Centrebet Time

Time to check in on our old friend, Centrebet. For the Australia v Japan World Cup match tonight, the Centrebet oracle has Australia down to pay $2.25 for a win, and Japan at $3.20. This surprised me, as I felt that Japan were more likely to take it tonight, but I'm sure these people know better than I in this case.

In other World Cup wagering news, Croatia's not looking too optimistic against Brazil, at $9.00 vs $1.38. Those keen for a shot at a few easy dollars could consider Trinidad & Tobago in their upcoming match against England: a T&T win will see you with $17.00 for every dollar you invest, as opposed to a miserly $1.15 for England.

The real money, of course, is in picking the winner of the Cup itself. Good returns on Togo, Saudi Arabia and Angola ($1001). Australia is sitting on $81 at the time of writing, the same as Croatia but ahead of USA, Japan, Korea, Paraguay (not likely to hear their lovely anthem many more times, it seems), and others.

It'll be interesting to see how the Australian team fare. I'm not too concerned one way or another; international sporting events just don't bring out the flamboyant patriot in me. But I do hope that they make it into the next round for the benefit the publicity and excitement will lend the local game.

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On a related note, the lovely Les Murray (the soccer broadcaster, not the poet) made it onto the Queen's Birthday Honours List today, along with Bert Newton; the guy who created Humphey B Bear; Greg Combet; Shane Stone, who deserves one on the strength of his astonishing euthanasia law alone; and Margaret Olley.