00:00Joe and I begin with some talk, of course, about the World Cup with Mexico taking their first match.
00:06But today, all of the eyes of the soccer world will be on Team USA, Joe.
00:12They play Friday at 3 p.m. Eastern.
00:15Also, Canada versus Bosnia gets all the action started.
00:21Yeah, it does.
00:22Obviously, host nation Canada is kicking it off.
00:25Toronto will be the place against Bosnia.
00:29And, you know, unlike Canada, Bosnia had to actually qualify for the tournament.
00:33And they had to do it the hard way, too.
00:36So they had to go to knockout rounds.
00:39And, boy, they just kept clawing their way.
00:42But they've made it.
00:43And believe it or not, everybody that I have talked to here, Canada's a team on the rise, this national
00:50team.
00:50And host nations usually fare very well early on in the World Cup.
00:55I have a bunch of soccer guys that I know.
00:58And they love the value Canada brings to the table, not just in this game at a great price, but
01:04the fact that Group B, which is what they are in, they love to win Group B.
01:08They like them to make some noise in this World Cup simply because they feel they're one of the more
01:14underpriced teams.
01:15I tend to agree with them.
01:17Bosnia's best player is 40 years old, Craig.
01:19I can't imagine either of us leading a team to victory on the pitch in the World Cup.
01:26So I think Canada's got some value here.
01:29Also, Team USA plays, Joe.
01:31And this is going to be, you know, the real test, I think, ratings-wise to see how the World
01:36Cup does.
01:36As you mentioned, a lot of different changes to it.
01:38But you would imagine here in the United States, it all gets started when they take on Paraguay tonight.
01:43The game is in Los Angeles.
01:45It's 9 p.m. Eastern.
01:46Team USA, of course, is plus 105.
01:49And for me, this is just so important.
01:52It's rare because the World Cup is so long, Joe.
01:55But if you want to have faith that Team USA is going to have a good run, they've got to
01:59get off to a good start tonight.
02:01Like so many years we've been doing these, Joe, and you've been doing these shows.
02:04We've been talking about soccer here in the U.S.
02:06We've been talking about Team USA.
02:07This is the year.
02:09This is the year.
02:09This is the year.
02:10And it's never the year.
02:11I'm not saying that this has to be the one.
02:13But an important first showing to give some confidence to everybody is important.
02:18Yeah, and interesting.
02:19I mean, a recent injury, too, to one of Paraguay's best guys, too.
02:24The guy that kind of sets everything up for them wasn't good, was stretchered off in the last game there
02:32against Nicaragua, I think, in the friendlies, was stretchered off.
02:36So they're going to be down a pretty important player here.
02:39But you know the host nation is always going to get love here, certainly in the marketplace, right?
02:45There is some cautious optimism in the market about the U.S.
02:50I mean, look at the price.
02:51It's not like they're overwhelming favorites here.
02:54This is one of those games, Craig, where, yeah, sure, on the money line, the U.S. to win.
03:00I think both teams to score is also a pretty good market because I do think goals are coming.
03:06I don't expect that this is going to be one of these, you know, nil-nil or we'll have to
03:10move on from there, maybe 1-0.
03:12I think both teams are going to score, but I think the U.S. has also got some value here
03:18at this price heading into it.
03:20All right, so let's get started with our first play of today over in the prediction markets on Calci, Canada
03:28against Bosnia, Joe.
03:30Certainly Canada is expected to win today.
03:33And I'm looking at the tickets at 55% for Canada here.
03:39Yeah, and they're about a minus 120, 125, somewhere in that ballpark there is a favorite.
03:45But, you know, they are the host nation.
03:47If it's one thing we know, usually host nations do very, very well early on in the group stage.
03:54But, again, this is one of those things where Canada is extremely underpriced in a few other markets as well.
04:03The guys that I have talked to believe Canada heads and tails above Bosnia here.
04:07They're underpriced not only in this game, but also in the group.
04:12They believe that Canada's got a really good price and really good value to win Group B.
04:18And, of course, then make it possibly to the quarterfinals.
04:22So there's a lot of different markets to approach.
04:25It's not just the single game markets.
04:27If you like Canada today, I would go ahead and maybe look to invest also in Canada winning Group B.
04:35Because what happens, Craig, is we're not necessarily betting outcomes.
04:39We're betting the repricing of the market.
04:42If we wake up tomorrow, Canada wins this game.
04:45They're going to be repriced in all of those future markets moving forward.
04:50The game of the day has got to be USA and Paraguay.
04:55I mean, here in the United States, try to find somebody that wants to take Paraguay.
04:59You probably can't do it.
05:01But the reality is, is that in this market, Joe, I mean, Paraguay probably has a shot.
05:06We still don't really know how USA is going to fare.
05:09But certainly the trend here is toward Team USA.
05:15It is, I mean, and Paraguay, again, missing one of their top strikers for this game with a injury.
05:23So, you know, but again, Team USA, I had mentioned the market perception.
05:27Listen, there are people that are going to go to Calci or Polymarket, and they are going to bet Team
05:33USA regardless.
05:35You know, you're going to, they know it.
05:37We know it.
05:38All the markets know it.
05:39So they are going to tend to be a little bit overpriced here in spots.
05:44But for Team USA here, I think we're going to get goals in this game.
05:49I think both teams to score is a pretty good look here.
05:52I think Team USA might shock a few people here.
05:56So not only taking them not only to win this, but maybe also taking the over two and a half,
06:03because I do think goals are coming here with Team USA tonight.
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