The United States covered their 1.5 and got a late cover for us on Wednesday. We’ll look to keep that momentum turning into Thursday. We’re taking a look at each individual matchup and helping you with every way to play each match. We’ve got the World Cup Best Bets for July 2 – and we’ll have them every day.
Three more knockout games are coming to you Thursday with a pair taking place North of the border. Come check out what we have cooked up for today’s slate of action.
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Daily World Cup Best Bets – July 2nd
Spain vs. Austria
Kickoff – 3:00 pm EST
SoFi Stadium – Inglewood, California
Broadcast – FOX
Spain were one of the early favorites in this tournament and they haven’t done very much to upset that. Lamine Yamal is as advertised, Rodri is creating from the middle, and Unai Simón has made anything close to the goal look like easy work. While an early draw to Cape Verde might have posed some questions, they’ve outscored opponents 5-0 since then and appear to be a team we can count on for consistent play.
While Spain has been solid, I still think there is a good chance that Austria keeps this one close. They have six goals already on the tournament, and showed the ability to go and get one late in the game versus Algeria. Ultimately, I think Spain will be too much, but Austria should be competitive.
Best Bets for Spain/Austria: Austria +1.5 (-115) and Over 2.5 Goals (-195)
Portugal vs. Croatia
Kickoff – 7:00 pm EST
BMO Field – Toronto, Ontario
Broadcast – FOX
Portugal scored just five minutes into this World Cup campaign, but after that have looked pretty uninspiring up front. They did manage to put away five goals on a terrible Uzbekistan team, but played to less than 1.00 expected goals in each of the other two group games. In their final game, a 0-0 draw, Colombia was leading the dance with most of the serious chances. Of course, this leaves a lot of questions for what happens when they face a team that can finish with regularity.
We’ll get that answer on Thursday with Croatia. They closed up the group by putting two on Ghana – who has not conceded a goal all tournament. That’s just a solid extension to what they were about for all of the group stage. Their first game saw them get two on Jordan Pickford and England in the first half. Luka Modric seems to still have a bit left in the tank and Petar Sucic is picking up plenty of that midfield slack. They should be able to pressure Portugal and keep them on their heels for the bulk of this one.
Best Bets for Portugal/Croatia: Croatia to Advance (+225) and Over 3.5 Goals (+100)
Switzerland vs. Algeria
Kickoff – 11:00 pm EST
BC Place – Vancouver, British Columbia
Broadcast – FOX
Much like their counterparts in the most exciting game of the year, Algeria showed in the Austria game that they have the ability to push forward and force things when they need to. In just about every dire situation – save for the Argentina game – they’ve been able to find a goal. A lot can be attributed to their speed up front, which has been a lot better than expected. Riyad Mahrez has pushed the pace and won duels in the offensive end and they should create chances against Switzerland.
This isn’t to say that Switzerland can’t also bring the offense. They had Canada completely outworked on their home soil. However, they did bend a bit when push came to shove in that one. As a result, I favor Algeria to have a scoring advantage, but this also reads like a game heading to extra time.
Best Bets for Switzerland/Algeria: Draw (+225) and Over 2.5 Goals (-130)
If you’d like even more info to help make your World Cup bets, check out the World Cup Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes for the whole tournament to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar with their World Cup picks today.
