Obscure Betting Column: Value from around the globe

The Joker's Bet Of The Day / Ben Lyttleton / 29 August 2008 / Leave a Comment

Dave Farrar and Ben Lyttleton cross the pond for unlikely prices and reveal how an ex-Coventry flop got rich and didn't die trying.

Under-goals in Toronto FC v Chivas USA in USA

Ever wondered where Danny Dichio and Rohan Ricketts had got to? No, me neither. They both play, along with other former English League players Jim Brennan and Carl Robinson, for Toronto FC in the MLS, and their new club has had a pretty torrid time lately. The Toronto coach John Carver was showered with praise after his team beat LA Galaxy 3-2 earlier this month, but punters shouldn't be fooled by the one win: Toronto FC are only in their second season as a franchise, but that's no excuse for winning only two of their ten away matches this season. They need points if they are going to drag themselves into the play off positions this season.

Carver has signed Carlos Ruiz from the LA Galaxy and he is set to make his debut in this game. Former Spurs winger Ricketts, who is now a Canada international, is an unlikely cult hero in Toronto thanks to his blog and TV show "Rollin' With Ricketts" on the club TV channel. With respect to Eoin Jess, Ricketts must be the only ex-Coventry winger whose shirt the rapper 50 Cent has been seen wearing.

Back to the world of reality on the pitch, where Chivas are not looking too clever either: winless in their last six league matches, defeated by Panama in a midweek Champions League tie, the team coached by the ex Everton player Preki are also in a wretched run of form. But they did beat Toronto 2-0 home and away last season. Given how poorly both teams are playing, though, a 0-0 draw seems to be the likeliest result this time round, so back 0-0 correct score and go under 2.5 goals as well. There isn't a "No Goalscorer" market on this match, so back 0-0 at around [9.5], and back that up by going under 2.5 goals at [1.95]

Back Fylkir in Icelandic Cup semi-final against Fjolnir:

Mid-table Fjolnir come into the game on a wretched run of form, losing five
straight matches before taking a 3-0 lead against FH which ended up as a
3-3 draw. They were not expected to put up much resistance to Fram in
Wednesday night's league clash and again they capitulated to a 3-1 defeat.
Lucky for them that they started the season so well, otherwise they would have been sucked into a relegation battle by now. Their confidence is low going into the Cup
semi-final against Fylkir, who are in trouble themselves after their
2-0 midweek home defeat to KR. Two teams who are out of form, but Fylkir
should have enough to get through. You should be able to get Fylkir matched at around the [1.9] mark.

Back Benfica to beat Porto in the Portuguese Superliga

Portugal isn't strictly speaking, an obscure league, but it sneaks into this column as it's not one of the top five leagues in Europe. The Benfica coach Quique Sanchez Flores is already under pressure after his team were the only one of the big three which failed to win on the Superliga's opening day last week. They drew 1-1 at Rio Ave while Porto (Belenenses 2-0) and Sporting (Trofense 3-1) both won. The fixture list has not helped the Spaniard as Benfica's first home match is against Porto: if they lose it, they will already be five points behind the reigning champions after just two games.

Despite that, the fixture comes at a good time for Benfica: they can welcome back Angel di Maria from his Olympic heroics for Argentina, and he should start alongside Pablo Aimar and Jose Antonio Reyes in an attacking Benfica line-up. Porto, on the other hand, showed in their 2-1 Super Cup loss to Sporting that they miss Jose Bosingwa and especially holding midfielder
Paulo Assuncao (Atletico Madrid). They will also be without Ricardo Quaresma, who is expected to complete a move to Inter Milan over the weekend. This Porto side are not as strong as they were last year: this derby is always a tense affair but we don't expect a repeat of Porto's 1-0 win at Estadio da Luz last season. It will be a tight game ¬with goals at
a premium and a motivated and rejuvenated Benfica are value to surprise Porto in a low scoring game.

Back Benfica to beat Porto 1-0 at [9.0]