Mexico vs Iran Betting Preview

BACK BORGETTI TO HIT THE TARGET Group D is an interesting one and, for me, Mexico are very much the team to beat of the quartet aiming to progress to the next round. Without wishing to dismiss Iran lightly, they will find the going tough when they square up against El Tricolor in this fixture on June 11.Ricardo Lavolpe has assembled a side which is one of the very best Mexico have had in recent times. At the helm they have a goalkeeper, Oswaldo Sanchez, who looks sure to emerge as one of his team's stars if recent form is anything to go by.The Mexican's have have strength in depth throughout every area of the park, not least with in-form striker Jared Borgetti, who has hit the back of the net an impressive thirty eight times in seventy five appearences for El Tri, and he finished top scorer with fourteen goals in the CONCACAF region during Mexico's qualification campaign, hinting that a fruitful World Cup is in the offing.To my mind, backing Borgetti to score anytime at 11/8 with VCBet looks a pretty sound bet - Blue Square go 5/6, which is probably a more accurate reflection of the likelihood of him scoring.Borgetti, one would imagine, will be partnered in attack by the hugely popular Jose Fonseca, aka El Kikin, who amassed a handsome tally of ten goals in eleven matches during qualification, and his versatility will give Lavolpe options, as he's just as effective on the right side of midfield as he is up front.For their part, Iran are playing football as good as they've ever played, and boast a squad many judges deem to be the best in their history. Branko Ivankovic's men had an indifferent start to their qualification campaign when losing 1-0 to Jordan, but bounced back quickly and a 2-1 beating of Japan last March initiated a four-game winning run which secured their World Cup place.As Iran demonstrated when beating the Korean Republic 4-3 in what was a truly cracking game in the quarter-finals of last summer's AFC Asian Cup, their attacking style is effective. And in the shape of reigning AFC Player of the year Ali Karimi, along with midfield dynamo's Mehdi Mahdavika and Hashemian, they have players capable of making an impact at the highest level.However, their approach can be sometimes too attack-orientated, something which a team of Mexico's calibre will be poised to exploit. Mexico are very strong on the counter attack with plenty of pacey players in their ranks, whom are likely to give more solid defensive lines than Iran's plenty to think about during the finals.Verdict - 2pts Jared Borgetti to score anytime @ 11/8 (VCBet)