The World Cup has officially arrived, and the Ladbrokes blog is your one-stop shop for daily tips ahead of all the key games. From the Group Stages, right through to the World Cup Final, check back each day to find out who our football expert is backing!
Group Stage
A vital opening game for both sides to kickoff a competitive Group D.
Winners of only one of their eight World Cup openers, history is hardly on the side of Paraguay, while the one-sided home crowd in Los Angeles figures to make this a tough assignment against the USA.
Rewind back nearly 12 months, and the United States defeated Paraguay in a friendly by only a goal, and this one figures to be a similar low-scoring affair with both sides built around stout defence down back.
Tim Ream, Miles Robinson and Mark McKenzie are all prominent defenders for the USA, while Paraguay’s back line is led by Sunderland centre-back Omar Alderete and captain Gustavo Gomez.
With the weight of expectations on their back, the USA should be winning, but there’s value in backing Under 2.5 goals at the same time.
As one of the host nations, you can take the slight value on offer for Canada and feel pretty good about it.
Expected to advance past the Group Stage, the Canadians kick off the tournament slightly shorthanded with Alphonso Davies unlikely to play through a hamstring injury, but that hasn’t bothered them in the past with the captain missing a handful of games on the international stage.
Bosnia & Herzegovina arrive to the World Cup for the first time since 2014, having held their own at the penalty spot against the likes of Italy and Wales recently in the qualifiers. Make no mistake though, they are an experienced team who have been stingy down back, conceding a goal or fewer in their last six outings.
Playing in front of their home fans in Toronto – a typically passionate sporting city – is a huge advantage for the hosts, but their World Cup ventures have been anything but fruitful in years past. The Canadians have been in good form on the international stage all year, but have still only scored two goals at the World Cup.
With that in mind, some lockdown play down back from the Zmajevi could have this one ending in a surprise draw.
Mexico steps out in front of their home fans with full support as they look to continue their dominance on the international stage.
Having kept a clean sheet in eight straight internationals, this shapes as an equally intriguing match up, given South Africa have managed to score in nine of their last 11.
At the same time, this is South Africa’s first World Cup since 2010 and their path to the big stage has been anything but straightforward.
On paper, South Africa lack the talent and depth up forward to trouble Mexico, but eager to prove a point, there’s every chance they still make a dent on the scoreboard.
Tough matchup to get a feel for with both sides likely happy to walk away with split points to start the tournament.
How the Czech Republic play on the world stage for the first time since 2006 is the big question, while the Korean side have made several key changes to their coaching and overall squad.
Stats-wise, the Czech Republic are the in-form team, having won 17 of their last 19 international contests.
Meanwhile, all of Korea’s last seven games have fallen under 2.5 goals.
The Czech side has enough up front in the form of Patrik Schick to challenge, and given their strength from set pieces, they should find the back of the net in most games. In what appears to be an evenly matched game however, the Both Sides to Score market is the safe play.