Back in 1985, West Germany played Portugal in the last game of the qualifiers to the Mexico World Cup. West Germany had never lost a qualifying game on home soil, and was now playing Portugal, a team missing some of their best players. A sure home win it might seem.

However, West Germany had already qualified to the World Cup and this game was totally irrelevant for them. Portugal, on the other hand, had to win to overtake Sweden in the group and get a ticket to Mexico. Attitude proved to be more important than skill in this game and Portugal became the first and only team to beat West Germany/Germany away in a qualifying game.

How Should You Bet?
Usually, it’s best to avoid betting on a team that has nothing to play for – especially betting on the better team, which often has overrated soccer odds. Sometimes a bet on the inferior side with good attitude is the better wager, just like Portugal in 1985.

Both Teams Have the Same Goal
Sometimes the odd situation occurs that two teams both gain on drawing. The team could, in theory, agree on scoring the same amount of gaols and both would “win”. Could it happen? If you’re Italian, your answer is probably yes.

In the European Championship 2004 in Portugal, group C consisted of Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Bulgaria. Italy had to beat Bulgaria in the last game to make it to the quarter finals, and either Sweden or Denmark would advance if any of them won.

However, if Sweden and Denmark drew (and scored 2 or more goals) both would advance to quarter final leaving Italy in third place. And that’s exactly what happened. The Scandinavian brothers played 2- 2 and Italy was out.

Conclusion
To make good soccer bets, you must be aware of that you’re betting on a game, which outcome is not only dependent on what team has the best players - also ake this same mentality to a poker game or to play poker online. If it’s the last game of the Premier League, and one team is fighting to avoid relegation and one has nothing to play for, you can’t just compare the quality of the players. Attitude has more impact on the results than one might think.