It’s quarter finals time both at the World Cup and Wimbledon which means more than a few sleepless nights for us sports fans in Macau and across the Asia Pacific region.
We’ll start in Brazil where the Round of 16 has just concluded, leaving us with some mouth-watering clashes this weekend as the big guns try to make it through to the semi-finals. First up is Brazil v Colombia and we’re going to be putting a few sneaky dollars on the Colombians in this one. You should be able to get close to $4.50 on Colombia to win this game which is remarkable given they’ve been arguably the form side of the tournament so far. Brazil, on the other hand, was lucky to win their last game against Chile on penalties. Their defence remains suspect and the pressure to perform well on home soil is huge.
Probably the toughest quarter-final to pick is Germany v France, although we’re leaning towards the French on form. The Netherlands should be far too strong for Costa Rica while Argentina and Belgium is an intriguing tie. Both sides have won all four matches in this World Cup without ever really putting their foot down. The Belgians are a decent chance here but we’ll stick with the South Americans based on the brilliance of their talisman Lionel Messi.
Wimbledon sprung its biggest upset of 2014 overnight when 19-year-old Australian Nick Kyrgios bounced out world number one Rafael Nadal in four sets. Kyrgios is considered a star of the future but it looks like he is quickly becoming a star of the present with his huge serve and powerful ground strokes proving too much for Nadal on the zippy London grass. He now meets Canada’s Milos Raonic in the quarters. Defending champion Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic look to be on track for a semi-final meeting, while Swiss duo Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka face off in a fascinating quarter-final clash.
Nick Kyrgios
The Formula 1 circus heads to Silverstone in England for the latest round of the season with Nico Rosberg looking to extend his Championship lead over Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton. Behind them, Red Bull will be hoping to hit back after a disappointing weekend in Austria last start, while on the flip side Williams duo Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa will be out to build on their best performance of the season so far.
And the Australian Goldfields Open snooker is underway in Bendigo with local Neil Robertson looking to continue his good form after winning last week’s Wuxi Classic. China will be represented by rising stars Xiao Guodong and Liang Wenbo who will be looking to claim the AU$75,000 first prize..
Good luck and good punting.
