London Olympics 2012 - Mens Football Group D

Betting prediction rounds up the Mens Football with a look down the teams in Group D. The Spain youngsters will be hoping to carry on the success of the senior side and bring home the countries 2nd gold medal. 

Mens Olympic Football - Group D Analysis

Group D - Betting Odds (Best Prices)

• Spain            3.50 Outright. 1.25 Group D Winner.
• Japan           51.0 Outright. 8.00 Group D Winner.
• Morocco       71.0 Outright. 11.0 Group D Winner.
• Honduras    201 Outright.  26.0 Group D Winner.

Spain have an excellent squad and on paper only Brazils would seem superior. Playing the same style as the senior side Spain will look to dominate the posession and should have no problems doing so in straight forward group. Topping the group is vital so as to avoid playing Brazil in quarter finals. The squad has quality in every department and has been supplemented with three excellent overage selections. The defence is solid and looks to be the same back line that qualified. Jordi Alba fresh from his superb Euro 2012 will be taking the left back spot. Midfield will feature two players sitting in the centre and three advanced, including Juan Mata and Javi Martinez.  Top Scorer in qualification Adrian Lopez will start up top.

Overage Players: Juan Mata, Adrian Lopez and Javi Martinez.

How Qualified: Won 4 of the 5 games and won the tournament.

Star Man: Juan Mata only played for 5 minutes in Euro 2012 but still managed to score a goal! The Chelsea man will hope to have more game time and will be a key player for Spain. Can play a variety of roles but seems to favour the attacking midfield. Excellent close control and vision, creative and scores goals.

Emerging Star: Iker Muniain is a star in the making. The Bilbao player is fast,explosive and plays with a lot commitment. Always running and making himself available for passes. He has three years of top level experience despite being only 19! Has a great understanding with club mates Martinez and Herrera also.

Japan  are another side who have prepared well with 17 games played over the last year.(Winning 11 and losing 6) They appeared in the recent Toulon tournament, starting off poorly with a 2-0 defeat to Turkey. Then they put in an amazing performance of pace and attacking football to beat Netherlands 3-2 in a pulsating match. This appeared to take a lot out the Japanese who were then defeated 3-2 by Egypt and left the competition. For the Olympic selection Japan made a few surprise decisions, first of all only one overage player was selected and then two key players left out. Ryo Miyaichi and Yoshiaki Takaji were both expected to be amongst the starting eleven, but were left out. Miyaichi was probably denied participation by Arsenal. 

Overage Player:Yuhei Tokunaga

How Qualified: Japan won 6 of their 8 games scoring 17 goals.

Star Man:Takashi Usami is a forward who can play in any attacking position. After a brilliant breakthrough 2010 season at Gamba Osaka Usami was loaned out to Bayern Munich. Has since been transferred to Hoffenheim where he will hope to start more games. Has 17 goals in 64 club matches and has scored 15 times for Japanese youth sides.

Emerging Star:Keigo Higashi is a right midfielder with exciting talent. Leading scorer for Japan over the last year with 4 goals. Has played over 100 club games in Japan also scoring 19 times.

Morocco have been dealt a huge blow with injuries and clubs denying player release. Star man Younes Belhanda will miss out after an ankle injury, this is a massive loss for Morocco.  Coach Pim Verbeek has also had to shuffle his pack after being denied the opportunity to call up Adel Taraabt and Marouane Chamakh. Indeed Verbeek only selected two overage players, Captain Houssine Kharja and Nordine Amrabat. 

How Qualifed: Finished as runners up in Africa. Won 3 and lost 2 in CAF finals, lost to Gabon 2-1 in final.

Star Man: Houssine Kharja is an attacking midfielder who can also operate as striker. Good touch and a good finisher. Has spent the last 10 years in Italy's Serie A and Serie B, Will captain the team.

Emerging Star:Abdelaziz Barrada was top scorer in qualifiation with 3 goals and was named in the team of the tournament. A similar player to Taraabt, Barrada is the creative hub of the team but as shown is capable of scoring goals too. 

Honduras have now qualified for three Olympic finals but have only managed one win so far, and will do well to get out of the group.The Concacaf qualification is not strong and Honduras qualified with a bit of good fortune. Only facing one side of any note (Mexico twice, losing 3-0 and 2-1) The squad is not especially strong and the three overage players are not of the highest class. They do however have a good coach in Luis Fernandez Suarez, he has coached at the highest level.

How Qualified: Runners up in Concacaf section. Won 3 and lost 2 including a 2-1 loss to Mexico in the final.

Star Man:Jerry Bengtson is a Honduran striker with a great scoring rate. With 63 goals in 135 matches the player earned a move to US MLS where he recently scored on his debut for New England. Fast powerful player who will form a good partnership with Eddie Hernandez.

Emerging Star: Eddie Hernandez was the top scorer in qualification and has scored over 30 goals in 2 seasons for Platense. Huge presence up front for Honduras with his massive frame. Good in the air but a decent finisher too.

Betting Tips:

Spain should have the group wrapped up but 1.25 is no value. Again its a head to head for qualification between Japan and Morocco. Morocco would have been favourites with Belhanda, Chamakh and Taraabt. The loss of all three players is too much. Honduras will make up the numbers and cannot qualify. So Japan to qualify from group D at 1.91 is the value bet.