be happy to see Domenech go, as the team hasn’t done much under him over the last few years.

Things are also looking bleak for the host nation as goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune is suspended for the game after being sent off against Uruguay. Midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi will also miss the match after receiving two yellow cards during the first two games. This means Moneeb Josephs should get the start in net for the South Africans and Surprise Moriri might fill in for Dikgacoi.

South Africa v France Odds and Predictions

The teams have played each other three times in the past with France winning two and drawing one.
A win here by either team likely won’t get them through, but look for South Africa to be the aggressor and squeak out a 2-1 victory. This gives you 8.50 at Bwin and 11.00 (+1000, 10/1) at Sportsbook.com (USA friendly)

William Hill has the odds of a win for France listed at 13/10, with a South African victory at 11/5 and a draw posted at 23/10.

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With both teams coming off of draws in their opening Group A games, hosts South Africa and Uruguay will be looking to post a win this time out when they meet at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria on June 16.

South Africa, who are ranked 83rd in the World by FIFA, didn’t play anything like their lowly ranking would suggest in an entertaining 1-1 draw with Mexico in the tournament opener. Uruguay, who are ranked 16th, didn’t look too impressive in their first match as they played to a goalless draw with France, even though they were down to 10 men. Points are essential here as this is one of the toughest and most even groups in the competition.

It’s the Youth Day holiday in the country on the 16th, and nothing would be better for the South African fans than a win to top off the celebrations. They’re perfectly capable of doing it too. The match against Mexico should have been a huge confidence booster for the Africans, while Uruguay doesn’t really have anything to build on from their first performance.

South African manager Carlos Alberto Parreira of Brazil said he believes the squad has gotten through the worst of it when it comes to nerves and feels they will be able to settle down now and play even better football. However, there’s still a lot of pressure on the team as they’re trying to make sure they don’t become the first home nation to get put out in the first round of a World Cup.

The Youth Day holiday commemorates the 1976 uprising in Soweto in which students protested against the Apartheid regime in the country and it could be a good motivator for the South Africans. Midfielder Steven Pienaar said it would be a double celebration for the country if three points were earned and the team would be a huge step closer to making the second round.

Pienaar, who plays for Everton in the English Premier League, is a key player for the Africans, but was disappointed in his performance against Mexico as he wasn’t in top form and was replaced during the second half. He said his legs are becoming tired after a grueling season in Britain.

Uruguay hasn’t advanced past the first round since 1990 and needs to show some more aggression in its attacking game after getting only three shots on net against France. They also need to finish the game with all 11 players on the field.

Manager Oscar Tabarez could start the game with three forwards to get something going. Look for Diego Forlan and Edinson Cavani to be joined up front by Luis Saurez. Cavani is thought to have a bright future, but the team is depending on Forlan and Suarez to produce now. Forlan has hit the back of the net 56 times for his Spanish club team Atletico Madrid during the past two seasons and Suarez led the Dutch Eredivisie in scoring by netting 35 goals for his club Ajax last season.

Odds and Predictions

Forlan is expected to play just behind Cavani and Suarez. The last time the two teams met, it ended in a 0-0 draw back in 2007 in South Africa. However, look for some goals in this game, in a 2-2 draw. This gives you 15 times the money with Bodog.

Expekt.com lists the odds at 2/1 for a South African win, while a draw is listed at 9/4 and a win by Uruguay is 29/20.

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The hosts opened up the World Cup in dream fashion by scoring the tournament’s very first goal, but the fairytale ending of winning the first match was denied to bafana bafana by a late equaliser from their Mexican opponents.

The first half was goalless but far from low on action, with boh sides looking competitive and South Africa, spurred on by what looked and sounded like an incredible atmosphere, showing pace and flair that hadn’t been seen from them in their friendly matches. Despite this Mexico looked like the better team and dominated the first part of the match. Mexico had a couple of good chances in the first half, with Alessandro dos Santos looking like he could have netted the earliest ever first World Cup goal in the second minute of play, but this attempt, along with another decent chance from Franco at 32 minutes were fruitless.

In the second half, Siphiwe Tshabalala became a national hero when he fired in a superb shot in the 55th minute, which was followed by one of the best goal celebrations we are likely to see in the competition, as the players lined up and did a little synchronised dance as the crowd went wild.

Teko Modise had a chance to secure a home victory in this opener at 76 minutes, but sadly for the legions of bafana bafana fans filling up Soccer City with the sound of their air horns he missed. Modise had a few excellent moments in this game but here he just didn’t get enough power in the strike to get it past Perez.

Andres Guardado found an unmarked Marquez at the far post and the Mexicans found their equaliser – Khune had no chance of stopping this shot and it looked like a dream win for South Africa was off the table. Even at this point though, the South Africans stayed in the game and had a close chance of scoring a winner, but Mphela’s left-foot strike hit the post and denied them the win.

As outsiders in the tournament despite being the home nation, South Africa and their fans will most likely be very happy with this hard earned point, and with going down in history as the first team to score in a World Cup on African soil.

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