Matchday 7 – Best Bets
VegasInsider Staff Sports Betting Expert
World Cup: Matchday 7 Betting Preview
Wednesday, June 20
Group A Table & Results
Uruguay vs. Saudi Arabia (FOX, 11:00 a.m. ET)
During a first round of tight, tense games, it was clear who the worst team are at this World Cup: Saudi Arabia. They were hopelessly open and easily bullied by an ordinary Russian team during a 5-0 defeat.
Uruguay were more laboured than expected and needed to wait until very late to grab their winner against Egypt. They go off 1/6 here - very likely the shortest price we will see all tournament.
And with Russia having beaten the Saudis by such a huge margin, there is an incentive for Uruguay to keep going for goals long after this match has been won.
One fears for Saudi Arabia’s backline against the duo of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani, and it is Cavani who looks the better value to open the scoring here.
Suarez endured a miserable game against Egypt. His touch was wayward and he was constantly tackled by swarms of Egyptians. Cavani meanwhile looked sharp, hitting the post with a free-kick and making unpredictable runs behind the Egypt defence. This should be a stroll for Uruguay.
Prediction: Uruguay 4-0 Saudi Arabia
Top Bet: Edinson Cavani to score first at 5/2
Group B Table & Results
Portugal vs. Morocco (FS1, 8:00 a.m. ET)
Morocco were heavily fancied to be one of the best African teams at this World Cup. But they are already staring at an almost certain early exit after a disastrous 1-0 defeat to Iran on the second day of the tournament.
The truth is that Morocco did not deserve to win: they played some decent football in the first half, but were hopeless going forward before the game disintegrated into a dire display in the second half.Portugal were involved in the best game of the opening round - the enthralling 3-3 draw against Spain with Cristiano Ronaldo netting a famous hat-trick. But Portugal created other chances, and appeared to be a more expansive team than they were during their successful run to glory at Euro 2016.
Before the tournament it had looked tempting to back an upset here, but Morocco displayed all the familiar faults of North African teams at recent World Cups.
Portugal are 13/20 favourites here, but the better value may be to back the win to nil. Morocco were utterly toothless against Iran, and will enjoy far less possession here.
Prediction: Portugal 2-0 Morocco
Top Bet: Portugal to win to nil at 7/5
Iran vs. Spain (FOX, 2:00 p.m. ET)
From the shortest priced favourite of the World Cup to the second shortest priced favourite of the World Cup. Spain are 2/11 to beat Iran, who surprisingly top the group after one round of games after their win over Morocco and Spain’s draw with Portugal.
Both sides compared favourably with pre-tournament expectations. Iran were resolute as predicted, denying Morocco any real chances after the first quarter of the match. Carlos Queiroz has drilled his team well, and they now stand a small-ish chance of qualifying.
But they are likely to come away from this match empty-handed. Spain were the best team in round one. They were superb going forward with Isco pulling the strings and Diego Costa looking back to his menacing, uncontrollable best.
Their defence looked fine - their three goals conceded came from a penalty, a goalkeeping error and a free-kick.
Spain have won all 10 of their meetings with Asian teams since 2005 while they’ve won 18 of their last 19 competitive matches against sides we had ranked outside the world’s top 20.
This match caps off a day of three potential mismatches.
Prediction: Iran 0-3 Spain
Top Bet: Spain to win to nil at 3/5
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