The World Cup quarterfinals featured meetings of former champions against potential first-time winners. In all four quarterfinals, the former champion won. The result is a competitive and mostly balanced final four, but one team still remains the clear favorite.France has top-dog status in the sportsbooks with +140 odds on FanDuel and +150 odds on DraftKings and BetMGM. Les Bleus have an attack that has looked nearly unstoppable and have had the most stress-free journey to the semifinals. France has been the tournament favorite since the first set of group matches finished.The French are the only team to win every match in group play and all three knockout matches within 90 minutes. Only one game has been remotely close: a 1-0 victory against Paraguay in the final 16. Even in that match, Opta didn’t credit Paraguay with a shot on target. The only way it appeared close was in the final score.
The rest of the remaining field is full of traditional powers in the sport, but none are being given the same respect France is. Spain, England and Argentina are all a solid amount behind France in the odds, but are tightly bunched among themselves.Spain has odds between +320 and +333 on the three sportsbooks mentioned above, but England is actually ahead of La Roja on FanDuel. There, England is +310 and Spain is +330. That is a bit of an outlier, but the two are incredibly close wherever you look. Argentina has settled in as the relative long shot of the group, but even then, La Albiceleste are no longer than +400 (4-to-1) anywhere, and are typically shorter than that.
