Sports Betting Companies Odds vs. Japan Pulls off Big Upset. Gamblers at sports betting companies witnessed the first major upset in the World Cup as Japan shocked Cameroon 1-0 on Monday.There were not many people that liked Japan in sports betting as the team had looked awful in four straight exhibition losses coming into the World Cup. It didn’t matter though as Japan scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Cameroon.
Sports betting companies listed Japan as a big underdog against Cameroon. Keisuke Honda scored the only goal of the game in the first half and Japan held on for the win. The Netherlands defeated Denmark in the other match from Group E which means that the Dutch should have no trouble advancing to the knockout round. Their stiffest competition was expected to come from Cameroon but that may not happen now.
Just how unlikely was this upset in sports betting? On paper it was possible that Japan could win but based on the stats from the match you wouldn’t have guessed that the Japanese were even in the game. They had only three scoring chances in the entire match. It is the lowest number ever for a winning World Cup team since they began tracking those statistics in 1966. Their 45% possessions are the lowest by a winning team this year. Japan didn’t even have a single corner kick and still won. They are only the sixth team since 1966 to win without getting at least one corner which is simply amazing.
Japan did all of that against a Cameroon team that simply didn’t show up to play. There is simply no excuse for Cameroon losing to Japan but that is exactly what happened. Japan’s Keisuke Honda scored when Daisuke Matsui sent a cross over the Cameroon defense late in the first half and Honda scored past Cameroon goaltender Hamidou Souleymanou.
Cameroon has a great scorer in Samuel Eto’o but he really did nothing the entire match. Cameroon head coach Paul Le Guen simply did not have the team ready to go. Eto’o can be an up and down player and he was definitely down on Monday and now Cameroon is in serious trouble in Group E. They face what is really an elimination game on Saturday against Denmark.