That weekend I strived to pursue some valuable entry points, triggered by my calculations, regardin' some South American soccer markets.
Several Argentinean soccer matches were very comfortable in terms of probabilities for attacking the "Under XXX goals" markets. So far OK (the computed probabilities and Reward/Risk ratios worked pretty OK here), but when it comes to the following two clashes, described below, I have learned some valuable lessons:
- Brasil, Série A, São Paulo vs Goiás:
My leading calculated probability insisted on a lesser difference between these teams at that moment, unlike the implied probabilities by the initially published odds. However, I was wrong in terms of the expected goals. The six goals case was so far from my initial calculated outputs. My business plan for that game pursued the "Under XXX goals" market in terms of pre-match position. Another error was the lack of correct estimations of the teams' starting line-ups and the right estimation for the influence of the substitutions. In the time interval between the fifth and the sixth of the scored goals, both the coaches made 9 substitutions. Other underestimations on my side were about some possible side effects of the tempo of the play, and also the underestimation of the high efficiency of the attacks, performed by the Goiás team, no matter that two of the substitutions were performed by the São Paulo team, aiming for defensive approach. The six saved goals from the opponent's defense department, when much of the major Stats were slightly negative for the Goiás team, shows very clearly the Goiás' efficiency in the offensive plan in that game away. Last, but not least, there was an error on my side in the live estimation of São Paulo's defense dept that day - all the goals for the visitors were made when all the defensive players were in their own penalty area.
- Chile, Primera División, Colo Colo vs Huachipato:
Having in mind, that el entrenador Quinteros has some problems in the defense dept (easy goals conceded lately, for instance, those vs the Audax Italiano and Everton teams, unwanted red cards, etc), and also counting the struggling in the attacking phase vs Ñublense recently, I decided to change my plan and to build my entries against implied probabilities in terms of the number of the expected goals and the spread, offered by the agencies. The business plan required some positions for a win for the Colo Colo team, but below the widely offered by the various bookies' area of Over 2,5 - Over 2.75, and also below AH from -1.5 or -1.75, predicted by the odds compilers.
My lesson here was that the unexpected Huachipato's approach started at a score of 0:0, somewhere after the 60th minute. Until the late goal, somehow luckily scored by Colo Colo via shooting from 25 meters across all the defenders in the penalty area, the visitors quite successfully neutralize the Colo Colo attacks and the home team practically had no goal chances. A similar approach was successfully implemented by the much more classy Ñublense team on that venue recently. Very risky from my side, but I decided not to put hedge positions after the 60th minute, despite I had spotted the very quality new defensive performance of the visiting team in the last third of the runtime.
I'd love to read some points of view from players, who participated in those South American betting markets, described above, or similar ones. Especially the opinions of residents there. I'll be glad if there are South American soccer lovers, practicing the on-the-fly quality analysis and tending to turn that one into quantitative analysis.
Thanks in advance.
