It is always bad news to hear about a team losing players due to injury, and the weeks leading up to the World Cup have revealed plenty of key injuries to some of the world’s top teams.
World Cup 2014 Betting News: Injuries Impact Odds for France, Germany
Injuries to Ribery and Reus took some of the strength out of World Cup bets on France and Germany this week. See the latest odds.
David Rogers
France, Colombia and Germany all took a significant hit on the injury front, tweaking World Cup futures and shaking the confidence of some bettors.
Midfielder Franck Ribery is one of France’s most recognizable stars, having appeared in more international matches (81) than anyone else on the squad and second only to Karim Benzema in goals scored with 16.
Unfortunately for France, Ribery’s offensive ability and leadership will not be available for the 2014 World Cup as the 31-year-old was unable to overcome a back injury in time to get fit for action. Pressure will be on Benzema to lead the way on offense for France, which is going off at 25/1 to win the World Cup.
Colombia’s Radamel Falcao had appeared to make the improbable trip back to health after suffering a severe knee injury earlier this year, but the star striker ran out of time in his journey towards recovery and was ruled out of World Cup play.
Easily Colombia’s most dangerous attacker, Falcao has the type of game-breaking ability that would have made Colombia a much more dangerous out in the knockout round. The Colombians will still play an up-tempo game without him, and are going off at 33/1 to win the tournament.
Germany (11/2 to win the World Cup) is well known for its depth, which makes any injury that the team suffers less of a blow than it may be to many other countries. Still, every fresh body counts, and the team would love to have versatile 25-year-old Marco Reus.
Effective as a midfielder and a winger, Reus has 30 goals combined in his last two seasons with Borussia Dortmund, but is out of World Cup action with an ankle injury.
Other key players will play through their injuries but aren’t expected to be 100 percent healthy heading into World Cup 2014 action. These players include Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (12/1 to be the tournament’s top goal scorer), Uruguay’s Luis Suarez (18/1) and Spain’s Diego Costa (28/1).
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