We’re just a few days away from the eighth installments of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, taking place in France this year from June 7 – July 7. Currently, the 2015 defending champion United States of America comes in as the favorite to take the cake again at +300 odds — but it’s not by a distant margin by any means. The host country France is just behind the U.S. with the oddsmakers placing them just 50 points behind at +350. Here’s what you’ll care about the most: There are a ton of bets for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Even if you didn’t want to bet on the outright winner, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to place wagers.
Throughout the history of the tournament, Germany is the only team to win repeat World Cups, doing so back in 2003 and 2007. This year, the United States will look to be just the second country to accomplish this feat. In the most recent tournament in 2015, the Americans would steamroll their way through, mainly due to their dominant defense that allowed just three goals through the whole month of World Cup action — one would come in the round robin and the other two would come in the final against Japan. It gets better for the States: The last two years, the U.S. has calculated an elite record of 20-3-1, but here’s the problem, and why France is so close in the odds: The French would be the ones to give the U.S. their only loss.
Speaking of the French and their second-place odds, they’ll be looking for two things entering the tournament:
In France’s defense, they would go down to the wire and lose in penalties to the Germans, but are they the French’s kryptonite? Germany would defeat them again earlier this year, being the only loss that France would suffer since September 2018. Regardless, expect France to make a deep run for the World Cup, this mainly due to their load of talented veterans, and the vast majority are in their prime. The team will be led by vice-captain Eugenie Le Sommer, who leads the French with 74 goals and also adds 159 caps — that places second on the team.
Part of the prestige of the FIFA Women’s World Cup comes the high-level individual award called the Golden Boot, which goes to the top goalscorer of the tournament. Coming into this year’s edition of the World Cup, the favorite is Alex Morgan out of the United States at +600, and when you look at her resume, it makes complete sense. She is ranked second on the U.S. with the most goals, and most analysts and fans have contributed her for America being the top-dog in the odds. Some will argue that Carli Lloyd will be the better one to ride with at +900, but there’s an issue with that pick with Lloyd getting a bit more rest than Morgan. That may limit her chances with the tournament approaching, but only time will tell.
If you are looking for somebody with +900 odds to ride with, I would take Vivianne Miedema from the Netherlands if I was you. She may be 22 years old, but the forward is extremely talented slamming 57 goals in the net, and this came in just 74 games. Another bright spot about placing a bet with Miedema: The Netherlands isn’t exactly in one of the toughest groups — their strongest competition is Canada, enough said. Go ahead and place this bet if you want a profitable pick, a lot of people are sleeping on Miedema and her odds may get even more profitable just before the tournament kicks off.
The 2019 Women’s World Cup provides so many bets that we even get outside of the game of soccer, and smack dab into the middle of politics. A big story coming into the tournament has been the gender discrimination lawsuit that the U.S. Women’s Soccer team has filed against the US Soccer Federation — but it isn’t just about money.
The suit of 28 players alleges that the organization doesn’t treat women equally as men, supplying them with less stellar coaching, training conditions, and medical treatment, and those are just to name a few. Do you think the team will win their lawsuit against the federation? Las Vegas seems to think it’s worth placing a bet on, having “No” listed as a -300 favorite (as it should be, the men bring in more revenue — it’s basic economic) and “Yes” as a +200 underdog.
But the women will argue that they not only play more, but win more, than the United States Men’s Soccer team does, yet get lower wages than them — which is true, but again, it’s basic economics that women just aren’t bringing in the money like the men. As a result, men have other opportunities in other leagues and competition to play in due to the dollar. Women’s leagues and organizations aren’t as existent as men’s, and as a result, that gives these women more of an opportunity to play for the national team — hence why “No” is the favorite in that bet. But this isn’t anything new from United States Women’s Soccer, they would boycott an Australian tournament back in 2000 due to a similar issue with gender discrimination.
Most people believe in women’s rights, you can’t deny that, but the economic side of things with numbers, figures and statistics just won’t go this team’s way — which is why we still see the same thing 19 years later with no progression. The wage gap theory is just that, a theory, when you look at the actual numbers. Just take a look at them yourself: For example, the 2010 Men’s World Cup would bring in a whopping $4 billion, while the 2011 Women’s World Cup wouldn’t even break the billion mark at $73 million. And there you have it, folks. Basic economics.
And speaking of economics, let’s check the following odds provided by the best soccer betting sites!
The United States of America has been on a roll their past six games, and as a result, are riding a huge wave of momentum heading into the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Altogether, they would outscore their opponents, 23-3, to go to a combined 6-0 record. In their most recent game against Mexico, it would be a 3-0 shutout, and beforehand, it would be utter domination against the Kiwis as they would defeat New Zealand, 5-0. It would be another shutout before the game against NZ, taking out South Africa by a 3-0 score, and then it would be another shutout — a 6-0 shellacking over Belgium. In the prior game against Australia, the Americans would have their work cut out for them in a tough contest, but would eventually pull out the hard-fought 5-3 win. It would be another tough game with Brazil before that match, but it would once again be the United States to pull out the shutout victory, 1-0. Just a crazy impressive stretch for the red, white and blue.
The French have been incredibly hot, winning 13 out of 14 of their last matches, and they’ve done so in steamroll fashion. Currently, they’re on a five-match winning streak, with Germany being their only loss of that stretch back on February 28, 0-1. In their most recent five matches, their last would be a tough fought game with China, but they would eventually pull out the 2-1 victory. Before that, it would be domination from the French, grabbing a shutout 3-0 win over another Asian nation in Thailand. Just a few days beforehand, it would be a 4-0 steamroll win over Denmark, and the game before that, it would be another solid win after beating Japan, 3-1 — that’s no easy task to beat the Japanese like that. Their other match on the five-match winning streak would be a 6-0 blowout victory over Uruguay. If you look at the other matches that’s part of the 13-of-14 winning streak, you’ll also notice a lot more distant victories for the French. They’re certainly a toxic threat towards the United States, especially being the hosts of the tournament.
In their last 12 matches, Germany has been on a tear to win 10 of them, but don’t get me wrong, there’s not a loss on their resume — the other two results would be draws. (2-2 with Japan and 0-0 against Spain) Their most recent victories would be a 2-0 shutout victory over Chile, and then two matches prior, it would be a tough fought 2-1 victory over Sweden. The French would have a chance to go on a 14-match winning streak, but Germany would screw that up for them with a 1-0 shutout victory over France — the Germans are the only team to beat the French since September 2018. Before the 0-0 draw with Spain, it would be blowout city with a dominating 5-2 win over Italy, and before then, it would be another solid victory — they would win 3-1 over Austria. Before that match, it would be an 8-0 rollover against Faroe Islands. No need to continue down the results, because as you see, these women can play. After all, they have won two World Cups in their history.
For the 2019-20 campaign, Alex Morgan has hit three goals so far throughout, with one coming against Belgium, another against Australia, and the very first would be in the net of Japan. Out of 10 matches throughout the season so far, three isn’t bad to start out with, which is one of the reasons why she’s the favorite to land the Golden Boot. But here’s the top reason why she’s the favorite: Her astounding 101 career goals, with 18 coming last year in 2018 alone. Morgan has been on absolute fire throughout her career, and you can certainly expect more of that heat in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Sam Kerr and the Australians have only made two appearances in the 2019-20 campaign so far, but Kerr has already taken advantage tallying a goal to her name — but it wouldn’t just be any goal. It would be a score that would nearly lead to an upset over the United States of America, the top-ranked team in the world. And not just that, but Kerr would also put up an assist in that game. The Australians might have lost that match, 3-5, but Kerr put her name in the spotlight with her performance in that match. With her already proving that she can play with top-level talent, expect Kerr’s foot to provide some massive potency on the offense side of things for the Aussies.
Playing in eight matches for the France Women’s National Soccer Team in the 2018-19 season, Eugenie Le Sommer has been on absolute fire scoring seven goals in them — just an incredible display of soccer it’s been for the 30-year-old. After going scoreless in the first two games against Italy and England, that’s when Le Sommer would go on a roll. She would score her first goal against the elite United States, and would then follow it up with a goal against another elite squad in Germany. Following those great performances, she would tally another goal against Nigeria, and then another one in the net of Canada. Le Sommer would score another goal against Canada, but her most notable game would come against Australia. She would score the only goals of the game for the French to secure a 2-0 victory. I understand Morgan may be the favorite with the oddsmakers, but Le Sommer certainly has the argument to be the top-dog going in — just awesome play.
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