World Cup Betting: Fail to prepare, prepare to fail

World Cup Betting / Ben Lyttleton / 09 February 2010 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet

Dunga is unlikely to pick Robinho and Ronaldinho in the same team and it is the Santos man who seems to be in pole position to occupy the playmaker role

Ben Lyttleton tells us why "blast from the past" Yordan Letchkov has a priceless word of advice for teams looknig to do well at this year's World Cup and how te likes of Dunga are running out of time in terms of deciding on the make up of their team.

"Maybe pre-tournament preparations are like a referee: they are important but
you only notice them if they are bad."

A colleague recently asked Yordan Letchkov, the hero of Bulgaria's run to the 1994 World Cup semi-finals, if he was surprised by how well the team had done back then. "Not at all," he replied. "Everything came together at the same time: we had confidence and momentum from a superb qualifying campaign [when they beat France 2-1 with an injury-time winner in Paris], a settled team, a game-plan we knew how to execute and the preparations in the build-up to the tournament were spot on."

Maybe pre-tournament preparations are like a referee: they are important but you only notice them if they are bad. Changing captain five months before the tournament, as England coach Fabio Capello felt compelled to do last week, could yet prove a master-stroke but you can be sure that if England fail at some point in South Africa, the story behind John Terry's loss of the armband will rear its head again. In Germany, the failure to renew coach Jogi Low's contract means that he could officially leave his post on June 30, after the Round of 16 matches.

Four African sides had an advantage, preparation-wise, before this summer as they qualified for the African Cup of Nations, which some approached as a mid-season World Cup training-camp to work on tactics and improve morale. That singularly failed in the case of the Ivory Coast, who were so upset by the Togo bus attack in Cabinda that they wanted to go home before playing a game.

Cameroon coach Paul le Guen, who was under pressure after his disorganised team struggled before losing to Egypt in the quarter-finals, said before the competition began, "Whatever happens, we have to remember that this tournament is preparation for the real thing. What matters is the World Cup, and we mustn't deflect from that goal." His side are [2.06] to qualify from Group E.

In three weeks, there is one round of international friendlies that for coaches will act as the final audition for players pushing for a place in the squad. Because the Rio carnival starts in Brazil next week, Brazil ([6.2] to win the world Cup) coach Dunga will be forced to name his squad for the game against Ireland early, and so this week the spotlight will be on the boss, and specifically whether he picks Ronaldinho, Robinho, or one of them or neither of them.

The debate has forced both men to take decisive action this season. After three years of living off past glories, and no call-up since April 2009, Ronaldinho has lost weight this season and flourished in AC Milan's 4-3-3 system. South American writer Tim Vickery believes that Ronaldinho has been helped by Kaka's departure to Real Madrid, which may not help his Selecao claims after all, but there is no doubt that his form has given Dunga a dilemma.

On the other hand, Robinho has looked lacklustre and disinterested at Manchester City this season, the nadir coming when, after coming on as a substitute, he was subbed off against Everton. Last week he moved on loan to his first club Santos, and on Sunday night he scored the winner on his debut. Robinho needs games and goals to restore his confidence, and the fact that he is up against poor defences in Brazil should be irrelevant to Dunga.

At the moment, his preferred attacking line-up is Kaka, Robinho and Benfica wide-man Ramires, more of an orthodox midfielder who can slot back when Maicon storms upfield, behind Luis Fabiano as the lone forward. It seems unlikely that Ronaldinho can work in that system, and though he may be the best playing option as back-up to Robinho, whether his ego would deal with that might be a different matter.

Time may be running out for Dunga in his selection process, but the same certainly can't be said for his Mexican counterpart Javier Aguirre. Mexico, who play hosts South Africa in the opening game on June 11 and are [2.0] to qualify from Group A, have arranged up to 12 friendlies between now and then, playing against teams including Bolivia, New Zealand and Iceland (in March), Ecuador, Senegal and Chile (early-May) and England, Holland and Italy (late-May). If Aguirre still Can't work out his best team after all that, he really should be worried.

Different teams may approach the tournament in different ways but the same
adage holds true for all of them. As Letchkov said, preparation matters.

Tags: Dunga, football bets, ronaldinho, World Cup betting, World Cup squads, World Cup teams