In what will most likely amount to be the final World Cup betting fixture for both teams, the Ivory Coast and North Korea will duke it out in Group G action on Friday morning in Nelspruit.
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North Korea knows that its World Cup is finished and will be looking to salvage a point from the festivities to avoid finishing dead last amongst the 32 teams in the tournament. With the Portuguese already holding four points, there is no mathematical way out of the group for the North Koreans.Math isn’t exactly on the side of the Ivory Coast either.

Les Elephants are only three points behind Portugal for the final spot in the second round of this tournament out of the “Group of Death,” but making up those three points and the goal differential is virtually impossible. Ivory Coast and Brazil need to combine to post wins of nine goals or more to get Les Elephants into the knockout rounds.

North Korea vs. Ivory Coast
Game Date/Time: Friday, June 25th, 10:00 AM ET
Game Location: Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit, South Africa
TV/Radio Broadcast: ESPN2, ESPN360, XM

World Cup Odds: Ivory Coast -260 -1.5 -110 vs. North Korea +700 +1.5 -110: Draw +350: Total 2.5 over -125 2.5 under +105

For the Ivory Coast, only scoring one goal in two matches wasn’t something that was totally unexpected, especially considering that those contests were against Brazil and Portugal. However, the reality is that these efforts just haven’t been enough to stake a claim to a bid in the second round of this tournament. F Didier Drogba is the goal scorer for Les Elephants, just as he was the main offensive threat in the World Cup in Germany in 2006. The Chelsea man is going to want to put on a heck of a show in South Africa for his home nation against a team that has already proven to have an incredibly weak defense. That defense ultimately conceded six goals in a span of less than 40 minutes against Portugal to mathematically end its World Cup.

North Korea was completely outclassed and overmatched for that entire 90 minutes and perhaps were lucky not to end up losing by more goals, particularly in the first half. As one of the lowest ranked teams according to FIFA in this tournament, the North Koreans are simply thrilled to be here, and even snaring a point would be a tremendous triumph.

World Cup Insider Tip: Ivory Coast won its final match in the group stage in the last World Cup against Serbia to salvage three points from the ’06 “Group of Death” as well.And the exact same thing will happen on Friday. Les Elephants know that they aren’t going to get into the next round, but just as we saw with fellow African nations, Algeria, Nigeria, and South Africa, the Ivory Coast is going to put forth the effort to try to grab three points, if for no other reason, to excite the host continent and build towards the future.

Ivory Coast is the play over North Korea in this World Cup betting duel.
My World Cup Betting Prediction: Ivory Coast -1.5
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When analyzing which player you believe is going to win the Golden Boot, you have to account for several factors, including who the striker is, what team he plays for, and what his draw looks like. Conventional wisdom suggests that no one is going to win the distinction without reaching at least the quarterfinals of the tournament. Check out our World Cup odds breakdown for the Golden Boot!
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Kaka, Brazil (+3000) – Kaka is an interesting creature on this Brazilian team because he is going to be asked to join the attack quite a bit, particularly with both Adriano and Ronaldinho not being chosen for the squad. He tallied twice against Egypt in the ’09 Confederations Cup and had five goals in World Cup qualifying. Kaka only has one World Cup strike to his credit from 2006, but he is going to be called upon to do significantly more here in South Africa.

Wayne Rooney, England (+1000) – If you watch the way that Rooney played in World Cup qualifying, this is a man that is clearly on a mission. He and his teammates were blasted in the British media for not qualifying for Euro 2008, but the Manchester United star roared back with nine goals in as many matches in qualifying for the World Cup. England went 9-0-0 in its first nine matches before resting its regulars for the final, meaningless affair. The Brits should have absolutely no trouble until at least the quarterfinals, and if that’s the case, Rooney should be near setting the standard for goal scorers in this tournament at that point.

Lionel Messi, Argentina (+1500) – The top goal scorer in Spanish Primera this past year, Messi is about as much of an attacking midfielder as you’ll see in the World Cup. He has scored 88 times in 144 CAPS for Barcelona since 2004 and has tallied 13 times for his country since ’05, including four times in qualifying for the World Cup. In 2005, Messi was the top goal scorer in the 2005 U-20 World Cup, and he was also named the player of that tournament. Much like England, the Argentines had a very easy draw that should carry them into at least the quarterfinals, and if that happens, Messi is probably going to have his name on the stat sheet quite a bit.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal (+1400) – Ronaldo came up just short of Messi in the race for the most goals in Spain’s top flight of soccer this year. He is the heart and soul of Portuguese soccer, and unlike these other players that we have listed that have teams that can score a ton of goals around them, there isn’t anyone else on this side that we expect to be able to score multiple goals in this tournament. Portugal’s biggest problem is that it has a miserably hard draw to reach the semifinals, as dates with Brazil and Ivory Coast await in the first round, while a potential matchup with Spain could await in the Round of 16.
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