Uruguayans to receive the most yellow cards

Discipline is a talking point at every major tournament and so it is time for Playing The Long Ball to review the odds on the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil’s most cautioned team.

Several bookmakers are offering odds about which 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil side will receive the most yellow cards and, with double-digit prices available about every team, one thought that it was a good market to assess in detail.

Luckily, there are a sufficient number of statisticians who love counting cards – those that referees hand out rather than those that come from dealers in casinos – for one to have access to all the relevant disciplinary information.

The first thing that strikes one regarding sides that end up being the most cautioned teams at FIFA World Cups is this: they play the maximum number of matches. Not since the 1962 FIFA World Cup Chile has a side received the most yellow cards and not played the most number of games possible.

West Germany received the most yellow cards at the 1966 FIFA World Cup England with six. Since then the most cautioned FIFA World Cup teams have been, in chronological order, Uruguay (seven yellow cards at the 1970 FIFA World Cup Mexico), Brazil and the Netherlands (seven yellow cards at the 1974 FIFA World Cup West Germany), Brazil (nine yellow cards at the 1978 FIFA World Cup Argentina), Italy (11 yellow cards at the 1982 FIFA World Cup Spain), Argentina (12 yellow cards at the 1986 FIFA World Cup Mexico), Argentina (22 yellow cards at the 1990 FIFA World Cup Italy), Bulgaria (19 yellow cards at the 1994 FIFA World Cup United States of America), Croatia (19 yellow cards at the 1998 FIFA World Cup France), Turkey (17 yellow cards at the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea Japan), Portugal (20 yellow cards at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany) and the Netherlands (22 yellow cards at the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa).

As far as trends go, that is a very strong one. So if one wants to bet on the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil market for the side that receives the most yellow cards then one must pick out a team that has a good chance of making the last four and, thereby, playing the maximum number of matches. Also, of course, it makes sense to bet on a side that has shown a propensity to get in the bad books of referees.

If one had to single out one 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil team it would be Uruguay, which is available at odds of 13.00 with BetVictor to be the tournament’s most cautioned side.

Uruguay was the worst disciplined team during the CONMEBOL qualification event for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, receiving 37 yellow cards in its 16 games. Only Colombia managed to get close to Uruguay’s big tally of cautions.

One thinks that Brazil is highly likely to top 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Group A and go a long way in the knockout stage. That is something that anyone betting on any exotic 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil market must consider. Uruguay is highly likely to end up in the same half of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil knockout stage if it finishes second in Group D but the South American side has a fighting chance of winning its section ahead of Costa Rica, England and Italy.

Do not back Brazil to receive be the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil’s most cautioned team. No host nation has had the dishonour of being a FIFA World Cup’s worst behaved side and, with Brazil expected to spend most of its matches on the front foot, the Samba Boys represent poor value at odds of 11.00 with several bookmakers, including 888sport, BetVictor and Unibet. Uruguay is the smartest play.