By J.T. CHADWELL
Not a great day record-wise, including an 0-3 on England-Mexico, but as blackout-drunk-crazy as that match was, we can’t really complain.
A huge pair of Round of 16 matches on tap for this Monday.
Let’s get it.
SPAIN VS PORTUGAL
A star-studded matchup in the round of 16 between two teams that had every intention of winning this tournament who now must battle each other just to advance to the quarterfinals. Portugal has been playing with fire in three of its four games, while Spain seems to have figured things out (also, the Cape Verde draw doesn’t look nearly as bad after Cape Verde took Argentina to extra time). As you would imagine, these two teams are quite familiar with one another. The amazing thing here is six of their last seven matches have ended in a draw, with the most recent meeting a little over a year ago in the UEFA Nations League playoff, where Portugal advanced on penalties. I liked Portugal coming in, but I am not sure it has the roster make-up to hold off Spain with a healthy Lamine Yamal. That means this looks like the end of the road at World Cups for Cristiano Ronaldo.
- Low risk parlay toss in: Spain double chance (-375)
- Average risk parlay: Both teams to score YES and Spain to qualify (+155)
- High Risk: Spain to win 1-0 or 2-1 (+310)
USA VS BELGIUM
It’s the ghost of USA past and the image of Chris Wondolowski skying a tap-in game-winning goal into the 24th row, and not into an open net, lingers in the heads of American fans heads like it happened yesterday. Twelve years later Kevin De Bruyne is still delivering balls to Romelu Lukaku and Belgium is still void of attacking threats past those two. Belgium is lucky to have even made it this far after a mediocre effort in the group, and a miraculous comeback against Senegal which ended in controversy after a questionable call for a penalty went Belgium’s way. The USA has really done nothing wrong to this point, the question is whether it can continue to play the same way against a team that represents the next step up in class. Belgium has been asking to be defeated for two weeks, so I like the USA to get the job done tonight.
- Low risk parlay toss in: USA double chance (-235)
- Average risk play: USA to qualify (-120)
- High risk parlay: USA moneyline AND Malik Tillman to score or assist (+325)
Record
Low risk: 71-21
Average risk: 46-46 (minus 1.46 units)
High risk: 28-63 (plus 10.1 units)
Overall: up 8.64 units
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