A shocking decision on Sunday gave a jolt to the USA vs. Belgium odds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
FIFA suspended the red card issued to U.S. star Folarin Balogun in Wednesday\u2019s 2-0 World Cup win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. That means Balogun is eligible to play in Monday night\u2019s Round of 16 match in Seattle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And it also means bookmakers have had to initiate several course corrections.<\/p>\n
“From a customer perspective, it\u2019s tremendous news. From a team and country perspective, it\u2019s tremendous news,” Caesars Sports vice president of trading Craig Mucklow said. “But for sportsbooks, it\u2019s a little headache. We built our prices and traded based on the USA\u2019s top goalscorer not playing.<\/p>\n
“Now, he\u2019s the co-favorite to be a goalscorer and co-favorite to be the first goalscorer. So we\u2019re scrambling.”<\/p>\n
Mucklow helps dive into USA-Belgium odds ahead of Monday night\u2019s 8 p.m. ET showdown on FOX.<\/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
Multiple Market Moves<\/strong><\/p>\n Bettors wasted no time after FIFA\u2019s Sunday surprise, jumping on Balogun in multiple markets. As Mucklow alluded to, Balogun is now the +525 co-favorite \u2014 along with Belgium\u2019s Romelu Lukaku \u2014 to score the first goal in Monday\u2019s match.<\/p>\n “After just 2.5 hours, Balogun is already at the top in tickets for first goalscorer,” Mucklow said Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n Balogun is also ostensibly the co-favorite for an anytime goal, sitting at +145, right behind Lukaku\u2019s +144. So, of course, Balogun is also the favorite to be the first U.S. goalscorer (+525) and the favorite for an anytime U.S. goal (+145).<\/p>\n Money From The Masses<\/strong><\/p>\n As for the match itself, whether Balogun played or not, the public betting masses would be all over the USA. There\u2019s no turning back that tide at this point.<\/p>\n “Every game America has played so far, we\u2019ve broken records for tickets and money on soccer,” Mucklow said.<\/p>\n Prior to the Balogun news, Caesars Sports had Belgium as a slim favorite in both the three-way moneyline and To Advance markets. Now, it\u2019s the U.S. as a slim favorite.<\/p>\n On the three-way, which is for 90 minutes plus injury time, it was Belgium +155\/USA +164\/Draw +230. That moved to USA +144\/Belgium +173\/Draw +230, then tightened to USA +155\/Belgium +159\/Draw +235.<\/p>\n The U.S. is taking 72% of tickets and 79% of money in the three-way market.<\/p>\n In the To Advance market \u2014 wagering on which team reaches the quarterfinals, whether in regulation, overtime or a penalty-kick shootout \u2014 it was Belgium -114\/USA -108 before FIFA\u2019s decision. Caesars is now at USA -113\/Belgium -109.<\/p>\n The United States are landing 82% of tickets and 83% of money in the To Advance market.<\/p>\n “The interest is just off the charts. I\u2019m stunned,” Mucklow said. “Everybody\u2019s bought into it.”<\/p>\n Folarin Balogun’s return has turned the USA into a favorite over Belgium (Getty Images).<\/span> <\/p>\n What The Book Needs<\/strong><\/p>\n USA vs. Belgium odds present an interesting dilemma for oddsmakers, something they\u2019ve faced throughout this tournament.<\/p>\n If the U.S. loses on Monday night, then sportsbooks clean up not only on the match, but on all the USA wagers made in World Cup futures odds. And that\u2019s a substantial amount of bets and dollars, as the Stars & Stripes have grown in popularity over the past month.<\/p>\n However, the U.S. is also the most popular team in the tournament. So sportsbook operators don\u2019t necessarily want the USMNT to bow out just yet.<\/p>\n “Another couple of rounds would be great. The passion here is just phenomenal,” Mucklow said, while noting that it\u2019s more a matter of how the U.S. advances. “The book\u2019s ideal scenario is USA to just get through every round on penalties. I\u2019m more than happy with that.”<\/p>\n To clarify: Caesars wants 90 minutes plus injury time to end in a draw. Which means the book scoops up all the three-way moneyline dollars wagered on the USA and<\/i> Belgium. Then in overtime \u2014 which would draw a boatload of in-game USA wagers \u2014 Mucklow wants the game to remain tied, followed by the U.S. winning a penalty-kick shootout.<\/p>\n Part of Mucklow\u2019s calculus is that, while the USA is a great story, it\u2019s still a long way from winning the World Cup. Caesars and sportsbooks across the country ultimately expect to win on all those USMNT futures bets.<\/p>\n “I\u2019m a realist. Can they win it? I don\u2019t think so. Can they go further? Yes,” he said. “USA is still a 25\/1 shot to win the tournament. Am I nervous now? No. Will I get nervous if the U.S. gets to the semifinals? Probably.<\/p>\n “But the odds speak for themselves.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY A shocking decision on Sunday gave a jolt to the USA vs. Belgium odds.\u00a0 FIFA suspended the red card issued to U.S. star Folarin Balogun in Wednesday\u2019s 2-0 World Cup win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. That means Balogun is eligible to play in Monday night\u2019s Round of 16 match in Seattle.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6207","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\/6207","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=6207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}