The round of 16 is upon us and we’re ready for some knockout action. Of course, some of the best ways to get in on the knockout rounds is to look in on the World Cup futures that are offered. With the final 16 teams vying for the quarterfinals, we can take a look at some projections.
We dug through all the action that is out there and have our favorite futures for this stage. Come check out what we cooked up for this part of the tournament.
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2026 World Cup Round of 16 Futures
United States to Reach the Quarterfinals (+100)
The odds for this future were practically identical last round. The lack of line movement can likely be attributed to the fact that they were expected to beat Bosnia and Herzegovina and because of the loss of Folarin Balogun. Out on a red card for this round, it’s going to be a tall task to get past Belgium. However, we’ve seen a big step up in terms of creating from Christian Pulisic, and they’ve looked solid on set pieces all tournament. Add in that Belgium has shown some serious flaws in their defense and this future looks like it still has legs at even money.
France to Reach the Finals (-105)
There is a bit of chalk on this number, but we’ll dust it off and ride anyway. France really does seem to be as good as advertised. They’ve scored three goals in every game this tournament and don’t appear to be slowing down. When you look at their path to the finals, there are not really too many threats in there. They start with Paraguay before a likely second round matchup with Morocco – as long as they get by Canada as expected. The toughest remaining opponent in that half of the bracket is Spain, who has shown a lot of flaws so far. As a result, I think the juice is worth the squeeze on this future.
Argentina to Have Most Goals (+330)
While I do think that France has the easiest path to the title, I like Argentina to overtake them in terms of goals for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the defenses on France’s side of the bracket tend to be a little stingier. Morocco has played tough defense all tournament and even Paraguay has locked down some tough teams this year. What we see on the other side with Argentina are teams that are far more likely to oblige them in a back-and-forth brawl.
The second reason I like Argentina to overtake France is their defense. In their round of 32 matchup with Cape Verde, Argentina showed that they have some issues in the back. That actually bodes well for their scoring numbers. While France will begin to sit back and protect leads late in the tournament, expect Argentina to have to battle to stay in there.
Norway to Reach the Semifinals (+475)
We got in on this future before the round of 32, when it was set at +500. After their performance against Ivory Coast – and Brazil’s against Japan – I’m as confident as ever.
Norway may have one of the toughest corners of the bracket, but they do have something nobody else has. They have some tremendous size up front that is going to be trouble for a lot of these back lines. Erling Haaland has been on fire and should be able to propel them forward and surprise some of these blue bloods.
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.
