World Cup Betting Tips: Predictions & Best Odds For Thursday’s Games

Betting sites are raking it in so far at the World Cup with major upsets provided by Saudi Arabia and Japan while Denmark and Croatia have also been held to draws against the odds. 

Punters could be forgiven for turning their backs on the favourites as we enter Day Five of the tournament, but it’s difficult to make a strong case for underdogs Cameroon, South Korea, Ghana and Serbia on Thursday. 

We’ve scoured numerous World Cup betting sites to find the best value as the action continues with tournament favourites Brazil among the eight teams opening their campaign.

Switzerland vs Cameroon, Thursday, 10am

You may not have noticed it, but Switzerland have quietly become one of the top performers when it comes to qualifying for and performing at major tournaments in recent times.

The Swiss come into this competition having qualified for their fifth major tournament in-a-row after topping a qualifying group that contained European champions Italy.

They’ve also advanced to the knockout stages of the each of the previous four tournaments they’ve been at – only Belgium and France can boast a similar record.

Switzerland meet a Cameroon outfit backboned by experienced operators like goalkeeper André Onana (who is among the dirtiest players at this World Cup), Napoli midfielder André-Frank Zambo Anguissa and captain Vincent Aboubakar.

The Indomitable Lions qualified for the World Cup by seeing off Algeria over two legs back in March, but their form has been poor of late as they’ve failed to win in their last four outings.

Those four games were against Uzbekistan (loss), South Korea (loss), Jamaica (draw) and Panama (draw) – hardly a who’s who of international football.

On the flip side, Switzerland have beaten Spain (twice), Portugal and Czech Republic within their previous five matches and the odds on football betting sites suggest they should add another victory to that column on Thursday morning.

Tip: Switzerland To Win - 3/4 With William Hill

Uruguay vs South Korea, Thursday, 1pm 

Darwin Nunez has been tipped up as a dark horse in the Golden Boot betting, but Uruguay are still reliant on heavily veteran Luis Suarez as their main goal getter. 

Suarez, 35, has an impressive 68 goals in 134 games for his country, seven of which have come at the World Cup which sees him feature on our extensive list of the tournament’s greatest ever goalscorers. 

Indeed, he even featured near the top of our study on the most effective goalscorers in qualifying for Qatar, based on the quality of opposition his goals came against en route to the 2022 World Cup. 

Uruguay will have watched Germany fall victim to Japan on Wednesday and may take a more cautious approach as a result, but they should still have too much firepower for the Asian side, with Suarez likely to be in the thick of the action. 

Tip: Luis Suarez Anytime Goalscorer – 2/1 with 10Bet

Portugal vs Ghana, Thursday, 4pm

It’s probably disappointing for both sides that Cristiano Ronaldo’s Manchester United exit has dominated the headlines coming into this contest, rather than what should be quite a competitive affair at Stadium 974.

After an explosive interview with Piers Morgan caused Man Utd and Ronaldo to mutually agree his exit from the club, you can expect all the cameras to be on the world’s most infamous free agent footballer in this one.

However, with players like Rúben Dias, João Cancelo, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Rúben Neves, João Félix and Rafael Leão in their ranks, Portugal are far from a one-man-band and will have ambitions of going deep into the World Cup.

But first they have to get out a group containing Uruguay, South Korea and Ghana, their opponents on Thursday, and that’s not going to be an easy task.

The Black Stars may have missed out on Russia 2018, but they did feature in the three World Cups before that – getting out of the group twice in the process – so they know what is expected of them at this level.

However, Ghana’s defence has been exposed by conceding a combined seven goals to Brazil (three) and Japan (four) in recent months, and Portugal’s star man will be licking his lips at facing that.

UK bookmakers have Ronaldo as the shortest price to nab a goal anytime, and with all the controversy surrounding him, he might just relish the chance to silence his critics.

Tip: Cristiano Ronaldo To Score Anytime - 6/5 With 10Bet

Brazil vs Serbia, Thursday, 7pm

While 20 years without a World Cup crown may not seem that bad to most nations participating in Qatar 2022, it’s a source of pain for record five-time winners Brazil.

The Seleção are aiming to bring that hurt to an end this winter and have been well supported in the run up to this tournament, currently trading as the 3/1 favourites.

But after Argentina's surprise loss to Saudi Arabia, are the South American sides possibly overrated? Serbia, their first opponents at Qatar 2022, look a dangerous side having won five of their last six games, scoring 18 goals in the process. 

Aleksandar Mitrovic scored six of those goals and has been in fine form for Fulham in the Premier League this season, so he looks a good value bet to find the net against Brazil.

Tip: Aleksandar Mitrovic to score anytime - 3/1 with Bet365