World Cup Best Bets - June 16

Egypt come into their opening World Cup match on the back of a 2-1 loss to Brazil in their final friendly. Prior to this, the nation had beaten Saudi Arabia 4-0 before downing Russia in a 1-0 win. These victories sandwiched a 0-0 draw with Spain. While Egypt have not been hugely consistent, they have been tough to beat. Their 2-1 loss to Brazil was a match they were in until the final whistle, meaning I predict a tight meeting between the pair. Belgium are the favourites and my pick to win this one with less than 3.5 goals scored. 

Uruguay will feel it is a straight shoot-out between themselves and Spain for top spot in Group H. This makes their opening clash against Saudi Arabia even more important. Victory in this game coupled with a win over minnows Cape Verde would see Uruguay pick up six points without accounting for their clash with Spain, which will be more than enough to move into the knockout stages. Across their last nine months of football, Uruguay have won twice, drawn three times and lost once. While they have not won particularly consistently, their only defeat came against the USA, while their draws came against good opposition in the form of Mexico, England and Algeria. With the need for a win in their opener clear, I am backing Uruguay to start with a victory. 

New Zealand have been awful across their last six matches, with five defeats coming alongside a single 4-1 win over Chile. Their last outing may have ended in them losing by a single-goal against England, but they barely threw a punch on the day. Keeping things tight on the scoreboard is important, but if the Kiwi's cannot find a way to score goals, then only conceding once per game is pointless. Worrying is the fact they have lost and failed to score in four of their last five, and I predict more issues in front of goal in this one.