Free Soccer Picks (Today's Tips, Odds, Predictions)

2018 World Cup Group G Predictions and Expert Betting Advice
by Raphael Esparza - 6/4/2018

The 2018 World Cup kicks off June 14, and I'm counting the days until this tournament starts! Here I will preview the first of eight groups that will be traveling to Russia. Group G has to be one of the toughest groups to decide who will win and who will advance to the Round of 16. Belgium is very talented, but at the same time very inconsistent, and you can also say the same thing about England.

2018 World Cup Group H Predictions and Expert Betting Advice
by Raphael Esparza - 6/4/2018

The 2018 World Cup kicks off June 14, and I'm counting the days until this tournament starts! Here I will preview the eight groups that will be traveling to Russia. You thought Group G was rough, well Group H is pretty much a coin toss because not one country is a minus-money favorite. So many questions in this group! Can Columbia's James Rodriguez have another brilliant World Cup?

2018 World Cup Futures Betting Odds: Stage of Elimination Props Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 3/22/2018

One of the many great things when it comes to the World Cup is the number of ways you can bet on it. Basically, no matter what opinion you have about any of the 32 teams in the field you can find a way to profit on it. You can pick the winner of the tournament, or you can bet on geography, group order of finish, point of elimination - or pretty much anything else you could want to.

2018 World Cup Betting Advice: Overrated Players
by Trevor Whenham - 3/21/2018

There is certainly no shortage of hype leading up to the World Cup every year, and it feels like this year will be at least as intense as usual. There would be more domestic hype, of course, if the Americans hadn't completely botched the qualifying process. But worldwide hype will more than make up for that, and people who are excited about betting on the tournament will find all the information they could need.

2018 Expert World Cup Handicapping: The Most Underrated Players
by Trevor Whenham - 3/21/2018

Everybody loves an underdog. The players that don't get as much attention as the big boys. The guys who perform just outside the brightest spotlight but are more than capable of performing on that main stage as well as the biggest names. Everyone knows that guys like Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo will get dizzying amounts of attention leading up to and during the 2018 World Cup in Russia. What I want to look at today, though, are four underrated World Cup players - guys who are still stars but who don't get enough attention for who they are and what they do - and who could really climb to another level at this tournament.

2018 World Cup Soccer Odds and Expert Picks: Group H
by Trevor Whenham - 3/9/2018

The odds suggest that this is the tightest, most evenly-contested group in the World Cup this year, and it is certainly hard to argue with that notion. Any one of these four teams could advance and it wouldn't be a surprise. And any team could go home after their first three games, and they wouldn't hugely be missed. This is the only group you can say that about in the tournament. The winner of the tournament is not coming from this group - and it's quite possible that a team from this group won't even be in the quarterfinals. But that doesn't mean that this doesn't have a good chance to be an interesting, and hopefully profitable, group.

2018 World Cup Soccer Odds and Expert Picks: Group G
by Trevor Whenham - 3/9/2018

It's almost as if the soccer gods felt sorry for the long-suffering English fans and wanted to give them the best chance they could of advancing after so much disappointment on the world stage in recent decades. Or maybe the organizers are concerned about the soccer hooligans from England and didn't want them to have reason to riot until later in the tournament when they have consumed too much vodka and are worn out.

2018 World Cup Soccer Odds and Expert Picks: Group F
by Trevor Whenham - 2/28/2018

In the last two decades there has been no team as good as Germany when it comes to World Cup performance. They won it all in 2014 and had two thirds and a second in the three prior tournaments. They are every bit as competent and reliable as any car the Germans would make for us, which seems fitting. And they again come into this tournament in a good place, joining Brazil as co-favorites at the time that I write this. They are well positioned to advance, and it would be a massive shock if they didn't.

2018 World Cup Golden Boot Futures Odds and Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 2/27/2018

The Golden Boot, oddly named the Golden Shoe from 1982 to 2006, is awarded to the leading scorer in each World Cup tournament - with the Silver Boot and Bronze Boot to the second- and third-leading scorer. It should go without saying by now that whenever there is a contest there is a betting opportunity. We are far from the start of the tournament - three and a half months as I write this - so things could change, but it is a good time to look at the odds offered by BetOnline before the public really starts paying attention. Here's a look at 10 guys who are interesting in this race:

2018 World Cup Soccer Odds and Expert Picks: Group E
by Trevor Whenham - 2/27/2018

Brazil should be the Golden State Warriors - the deep, talented squad that makes a joke of tournaments. Lately, though, they have been more like the Rockets, or at least the pre-2018 Rockets - a consistently-talented and dangerous team that always finds way to get in their own way when things really matter. Well, yet again the Brazilians, the co-favorites in the tournament at this moment, have things set up well for them. They are talented and deep, and they have a manageable group. There aren't a lot of excuses.

2018 World Cup Betting Advice: Easiest Groups
by Trevor Whenham - 2/27/2018

Let's get this out of the way up front - there is no such thing as a truly easy World Cup group. Teams play only three group games, so the impact of a single misstep can be magnified dramatically. We've seen many good teams falter when they should be shining and many bad teams get through to the knockout rounds when they barely belonged in the tournament field at all. There is no such thing as a sure thing in the craziness that is the World Cup. Some groups, though, are definitely easier on paper than other groups. And this year there are four groups that, for one reason or another, qualify as being pretty close to easy World Cup groups:

2018 World Cup Soccer Odds and Expert Picks: Group D
by Trevor Whenham - 2/27/2018

Lionel Messi is one of the finest soccer players the world has ever seen. He has won the Ballon d'Or, given to the world's best men's player, a record five times. He would have won it more, too, if it weren't for the fact he has finished second five times to Cristiano Ronaldo, the only other player to win the award more than three times. In his highly decorated career, though, Messi is lacking the one trophy he would happily trade all the rest in for.

2018 World Cup Soccer Odds and Expert Picks: Group C
by Trevor Whenham - 2/27/2018

I've complained a lot already about how unexciting the draw is for this year's World Cup. There isn't a whole lot of intrigue, and that contributes to what feels like lessened excitement for this year's edition of the world's finest tournament. While I haven't really softened that opinion, Group C sets up as one of the more interesting groups.

2018 World Cup Soccer Odds and Expert Picks: Group A
by Trevor Whenham - 2/26/2018

The host team always faces immense pressure. For a whole lot of reasons - that we don't need to get into here because we seem to be endlessly surrounded by them - that pressure will be even more intense for the host Russians in the 2018 World Cup than for most. It's not that the Russians are viable contenders for the title - that's far from the case. The Russians have spent very heavily for this event, though, and aren't a country that embraces participation medals and feel-good stories.

2018 World Cup Soccer Odds and Expert Picks: Group B
by Trevor Whenham - 2/26/2018

There is an opinion out there that the draw for the World Cup this year, and therefore the tournament in general, isn't as exciting as it has been in some years. It's hard to strongly dispute that notion, and this group is a good example of why. There are two elite teams in Spain and Portugal, so we should be excited. But in Morocco and Iran we have two hopeless outclassed teams. So, while there could be some drama in which team wins the group (though likely not a ton), it feels like it would require a miracle for the advancing teams to be anything beyond the obvious two.

Handicapping the 2018 World Cup Managers
by Trevor Whenham - 2/26/2018

Being the manager is a national team in soccer is among the planet's most thankless jobs. If you win it's not because of you but because of the star players who play for you. But if you lose it's entirely your fault. They have ridiculously bad job security. Because of that they often don't have much loyalty - guys bounce from country to country without a thought as long as there is a paycheck to be had. As we move closer and closer to the World Cup this year here is a capsule look at eight of the more interesting characters amongst the 32 head coaches in the 2018 World Cup field:

Expert World Cup Soccer Handicapping: Best Team Each Region Props Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 12/15/2017

The point of the World Cup for teams is obviously to try to win the tournament. Thanks to prop bets, though, there are all sorts of other outcomes that we can bet on - which team will win each group, which teams will advance from each group, how far teams will advance, and so on. One of the most interesting ways to look at things is which team will be the top squad in each geographical region. BetOnline has odds posted, which means we can do some handicapping.

World Cup Soccer Betting Advice: First-Time Winner Prop with Expert Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 12/14/2017

BetOnline has a World Cup prop that is interesting to look at. As it turns out, it likely isn't particularly attractive to bet, but the process of exploring it is interesting - and will fill the days and weeks and months until the World Cup kicks off. Besides, what are you going to do - spend time handicapping the USMNT's roster? (Too soon? - I'm a Canadian so we are always terrible at soccer, so I have to take my shots while I can.)

Expert World Cup Soccer Handicapping: Most Favorable Draws
by Trevor Whenham - 12/6/2017

The World Cup starts June 14 in Moscow when Russia plays Saudi Arabia, and now we know what the schedule looks like for the tournament. The draw was completed last week, and as usual it provided no shortage of drama and intrigue. Unlike recent tournaments, we were not given a true group of death. The closest we came was having neighbors and rivals Spain and Portugal in the same group, but the other two teams in the group - Morocco and Iran - are far from strong, so both top teams are likely to advance regardless of what happens when they clash. And other top times like Brazil, Argentina and France have little to complain about.

World Cup Soccer Betting Advice: Toughest Draws
by Trevor Whenham - 12/6/2017

The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia promises to be a bit of an odd one, so it only seems fitting that the draw for the field was a bit odd, too. There is no real group of death, and all of the top teams seem to have a very clear path through to the elimination rounds. Anything can happen at a World Cup, of course, but on paper right now this sets up as the least suspenseful and intriguing opening round in a long time. While no groups are truly awful, there are four that stand out as tougher than the other four. Here's a look at each (Odds to be one of the two teams to advance out of the group are from BetOnline)