Defending European Champions Spain head to the World Cup final in the same position they were when the tournament kicked off on June 11: as favorites to lift the trophy.
Spain opened as -164 favorites to beat Argentina in Sunday’s final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, according DK Sports.
Lionel Messi and defending-champion Argentina were installed +134 underdogs, shortly after coming from behind to eliminate England by a final score of 2-1 in Wednesday’s semifinal in Atlanta.
The three-way 90-minute odds at DK Sports were Spain +125, Draw +200 and Argentina +260 on Wednesday. Spain began the tournament as the favorite with +450 odds, slightly in front of France.
France pulled back in front as favorites to win it all ahead of the knockout rounds after stellar performances in the group stage by Didier Deschamps’ side.
Spain then knocked off France 2-0 in Tuesday’s semifinal for their 37th straight win, tying Italy for the longest winning streak for a national team ever, according to ESPN Global Research.
Spain, back in the World Cup final for the first time since 2010, have won four of the last six meetings against Argentina, although the two sides haven’t played since 2018.
Argentina began the tournament at +950 to win the World Cup, which has been a boon for the U.S. betting market, easily eclipsing America’s two most popular betting events, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and the Super Bowl, in terms of amount wagered at some sportsbooks.
More than $12 billion has been traded on the World Cup overall on prediction market Kalshi, including $1.2 billion on the odds to lift the trophy.
Caesars Sportsbook said it had a liability on only one of the remaining teams entering the semifinals in France. The sportsbook added that the most popular parlay leg of the entire World Cup so far was Messi to score against England on Wednesday.
Messi assisted on both of Argentina’s goals, but did not find the net In Argentina’s win.
