Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Welcome to our number three on this Tuesday live right here on
00:07the early line and on this Tuesday, it's a big day of
00:11soccer. Internationally, that's football. Semi-final action
00:15starts on this Tuesday afternoon at the European
00:19Championships followed by semi-final action at Copa
00:23America for a night cap. So, let's not bury the lead to
00:26start off this third and final hour. Mike DiCorsi from
00:30Sporting News is here to get you ready for both of the
00:33matches today and what remains in both of the international
00:37championships in the summer months of soccer. Mike, we
00:40appreciate the time. Thank you for being here on this Tuesday
00:43on the early line. Oh, happy to join you, Ben. So, let's go
00:49around what we have seen so far in the UEFA Euro bracket here
00:53in 2024. Mike, we have reached a point with four international
00:58and European powerhouses still left standing in the European
01:02Championships. Spain, France, they face off in the first
01:06semi-final today. England and the Netherlands in the second
01:09semi-final that will be tomorrow, Wednesday afternoon.
01:13What have you made so far of the Euros and how we have
01:16reached this point of four in the semi-finals? I gotta be
01:20honest. It's been disappointing. The soccer has
01:24not been brilliant to watch. There have been moments like
01:28Jude Bellingham's bicycle kick to tie England in the round of
01:3416 and force extra time. So, there have been moments but
01:38it's been fairly dull through most of the
01:42tournament. Not enough goals, not enough action, too much
01:46defense. I think we've seen a lot of caution in the
01:50Euros and it's not been great to watch. Every time we see
01:55though a chance like a Spain, France and we know that the
01:58level of talents is going to be on display. Then, we get
02:03excited about the possibility that, okay, this will be the
02:06game. So, hopefully, the semi-finals with four great
02:09nations with great histories and great talent. Hopefully,
02:12they'll deliver on a higher level than the early rounds
02:16have. Before we get into here, Mike, the games themselves,
02:20Spain, France, followed by Netherlands, England tomorrow.
02:23If we look at those four teams that are left, who has been in
02:25the best form in your eyes so far throughout this tournament?
02:30I think it's been Spain. They've been the most
02:32consistent team to be able to take an injury like they did to
02:37Pedre in the in the quarterfinals and and really
02:41bounce back even stronger has shown how how consistent they've
02:45been. They had to be elite to beat Germany playing at home
02:50and they were. So, it they've been the best team to this
02:53point and I think that's why you see a lot of that reflected
02:57in the action and the odds. France has been, people,
03:01there's been a lot of talk about England's poor form and
03:04rightfully so but France has been even poorer and probably
03:08from a higher level. France is a team that's considered to
03:11have the best talent in the world and they've been even
03:14poorer than England which is saying something. France has
03:18strong comparisons to football that we know here stateside in
03:21the college ranks. That would be the Iowa Hawkeyes. Not a lot
03:24of offense and yet success reaching the semifinal round.
03:29It really hasn't been a ton of open play 90-minute goals
03:33throughout regulation, Mike, which brings us to our first
03:36semifinal on this Tuesday. Spain and France. The Spaniards
03:42are the favorites to win the European Championship at this
03:45moment and the ever so slight favorites to advance to that
03:48final match. Minus 120. France on the other side, not all that
03:52far behind at minus 102. There are also the 90-minute money
03:57lines that's just in regulation. Doesn't account
04:00for extra time or of course, penalty shootouts. Mike, in
04:04your estimation, how do the Spanish and the French match up
04:07on this Tuesday afternoon at the semifinals? Well, I think
04:11that what one of the things that Spain will find is that
04:14this is the most difficult defense they'll have encountered.
04:17While France has not been exciting, they have been really
04:21difficult to penetrate. They have been really difficult to
04:25even generate chances against and Spain was very
04:31they were opportunistic against Germany. They were not
04:34great. That was probably their weakest performance to date,
04:37but they were very opportunistic in that game. The
04:40question is how do they create if they don't get those
04:43opportunities and that's why I kind of lean France a little
04:46bit here, at least whether or not they can do it in 90. I
04:49don't know, but I kind of lean France. If you give them 120
04:53minutes, I think they're going to find a goal and I'm not
04:56totally convinced that Spain is going to do that. So I do think
05:00that France's defense has been phenomenal and I'm not sure
05:06about the keeping there. It's not what it was in 2018, but
05:10it's still they've still been really difficult to score
05:13against and even generate chances. Mike, the outright
05:17odds here at the Fandula Sportsbook to win this
05:20tournament, Spain at a plus 180 price, England at plus 260,
05:23France at plus 270, and the Netherlands at plus 500. Is it
05:27Spain in your eyes right now with the leader in the clubhouse
05:29at the plus 180 or anybody else down the board that you might
05:32be looking at here? Well, if I were going to put a nickel on
05:36this, I'd go Netherlands because they're giving you phenomenal
05:38odds for a really good team. Netherlands has been a little
05:42bit less sloppy or at least sloppier than the others that
05:47are left. They've allowed goals to happen that probably
05:50shouldn't, but they've been really, they've been a team
05:53that's been dynamic. They've been a team that's been able,
05:56especially Cody Gakbo coming in from the left side, has really
05:59opened up defenses. So when I'm playing or looking at those
06:06kinds of futures type odds, I kind of want value for that.
06:09I'm not going to put a lot of money on a team that's not
06:11going to reward me that much, especially when you look at a
06:15team like Spain, France, Germany, or England. All three
06:18of them are very similar in odds and very similar in chance
06:21to win it. They're all great teams. If they're going to give
06:25me that kind of value on the Netherlands, I don't know that
06:27I'd go big, but I think that it would be hard to resist the
06:30possibility that they could do this because I certainly think
06:33they're good enough. The English, a slight favorite over
06:36the Dutch tomorrow to advance at least to the Eurofinal and
06:40maybe for the first time in a long time, have it all come
06:43home at minus 134. Now, Mike, we go to the nightcaps that we
06:48have on semifinal Tuesday. That's at a different
06:50tournament, sure, but in Copa America, it is Argentina, the
06:55reigning World Cup champs taking on the plucky underdogs
06:59it would see in the Canadians. Minus 750 for Messi in
07:04Argentina to advance to the Copa America final. Canada with
07:08that large plus money price at plus 420. David versus Goliath.
07:14Mike, that is what we are labeling this matchup between
07:17the Argentines and the Canadians. Is there any chance
07:20for our friendly neighbors from the Great White North to knock
07:23off Leo Messi and Argentina? There's always a chance, but one
07:28of the interesting elements of this Copa America is how harsh
07:32the officiating has been on the North American teams. There
07:36are there are charts that will show you that for every four
07:40cards, say four yellow cards that or excuse me for every
07:46four fouls committed by a North American team, they'll get a
07:49yellow card where it's it's like for every 20 for a South
07:53American team. So it's another element that Canada has to go
07:58against. I don't like their chances here. They have not
08:01been prolific at all in regulation time. They've not
08:04been able to score. I don't see it happening against Argentina
08:07and I do believe that Argentina is about ready to get it
08:10together. When you're the World Cup champion and you enter a
08:13tournament, although it's a very prestigious tournament and
08:16one that has great value in South America, it's still the
08:19world. You've still just won the World Cup and I don't think
08:23you've seen the best of Argentina and I don't think
08:26that they needed to. Now, I think you'll start to see it
08:31even though Canada's not an elite opponent. I think you'll
08:34see a serious performance from Argentina and then we'll see
08:38the real Argentina in the final. Argentina as it is
08:43reflected in those odds agreeing with Mike DiCorsi minus
08:46135 to win the Copa America title. Uruguay in front of
08:51Colombia in the outright odds and yet Colombia an ever so
08:55slight favorite in the second semifinal that comes tomorrow
08:58night on a Wednesday evening. Mike DiCorsi from Sporting News
09:01joining us here on this Tuesday on the early line. Mike, we
09:05appreciate the breakdowns in both the Euros and Copa
09:08America. Thanks so much for your time. Thanks, Ben.