Though it hasn’t quite gained enough traction to dominate in the United States, soccer is no doubt the most popular sport in the world. All it takes is a ball to get started and begin living out the biggest moments in your mind.
If you enjoy watching soccer, there’s a good chance you’re making picks. Whether those picks are for money or for fun, there are a few ways that you can get better at choosing correctly. Check out the tips laid out below.
Study the Trends
While there is no guarantee when making soccer picks, it is important to remember that making sports picks of any kind is largely a numbers game. One of the best things that you can do going into a particular game is to see how each of the clubs has been doing recently.
Why is this important? For starters, it will give you insight into how each team has been playing lately. You would be more likely to go with a red-hot team over one that has been struggling. Sometimes, the results will be two teams who are evenly matched, which can result in you taking another path.
Leave Emotions Out of It
One of the single biggest mistakes people make when picking sports games is making decisions based on emotion. We are all fans to begin with, so it can become all too easy to become biased toward one particular club. Likewise, hatred for a rival can be equally as detrimental.
When making soccer picks, it is important to keep things logic based. Doing so will allow you to be objective and make the smartest pick even if you aren’t a fan of the teams involved. It can even be a good idea to avoid betting on your favorite team if you know that it will be quite difficult to keep things objective and unbiased.
Evaluate the Matchup History
Digging further into the numbers, one of the best things you can do when making picks is to look at the recent history between the two clubs. There is something to be said about performing better against rivals or playing up to a higher level in stressful situations. That kind of motivation can even counteract season-long stats.
Look at how both teams have played one another not only in the current season but the last few. Roster changes happen all the time, though, so don’t go too far out because those games won’t be relevant. Perhaps a top team struggles a bit against a bitter rival that is further down in the standings. That wouldn’t be seen without taking a deeper dive into the history of the matchup.
Compare Styles
In much the same way that rivals can outperform their normal expectations against a familiar team, style of play can also make a difference. Each team has their own style of play, though the best teams are often capable of being flexible and adjusting their game to counteract whatever the opposition is throwing at them. Having said that, stylistic mismatches can pop up all the time.
Perhaps teams like to run a particular attack strategy or defend in zones rather than man-to-man. Knowing how these strategies compare to the opposition can create the kind of pick that many others would not necessarily notice.
There are a few other things to look at, but those four tips will set you up to make smarter, more efficient picks. While getting 100% is impossible over a long period of time, you can become more consistent and stay above the very important 50% mark.
