England Second Favorite in 2010 World Cup Betting Odds

December 8 - On Friday last week hundreds of millions of football fans from all over the world held their collective breaths as the draw for the eight 2010 World Cup groups took place in Cape Town, South Africa, which decided the teams to be grouped together in the coveted football tournament next year.

It's no secret that every country wants their team to be in the 'weakest' group so that they can win their initial games and progress onto the next, tougher round. Of course, this is a 'crap shoot' and while some country's teams luck out, others don't. But one team that definitely lucked out in the draw was England.

England was drawn as part of Group C with the United States, Algeria and Slovenia. On paper England is by far the group's most dominant team which means that it should - if everything goes according to plan - progress on to the final 16. Its only real threat could be the United States, albeit a pretty slight threat.

That said, many football experts have warned the English team not to be too complacent or over-confident, a state of mind that has sunk many great teams in past World Cups. But England's 'lucky draw' has dramatically affected sports betting odds, hoisting it to the second favourite behind Spain to win the tournament.

Spain are the firm favourites after being drawn alongside 'weaker' teams Sweden, Honduras and Chile in Group H. Meanwhile, host nation South Africa were not so lucky in their Group A draw, as they'll have to triumph over far stronger teams Mexico, Uruguay and France if they want to progress in the World Cup.

But undoubtedly the most unfortunate of all the groups is Group G, already labelled the 'group of death', which contains football powerhouses Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast and Portugal, all of them potential 2010 World Cup victors. This means that two of these top teams will be dispatched in the group stage.

Here are the 2010 World Cup betting odds as laid by leading online sports book Bet365:

Spain 5.5/1
England 6/1
Brazil 6.5/1
Argentina 9/1
Italy 12/1
Germany 13/1
Holland 15/1
France 17/1
Portugal 26/1
Ivory Coast 34/1
Chile 41/1
Ghana 51/1
Paraguay 51/1
USA 67/1
Serbia 81/1
Cameroon 81/1
Nigeria 81/1
Denmark 101/1
Uruguay 101/1
Greece 101/1
Switzerland 101/1
Australia 126/1
Mexico 126/1
South Africa 126/1
Slovakia 151/1
Slovenia 151/1
Japan 201/1
Honduras 201/1
Algeria 201/1
South Korea 251/1
North Korea 751/1
New Zealand 751/1

Here are the 2010 World Cup Groups: