The public betting masses had a strong appetite to wager on the USA in its opening World Cup match vs. Paraguay.<\/p>\n
A resounding 4-1 victory has run that appetite to ravenous \u2014 not just on USA vs. Australia odds, but on the American side to make an unprecedented run.<\/p>\n
“That was a really good performance in the first game,” Caesars Sports head of soccer trading Mark Bickerdike said. “So we\u2019ve seen an increase in business, particularly on the USA to win the tournament and Folarin Balogun to win the Golden Boot.”<\/p>\n
Bickerdike helps dive into odds on Friday\u2019s U.S.-Australia match and World Cup futures odds.<\/p>\n
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about <\/i>Sports Betting on FOX Sports<\/u><\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n
One-Way Traffic<\/strong><\/p>\n The three-way moneyline for USA-Australia odds has rubber-banded around a bit. Caesars opened at USA -133\/Canada +350\/Draw +270, but that was before Friday\u2019s U.S.-Paraguay match.<\/p>\n Following the Americans\u2019 impressive win, the U.S. stretched to a -197 favorite, with Canada +475 and Draw +320.<\/p>\n Then the Canadians, as +400 underdogs, upset Turkey 2-0 on Saturday night, leading oddsmakers to adjust once again. As of Wednesday afternoon, 48 hours before a 3 p.m. ET kickoff on FOX, it\u2019s USA -176\/Australia +425\/Draw +305.<\/p>\n But bettors are speaking loud and clear in favor of the Red, White & Blue.<\/p>\n “There was a lot of support on the USA in the first game, and that\u2019s continued. We\u2019ve definitely seen a spike in wagers on the U.S. It\u2019s one-way traffic very much leaning toward the USA,” Bickerdike said.<\/p>\n In addition, customers are betting Over 2.5 total goals, and in player props, they\u2019re looking for Balogun and Christian Pulisic to score.<\/p>\n Folarin Balogun scored twice for the USA in its World Cup opener (Getty Images).<\/span> <\/p>\n All that has Caesars \u2014 and surely every other U.S. sportsbook \u2014 in an intriguing position. The books generally root for Draw in these matches, but that might slow USA betting momentum, which is not what bookmakers want.<\/p>\n “For this one-off event, a Draw is important,” he said. “But a low-scoring USA win wouldn\u2019t be the worst result. Let\u2019s keep this excitement around the World Cup going.<\/p>\n “What we\u2019d be hoping to avoid is a comprehensive USA win, with Pulisic and Balogun scoring. That would not be good.”<\/p>\n Translation: Caesars doesn\u2019t want a repeat of USA-Paraguay. Rather, a USMNT 1-0 or 2-0 victory would be just fine.<\/p>\n Looking Into The Futures<\/strong><\/p>\n A week ago, before the U.S. rolled over Paraguay, Caesars Sports had the American side at +5000 in World Cup futures odds. Now, with a big win under its belt, the USMNT has improved to +4000, the co-10th choice along with Belgium and Mexico.<\/p>\n Granted, that\u2019s still a long way from those at the top of the board \u2014 France as the +400 favorite, followed by Spain at +500, and Portugal and England at +750.<\/p>\n But tickets and money are flowing fast on the U.S. over the past few days.<\/p>\n “In the last week, it\u2019s changed considerably. We\u2019ve see a real influx on Portugal, and the U.S. after that,” Bickerdike said. “Portugal is No. 1, and the USA is now our second-most-wagered team. It\u2019s really tight between the USA, France and Spain.”<\/p>\n And the USMNT is Caesars\u2019 largest liability among legitimate championship prospects.<\/p>\n “Haiti is still our biggest losing side. But after that, it\u2019s the USA,” Bickerdike said.<\/p>\n The Haiti liability is purely a result of massive long-shot odds, currently +250000 (2500\/1). At that price, it takes only a handful of tickets to create substantial liability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY The public betting masses had a strong appetite to wager on the USA in its opening World Cup match vs. Paraguay. A resounding 4-1 victory has run that appetite to ravenous \u2014 not just on USA vs. Australia odds, but on the American side to make an unprecedented run. “That was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}