Betting: Will USA defeat Wales on Monday?
Henry Bushnell gives his best bet for Monday’s group stage match between USA and Wales in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Video Transcript
HENRY BUSHNELL: I'm Henry Bushnell from Yahoo Sports here in Doha, where on Monday, at 2:00 PM Eastern, the US Men's National Soccer team is going to kick off their 2022 World Cup against Wales, and they're favored, and rightly so, I think. The expectation here is that Wales, in part because it knows that it'll be a bit over-matched in midfield, in part because this is just its style, is going to sit in a relatively defensive shape and kind of dare the US to take initiative. To break down that defensive shape and to disorganize Wales with the ball, which is what Gregg Berhalter, the US coach has talked about wanting his team to be able to do ever since he got this job way back in 2018.
But the reality is that the US hasn't been all that good at doing that. They've actually failed to score in six of their last seven games against teams who are at this World Cup. And that leads me to my approach for how I'd bet this game.
If you just want to bet on the result, straight up, I wouldn't argue against either the US at plus 160 or a draw at plus 200. But I think the cheeky play might be no goals, the dreaded 0-0 draw at plus 525. Granted, if you want to enjoy the game, that's probably not where you want to put your money.
And I think the other option could be to bet the US in the first half at minus 230. I think this team will come out with a lot of juice. It's young. They'll be youthful energy boosted by adrenaline and they could jump on Wales pretty early. But the smart bet is probably on this being a low scoring or even a no scoring game.
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