World Cup Final Preview, F1, Golf, World Matchplay Darts & More

ODDS-ON WITH ADRIAN & ROY: EPISODE 5
World Cup 2026 Final Preview, Argentina Not England Face Spain
Recorded Thu 16 July 2026 | Hosts: Roy Brindley & Adrian Dane | bestbettingsites.co.uk

Roy: Hello and welcome to the Odds-On podcast, brought to you by Roy and Aidy here at bestbettingsites.co.uk. Now this podcast is for eighteens and over because it contains gambling themes, and our message is simple: please gamble responsibly at all times. And if you ever have issues or concerns with your gambling behaviour, please do use the tools on our website or contact GambleAware.org. Okay, there’s plenty of sport going on this weekend, not least a certain World Cup final. So without further ado, let’s get stuck in.

AD: Right, the headline first, and it’s not the one most of England expected this time last week. It is Argentina, not England, who are in Sunday’s World Cup final. England led this semi-final. England controlled it for the best part of an hour. And Argentina still found a way: two goals in the last five minutes to win it two-one, in Atlanta. England’s wait for a first men’s final since nineteen sixty-six goes on. Let’s do this properly. The England game first, because there’s a lot to unpack. Then Spain’s win over France. And then the two games that actually matter to your weekend: third place on Saturday, and the final itself on Sunday.

Before I go any further, this is a betting show, it’s strictly eighteen-plus, and it’s made by Best Betting Sites, bestbettingsites dot co dot uk. If you sign up to a bookmaker through one of our links, we may earn a commission, and that’s how the show gets paid for. It also means I’ve no reason to sell you a loser; the only thing that keeps you coming back is me being right, or honest when I’m wrong.

So, how did it slip away? England took the lead on fifty-five minutes: Anthony Gordon, back post, from a Morgan Rogers cross. One-nil, and for the next half an hour England controlled this game. Then it turned. Enzo Fernandez equalised with a long-range strike on eighty-five. And in the ninety-second minute, Lautaro Martinez headed in the winner, assisted by Lionel Messi, still doing it at the very end. Argentina hit the post twice in that final quarter too; this was closer to a rout than the scoreline suggests, once the dam broke.

Sky’s Rob Dorsett put his finger on the turning point: England sat deeper for the last half hour, and it shifted all the momentum to Argentina. His words: “there’s an awful feeling that this was to a large degree self-inflicted.” Harry Kane, gutted afterwards: “we’re close, we just need to find that missing piece.” And Wayne Rooney’s verdict was blunter still: “we cracked.” Hard watch if you’re an England fan. But football didn’t wait for anyone to feel better about it, because the night before, the other semi-final went the other way entirely.

So while England were finding a way to lose theirs, Spain were making sure they wouldn’t have to sweat at all. Dallas, the night before: Spain two, France nil, and it barely felt competitive. Mikel Oyarzabal converted the penalty on twenty-two minutes, after Lucas Digne fouled Lamine Yamal, still only a teenager, still the one defenders can’t handle. Pedro Porro doubled it on fifty-eight, finishing off a slick move started by Dani Olmo. And that was basically that: France had two shots in the entire game, and neither one troubled the goalkeeper.

Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele: nothing. Neutralised all night. Deschamps was straight afterwards: “we fell short and weren’t dangerous in attack, making technical errors, today we were a notch below our level.” Luis de la Fuente, on the team he’s built: “in front of them stood the best team in the world. These players deserve everything; they make difficulty look easy.” And here’s the number that should worry Argentina on Sunday: Spain’s unbeaten run is now thirty-seven games, a joint European record. So, Argentina in the final off the back of a horror show for England fans, and Spain in it looking like the best team on the planet. Two games left. Let’s do them: third place first, Saturday, then Sunday’s final.

Onto the games that actually matter for your weekend. First up: Saturday, ten o’clock UK time, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, “Miami Stadium” for the tournament’s sponsors, but we all know what it is. France against England, third place. Both sides fell in the semis the hard way: England, we’ve just covered; France, shut out by Spain. Nobody wants to be here, but there’s a bronze medal and pride on the line, and for England, a chance to end the tournament on a high after Wednesday’s collapse.

The market makes France favourites: thirteen-to-twelve to win it in ninety minutes, and five-to-nine on if you want them to lift the actual third-place trophy, which factors in extra time and penalties. England are twenty-to-seven for the ninety, seventeen-to-ten for the trophy. Translate that: this is a game the bookies think is close, but tilted toward France on quality and squad depth. Over-under sits at three-and-a-half goals: the over’s eleven-to-eight, the under seven-to-ten, so the market expects goals, not a stalemate.

Worth remembering: the last time these two met in a World Cup knockout, it was the twenty-twenty-two quarter-final, and France won it two-one. Deschamps has never lost a World Cup knockout tie by my count, and that record matters here, this France squad know how to get a job done even when the emotion’s drained out of it. For England, it’s about pride, and for whoever plays, an audition for the next cycle. Don’t expect wholesale changes from either manager, a dead rubber still counts for something when there’s a shirt on the line.

Kylian Mbappe is reportedly tied for the Golden Boot lead on eight, by the count I’ve got, that’s not feed-verified past the last sixteen, so take it as reported, not gospel, and this is his very last game of the tournament to add to it. He’ll fancy his chances against an England defence that’s had a torrid week emotionally. Worth a punt on him anytime if you want a small interest in what’s otherwise a dead rubber, and keep an eye on the shirt-shop money, Mbappe anytime has shortened all week on the back of that Golden Boot subplot. That’s Saturday sorted. Now the one everyone actually wants: Sunday’s final.

Sunday night, eight o’clock UK, MetLife Stadium, New Jersey. Spain against Argentina, for the World Cup. And look, however England fans are feeling right now, this is an outstanding final on merit, arguably the final the whole tournament was building toward. Spain go in as favourites: three-to-five to lift it, Argentina four-to-three. In ninety minutes, Spain are five-to-four, the draw’s two-to-one, and Argentina thirteen-to-five. The goals market leans under: two-to-three the under two-and-a-half, fifteen-to-eleven the over, which tells you the bookies expect this tight and tense, not a shootout.

Here’s why Spain are favourites even against the defending champions: they haven’t lost in thirty-seven games, a joint European record, and their last defeat was back in March twenty-twenty-four. That’s a serious run of form to be peaking with right now, and Yamal at just nineteen is somehow still their most dangerous forward. But Argentina are the holders, and if they win this, it’s back-to-back World Cups, something nobody has done since Brazil, in nineteen fifty-eight and nineteen sixty-two. That’s the scale of what’s on the table Sunday night.

Now, I’m going to put my name to something. Before a ball was kicked in this tournament, when nobody could say for sure who’d even reach the final, I tipped a South American side to go all the way. I’m sticking with that call today. Messi and Argentina, for me, lift this trophy on Sunday night. Spain are the form team, and I get why the market makes them favourites, this is value talk, not certainty talk, and nothing in football is guaranteed. But if you want my honest read going into the final, for what it’s worth: Argentina, and Messi, one more time, the fitting way to bow out. That’s the final teed up. Quick wrap, and I’ll let you get on with your weekend.

So, Argentina, not England, in Sunday’s final, after two goals in the last five minutes turned that semi on its head. Spain brushed France aside, two-nil, and go into the final on a thirty-seven game unbeaten run. Saturday it’s France favourites for third place; Sunday it’s Spain favourites for the trophy, Argentina the value price, and I’ve told you where my money and my pre-tournament call both sit: Argentina, and Messi, to lift it. Every price you’ve heard today is as of recording, check it before you follow me in.

And to close, the important bit. This is an eighteen-plus show. Only ever stake what you can afford to lose, and take your time over it. If gambling has stopped being fun, take a moment, free, confidential help is at GambleAware dot org, or the National Gambling Helpline on oh-eight-oh-eight, eight-oh-two-oh, one-three-three. Take time to think. I’ll see you next week.

Roy: Thanks, Adrian. Well, horse racing, and once again a very busy Saturday, afternoon and evening meetings at Market Rasen, Ripon, the Curragh, Newmarket, Cartmel, Doncaster, Nottingham, and some real good races stateside with a few British horses taking part at Saratoga. There’s also a couple of stakes races at Monmouth Park.

But unquestionably the highlight of the weekend is the Irish Oaks at the Curragh. It is the best race of the day, Group One status obviously. Eleven horses entered, five of which represent Aidan O’Brien, and his son Joseph has three. So the field looks good. Ground at the Curragh, good to firm, and there’s no rain forecast. And this is going to put a big question mark over the Epsom Oaks winner, Joseph O’Brien’s Thundering On. She was massively disappointing last time out here at the Curragh when the ground she encountered was good to firm. Therefore, I’m going to take her on with stablemate Johanna Walsh, a very lightly raced three-year-old who has the form on the ground and has just a head to find with the favourite, William Haggas’ runner, on Royal Ascot’s Ribblesdale Stakes form. So the one bet for me this weekend on the horses: Johanna Walsh in the Irish Oaks, representing, well, the next big thing, Joseph O’Brien.

Roy: So Wimbledon is done and dusted for another year. The men’s event went to Yannick Sinner for a second successive year. He was helped by the absence of the injured two-time winner, Carlos Alcaraz. He was also favourite at the outset, was Sinner, and he did the business. Now the ladies’ event, and that was very different. Linda Noskova became the third Czech winner in the past four years and the ninth individual winner in succession. And she was twenty-two to one at the outset. For me, that really underlines that betting on ladies’ tennis, well, it’s just quite simply fraught with danger.

The dates of the US Open in New York are the thirty-first of August through to the thirteenth of September. Sinner is eight to eleven to take the title, which he last won in twenty twenty-four. And it’s Carlos Alcaraz who is the defending champion. He’s eleven to five. Reminder, he’s been out of action with that wrist injury for three months now, and he’s missed the French Open and, of course, Wimbledon, like we said. Doctors are saying he will return at the Cincinnati Masters, which starts in mid-August. I hope he does, because I think at eleven to five he might just come back fresh and on song and do the business. There’s a long way to go, it’s a different surface, lots of imponderables, but unlike the women’s game, it looks a straight match, doesn’t it? Good luck if you like your tennis. You’ve got a bit of a wait now until your final Grand Slam of the season.

Roy: So let’s go on to golf, shall we? What happened last weekend, and what’s going to happen this weekend? Last weekend it was the Scottish Open, and Korean golfer Tom Kim won the tournament by two strokes. The big story there really was Scottie Scheffler missing the cut. It was the first time in seventy-nine appearances, or about four years, that he hadn’t made it through to the final stages and missed the cut. Rory was tied in seventh place, five shots off the winner, and like the winner Tom Kim, he was really impressive in the final round, he shot a six-under on the day.

So all eyes now on the Open Championship, of course, which starts on Thursday at Royal Birkdale. Scheffler and McIlroy share favouritism, you can back either at eight to one. It’s Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick who follow as third and fourth favourites, jointly on fourteen to one. Now, a reminder, this is a hundred and fifty-six player competition, so it really does underline how good these big four are right now. For me, well, the form horse, Tom Kim, why not, at eighty to one. He was joint second in the Open in twenty twenty-three, played at Liverpool that year, but he clearly likes British shores, and he could be worth a small interest bet at eighty to one for me. That’s the golf done, my limited knowledge, although I’ve got a lot of good informed friends, and yeah, they’ve backed my judgement with this one. So, each way, Tom Kim, there’s your play.

Roy: Right, Formula One, and the sport has been off for a week since Charles Leclerc won the British Grand Prix. We now head to the best track of them all, Spa-Francorchamps. Throwback to better times, and the old cliche goes: when sex was safe and motor racing was truly dangerous. And this track is dangerous, it’s killed over fifty people. Its darkest day came in the Spa 24-hour of 1973, when three people were killed in one afternoon. Lots of undulation, challenging corners, long straights, a four mile lap, this circuit really does have them all. But at the end of the day, this is a power circuit, and that means we are in Mercedes territory. Their drivers, Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, well they had the betting at seven to five and three to one, just seven to two about a resurgent Lewis Hamilton. He’s really come such a long way this year, Lewis Hamilton and the Ferrari team. I don’t see much in the betting in a number of the traditional markets, but I do see a few in the more obscure ones.

Now here’s a stat for you: race winners rarely set the fastest lap here, the record is just one from the past twelve races. And another one to look at: finishing numbers, they’re normally really high. Traditionally, the last decade or so, twenty cars have started the race, this year it’s twenty-two. Bear that in mind when I tell you the finishing numbers have been twenty, nineteen, eighteen, eighteen and twenty. You have to predict there’s going to be a lot of finishers this weekend.

So the two bets for me. Fastest lap: I’m going to put the pin in Charles Leclerc. He’s going to be fighting for a podium, you’d imagine, alongside Lewis, and I think he might have the strategy which sees him take the last pit stop, giving him fresh tyres at a time when fastest laps are normally set, which is at the end of the race. Six to one for the fastest lap, Charles Leclerc, yeah I think that’s overpriced. Antonelli’s five to four for this, incidentally, and bearing in mind he’s the race favourite, and we know race favourites don’t normally set the fastest lap, I would love to be a layer on a betting exchange about him not getting the fastest lap this time around. Now the second bet has to be on the total finishes, and this is a whopper: over nineteen and a half classified finishes, so we need twenty, twenty-one or twenty-two cars to finish. Just incidentally, for the uninitiated, to be classified as a finisher you only need to complete ninety percent of the race distance, so you don’t need to go the full race to be classified as a finisher, which is really handy. Anyway, that over nineteen and a half is a tasty three to one with one of our betting partners there, and the statistics just say it should be a lot shorter. So there you go, Spa Grand Prix, it’s one to enjoy, it’s a fantastic circuit, it should be a showdown, Mercedes and Ferrari, but at the end of the day I’m expecting most cars to get round cleanly, and I also think the fastest lap will fall to someone other than the race winner. Good luck if you’re punting on the Spa-Francorchamps Grand Prix this weekend.

Roy: So the second biggest tournament on the darting calendar, that takes place at Blackpool, starts this weekend, is of course the World Matchplay. No surprises to see that Luke Littler heads the betting at just evens money, and his old ally, friend and foe, teammate Luke Humphries, second favourite at five to one with a few firms. They are drawn opposite ends of the draw because they’re ranked one and two. The big surprising name, the third favourite, is Wessel Nijman, the Dutch player. Now he has been irresistible on the Players Championship and PDC European Tour, he’s taken no less than five Players Championship tournaments, he’s also won twice on the European Tour, but he’s never done it on a major stage, and that does concern me. In fact his best result in a PDC-ranked televised major was a fifth-round exit in the UK Open. That may sound impressive, but the UK Open doesn’t amount to much. He’s played this tournament once before, and he was a second-round casualty in 2025.

There will be a banana skin in this tournament, it always happens, there’s going to be quite a big upset, and I think it could be Andrew Gilding to take care of Michael van Gerwen in the first round. Michael van Gerwen is not the player he once was, no question about that. He’s had several operations, and it’s been a tough year for him away from the oche as well. But at the end of the day, his record here last year was a second-round elimination, was a finalist in 2024, and he went out in the first round in 2023. Now Andrew Gilding’s not got a bad record on this at all, in fact the last two years he’s been a quarter-finalist. I just think Gilding, he may be fifty-five, but he is solid, he always brings his game. And Michael van Gerwen, well, at the World Masters this year, first-round casualty, for example. At the prices, you can back Gilding at five to two to win this one. I think he’s the bet of the first-round matches. I’m going to head along to this one myself in Blackpool next week, hopefully I might be able to report live from the venue, get a few interviews with the players and stick them on bestbettingsites.co.uk.

Right, I think we should wrap things up, Adrian. It’s been fun, it’s been entertaining, I’ve enjoyed it. I think we need to say thank you very much to the listeners. Once again, please do gamble responsibly, there’s plenty of tools out there. If you think you may be going into a bit of hot water with your gambling activities, keep it fun, keep stakes small, that’s what it’s all about, a bit of fun, it matters more when there’s a bet on it, yes, but just don’t take it too far. Right, from Best Betting Sites and all our colleagues here, wishing you a great week ahead. Until next time, be lucky.

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