See ya later England, we hardly knew yee Italia, better luck in 2014 USA, tough Round of 16 draw Chile…we are now down to the last few games before we head to the quarter finals.

Some countries are starting to feel a tad euphoric, while others are wallowing in despair (see England, Italy and France)

Now we have a huge matchup left on the schedule in the Round of 16, as Portugal will try and pull off an upset of Spain on Tuesday.

The appetizer for this match, Japan vs. Paraguay, should also deliver one of the best matches of the tournament to this point.

Going into Tuesday’s tilt, online sportsbooks have the Spaniards are favored at -114, the Portuguese are listed as +266 underdogs, with a draw paying out at +184 and the Over/Under is set at 2.5.

Spain was tied for the Group H lead with Chile and advanced by virtue of a 2-0-1 record straight up.

Spain managed to score four goals in the first-round of the tournament (they have 1 Over and 2 Unders so far in World Cup 2010), with forward David Villa carrying the bulk of the load, netting three goals.

Portugal made it out of this tournament’s Group of Death (G), finishing with a record that consisted of one win and two draws; the Portuguese were second to Brazil in Group G.

The Portuguese are one of the highest-scoring teams in the tournament with 7 goals for and 0 against. However, you’re going to want to note that all of the goals came in a 7-0 smackdown vs. the North Koreans.

Portugal has spread their offense out more than Spain, with midfielder Tiago leading his teammates with two goals and five other players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, tied for second with a single goal, but again, the scoring all came in that wipeout.

Like Spain, the Portuguese have 1 Over and 2 Unders so far in the tournament.

Hey if you think Portugal can rack up another big win, you can bet on that at Sportsbook.

The odds of a Portuguese victory by six or more goals is +9000, while the odds of a Spanish victory by six or more is +8000…I don’t even think those odds are high enough, suffice to say there is almost no possibility of either of those results coming in for bettors.

Brian Taylor, manager from SPORTSBETTING.com, talked a bit about the action on this one. “As expected, this one is attracting quite a bit of attention from our players, similar numbers to England-Germany and the USA-Ghana match. Right now Spain has 31% of the action, but the draw is the most popular option so far, with 41%. 28% have bet on Portugal scoring an upset.”

I’m looking forward to this one.

Enjoy the action.

2-14 last year, 0-16 the year before; there’s only one way for the Detroit Lions to go…right?

One of the NFL’s most maligned teams, the Lions haven’t really had anything to cheer about since, well, the last time they made the playoffs, which was in 1999 (Sportsbook had them as a 7-point dog in that Wild-Card game, which they lost 27-13 to the Washington Redskins).

Will the Lions be Kings of the Jungle again? Let’s say that’s highly unlikely this year and the current NFL Future odds posted at online sportsbooks are evidence of that.

They are longshots to take the NFC North division, currently listed at +1400, longer shots of course to win the NFC championship (+5000) and off the charts when it comes to the Super Bowl (+20,000).

Brian Taylor, sportsbook manager at SPORTSBETTING.com, said of the early betting volume on the NFC North, they actually do have some clients who are taking a chance on Detroit in 2010.

Of all the betting action on the future bet “To win the NFC” 9% of the money is on the Lions at +1400 (a $100 wager pays $1,400 if they win).

It might be a little optimistic and a year or two early, but remember the Dallas Cowboys were in rough shape before Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin came together to lead them. And it took Tom Brady supplanting Drew Bledsoe for the Patriots to really emerge as a consistent championship caliber team.

But do the Lions have a QB that can step forward and turn this franchise around? I think they do.

Matt Stafford had a very good rookie season…as good as Mark Sanchez, despite the numbers and Sanchez’s playoff performance.

In 10 starts in his rookie campaign, Stafford threw for 2,267 yards and 13 TDs but also was intercepted 20 times as well – not the prettiest of stats but then again, look at the team in front of him.

The Lions had the worst defense in the league, in terms of yards allowed, as opposing teams amassed 6,274 yards against Detroit’s defense.

To that end, the Lions selected DT Ndamukong Suh in the first-round of this year’s draft.

If the Detroit Lions are to really make a push for the postseason though, they are going to have to improve their record against divisional opponents.

The Lions have lost 15-consecutive games to fellow NFC North teams, 0-15 straight up (SU), and have gone 4-10-1 against the spread (ATS) at the same time.

They can start to turn the tide Week 1, when they’ll open the regular season in Chicago against the Bears. SPORTSBETTING.com has the lines up for Week 1 games and the Lions are currently listed as 7-point underdogs.

Looking at the numbers, Detroit is only 3-8 SU in their last 11 overall against the Bears and they aren’t much better against the spread at 4-7 ATS. In their last 20 when listed as underdogs of 8-points or less, they are only 4-16 SU and 5-15 ATS.

That said, I like the Lions plus the points in the opener.

I expect them to take a big step forward in 2010, winning six or seven games, maybe more.

The oldest tennis tournament in the world just about lost some grand slam firepower on Day 1. Six-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer provided some early drama when he was forced to fight back from two sets down to dispatch Colombian Alejandro Falla. Needless to say, online sportsbook had Federer listed as a huge favorite in this match.

And so it all begins at the All England Club, with the start of another edition of Wimbledon.

While a Federer-Rafael Nadal final at the French Open never materialized – Federer was knocked out by Sweden’s Robin Soderling – Rafa did win the 2010 men’s singles title, defeating the aforementioned Soderling 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

But this isn’t Roland Garros, Wimbledon isn’t being played on clay and Nadal hasn’t been able to dominate in this Grand Slam. He did pick up a title in 2008, but didn’t have an opportunity to defend his title as he was forced to withdraw from last year’s tourney (due to tendonitis in both knees).

Nadal is still one of the favorites to win this year’s Wimbledon, currently listed at +200 at SPORTSBETTING.com.

He is also listed at +300 to be the runner up.

Roger Federer has a history of successes at Wimbledon, doing on the grass courts of the All England Club what Nadal does on the clay courts of Roland Garros.

Federer has six Wimbledon men’s singles titles to his name, the most recent coming last year when he defeated Andy Roddick.

Although currently ranked No. 2 by the ATP, sportsbooks have Federer as the odds-on favorite to win this year’s Wimbledon at +105 (he’s +150 to be the runner up).

 - Andy Roddick’s last grand slam win came back in 2003 when he took the U.S. Open; could it be time he won another?

Roddick was runner up at last year’s Wimbledon and he has been fairly successful in 2010 so far.

The tennis A-Rod started the season off with a title from the Brisbane International, won a title at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Sony Ericsson Open and was runner up at the ATP SAP Open and the ATP BNP Paribas Open.

He’s listed at +800 to do what he could not last year.

 - Andy Murray should have the support of the home crowd as he considers himself both Scottish and British.

Murray has reached two grand slam finals in his career, the 2008 U.S. Open and this year’s Aussie Open, and both times has fallen to Roger Federer.

At least year’s Wimbledon tournament, Murray lost to Andy Roddick in the semifinals and would very much like to make it a little farther this year.

Murray is also a betting favorite, at +400 to take the 2010 men single’s title.

Good luck and enjoy the Wimbledon betting action.