A month ago, before the first ball was kicked, France was the favorite in World Cup futures odds. Now, with a 5-0 record and a 14-2 goal differential, the French are even stronger favorites to lift the trophy. And the public betting masses overwhelmingly believe in Kylian Mbapp & Co. "Les Bleus have been popular since Day 1, given the quality of their team along with their star power," Caesars Sports vice president of trading Craig Mucklow said Wednesday night. "In the futures, they are head and shoulders the most popular team remaining." Read on for more, as Mucklow assesses 2026 World Cup odds and action ahead of the quarterfinals. This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports. Singing Les Bleus Keep in mind that France is more than familiar with this territory. The French reached the past two championship matches, beating Croatia in 2018, then rallying to force overtime vs. Argentina in 2022, before losing in a penalty-kick shootout. France enters the quarterfinals coming off two straight knockout stage shutouts 3-0 vs. Sweden in the Round of 32 and 1-0 vs. Paraguay in the Round of 16. Bettors have been on France since the group stage and kept on riding Les Bleus in the knockout matches. "One of the best results of the tournament for bettors came with Frances victory over Iraq," Mucklow said of a 3-0 shutout, while noting that Mbapp netting two goals in that match contributed to a big win for Caesars customers. The knockout stage raised the wagering interest in France. Of the 96 matches so far, both of Frances knockout games were among those drawing the most money. "France holds the fifth- and eighth-best-handled games of the tournament to date, vs. Paraguay and vs. Sweden," Mucklow said. Keep in mind, too, that of the four matches drawing more money at Caesars, two involved the USA. So among non-USA matches, France was involved in two of the top six, in terms of money wagered. And as Mucklow pointed out above, France is the most popular team in World Cup championship futures, taking more dollars than any of the other seven quarter-finalists. "Of the remaining teams, they are the best result for bettors. Argentina follows as second-best, then Norway and Spain," Mucklow said. France opens the quarterfinal round with a 4 p.m. ET Thursday match. Spain vs. Belgium follows at 3 p.m. ET on Friday, and the quarters wrap up Saturday with Norway vs. England at 5 p.m. ET and Argentina vs. Switzerland at 9 p.m. ET. All matches are on FOX. Riding the Lionel Train Defending World Cup champion Argentina has gotten all it could handle in its last two matches. The Argentines were nearly dealt the upset of the tournament in the Round of 32, edging huge, plucky underdog Cape Verde 3-2 in overtime. Then in the Round of 16, Argentina trailed Egypt 2-0 late in the second half, seemingly destined for an early flight home. But Lionel Messi & Co. werent to be denied. Cristian Romero broke through in the 79th minute, and Messi followed four minutes later to tie the match. Then Enzo Fernndez scored two minutes into injury time, as the Argentines advanced with a shocking 3-2 comeback victory. You might think that would give bettors pause, but Mucklow said its quite the opposite. In fact, during both those riveting matches, in-play betting on Argentina was massive. "If anything, it has turned on bettors," Mucklow said of Argentinas heroics. "Rarely do you see world champions struggle with, in theory, lesser opponents. The Cape Verde classic was third in money and third in ticket count. "Then, when you get the champs down 2-0 [vs. Egypt], the in-play odds for the match and To Qualify are both pretty inviting. That proved to be the case, as many customers took the 25/1 Argentina comeback in 90 minutes. Quite possibly, this was the greatest comeback in World Cup history." And the public betting masses tend to remember most the thing they saw last. In Argentinas case, thats two of the most thrilling victories of the 2026 World Cup, with Messi right in the middle of it. So, no doubt, bettors will be back for more in Argentinas quarterfinal vs. Switzerland, and in the futures odds. "The Argentinians and the bettors are never out of it when one of the greatest of all time, in most likely his last World Cup, is still on the pitch," Mucklow said. Argentina is the second-largest championship liability at Caesars, behind only France. Messi vs. Mbapp and More The race for the Golden Boot is on, too, and no surprise, Messi and Mbapp are at the top. Messi leads a tight chase with eight goals, while Mbapp has seven, as does hugely popular Norway star Erling Haaland. And Englands Harry Kane is in the mix, as well, with six goals. At this moment, ahead of the quarterfinals, Caesars would prefer the Argentinian superstar win the award. "The customers win big to Mbapp, but Messi is a [good] result for the book," Mucklow said. "But dont rule out Haaland and Kane, as one of them is guaranteed to progress to the semifinals, while Messi and Mbapp are not." Indeed, since Norway faces England, Haaland or Kane have an edge on Mbapp and Messi. Caesars has Messi as the +110 favorite in Golden Boot odds, with Mbapp close behind at +125. Then theres some drop-off to Haaland at +550 and Kane at +700. Theres probably some value in taking Haaland or Kane, and certainly a better payout if you can correctly pick which one stays alive this weekend. Betting momentum on Haaland has picked up significant steam over the course of the tournament. Pre-tourney, Haaland was +1500, and apparently, quite a few bettors jumped on at better odds than exist now. "Haaland is a big winner for the bettors, and rightly so," Mucklow said. "He and Mbapp are probably the hottest and most dangerous strikers in the world. Norway has become the new tournament darling, after Cape Verdes elimination, and the same could be said about the Great Norwegian and his Golden Boot popularity." Pre-tourney, Messi was almost as long as Haaland, at +1400, while Mbapp and Kane were +600 and +700, respectively. Match Play With France vs. Morocco kicking off first and having been on the World Cup oddsboard the longest, Mucklow said that matchup is the most popular quarterfinal. But when all four matches are done, he projects that the Kane-Haaland showdown will outdraw the other three matches. "We anticipate Norway vs. England will have the most handle of the quarterfinals, given the friendly kickoff time and the familiarity of the players," Mucklow said.

Only eight teams can now win the World Cup after the end of the round of 16, but how do they rank?

The San Francisco 49ers continue to hold a unique advantage under center after not trading backup quarterback Mac Jones this offseason. Most teams can't compete if their starting quarterback goes down. That's not the case for San Francisco, which won 12 games a season ago thanks in large part Jones's efforts. He went 5-3 in eight starts last season while starting QB Brock Purdy dealt with a lingering toe injury. It looked entering the offseason like the 49ers may be in the hunt for a new backup. However, the 49ers' asking price for their backup QB was too rich for teams looking to acquire him. There's still a chance he's moved, but entering training camp San Francisco continues to hold onto Jones and with that the advantage of holding onto hopes of contention even if Purdy misses time. There's a very real question about whether Jones is a viable starter for a Super Bowl winner. Given his success a season ago it's enough of a possibility that the 49ers weren't willing to part with him for whatever the asking prices were on the trade market. San Francisco elected instead to hold onto its starting-caliber backup, giving the club a strong top of the depth chart at the sport's most important position. Here's our look at the 49ers' QB room heading into training campWho's on the 49ers' roster at QB? Brock PurdyMac JonesKurtis RourkeAdrian MartinezAre there any updates on the QB depth chart?There's nothing substantial for now. Purdy remains the solidified starter no matter what volume the public outcry for Jones to be the starter reached in 2025. The 49ers made it clear last season Purdy is QB1, and even if Jones plays well in another Purdy absence again this season it's very difficult to imagine the 49ers making any permanent changes to the top of their QB depth chart.What are the position battles?While the top of the depth chart is set, the back end of it is still up in the air. Rourke and Martinez will battle it out in the preseason for the right to be the team's third QB. Martinez spent virtually all of last season on the 49ers' practice squad and was Jones' backup on the active roster when Purdy was out with a toe injury. Rourke was on the non-football injury list for most of the season while rehabbing from an offseason ACL repair. The 2025 seventh-round pick got a handful of practices in late last year and will now get a real opportunity to compete for a roster spot in his second season.What's the position's biggest question mark?There are two big questions for San Francisco at quarterback. The first one is Purdy's health. He's been banged up throughout his NFL career, and while he's largely avoided major injury that costs him significant time, the accumulation of ailments make it tough to pencil him in for 17 games. The other question mark is about Jones and whether he'll be on the roster for the full season. QB injuries happen and if they happen to the right team, the club may be willing to part with significant draft capital mid-season to snag Jones and keep their postseason hopes afloat. We may also see a QB-needy team for 2027 try to acquire Jones and give themselves a head start on free agency, although that seems less likely with a potentially loaded draft class looming next April. How many QBs will the 49ers keep?This is always a little bit interesting because the 49ers would prefer to keep two QBs on the active roster with a third on the practice squad who can come up and be the emergency QB on game days. That gets a little dicey if one of Martinez or Rourke has a particularly stellar preseason. To get a player to the practice squad the 49ers would need to subject them to waivers where another team could scoop them up. If the 49ers think they could lose a real asset at QB on the waiver wire, then a third signal caller on the active roster is a distinct possibility. The most likely scenario is the 49ers keep two QBs on their active roster, but we're not going to fully rule out the outcome where they keep three.More 49ers: 49ers DE Nick Bosa slips in NFL edge rusher rankings for 2026This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers have unique advantage in contending for Super Bowl in 2026

Liquid Biopsy Market Poised for Exponential Growth: Precision Oncology Drives $XX Billion Valuation by 2030 Dateline: FLORIDA, United States, July 5, 2026 — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BMAG Consulting, a premier global market intelligence firm, today unveiled its latest comprehensive study on the Liquid Biopsy Market, revealing a transformative shift in cancer diagnostics. As healthcare...

Taekwondo Rockdale represents the spirit of discipline, confidence, and personal growth that students also experience through expert training at Rhee Tae Kwon Do in Riverwood. Whether you're looking for a fun activity for your child or an effective way to improve your own fitness and self-defense skills, our martial arts training centre provides high-quality Taekwondo lessons for kids...

" According to the latest report published by Data Bridge Market Research, the Europe Construction Management Software Market The Europe construction management software market size was valued at USD 1.34 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 2.33 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 7.10% during the forecast period The Europe Construction Management Software Market business...

Need a mobile truck mechanic in Sydney? Dynamic Mobile Mechanics offers fast, reliable truck repair and maintenance services at your location. Call now!

Planning an international trip can be exciting, but it often comes with questions about flights, baggage, travel documents, or booking changes. While online services make many travel tasks easier, there are times when speaking with a real person offers greater confidence and clarity. That is where a local airline office becomes especially valuable. Turkish Airlines Urmia Office in Iran, having...

New Wisconsin athletic director Shawn Eichorst, who spent the last eight years at Texas, believes his new and old schools have much in common. Both are well-regarded research universities in state capitals that belong to major conferences and have relatively similar enrollments. He also pointed out one difference. "Theres swag at Texas, right?" Eichorst said Tuesday during his introductory news conference. "Theres 30 million people in Texas. Weve got swag, too, but we have a little humility with that deal. We need to get our shoulders up. We need to feel good about what it is that were doing." Wisconsin could gain more of that Texas swagger if its football program gets back to winning the way it did the last time Eichorst was employed in Madison. Eichorst, who most recently worked as a deputy athletic director at Texas, received a five-year deal worth $1.6 million annually, with provisions for increases and incentives. He was hired 2 months after Chris McIntosh left to become the Big Tens deputy commissioner for strategy. Eichorst worked at Wisconsin from 2006-11 when Barry Alvarez was AD and Bret Bielema was leading the football program. He followed that up with stints as an athletic director at Miami (2011-12) and Nebraska (2012-17) before Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte hired him in 2018. He returns to Wisconsin with the Badgers coming off back-to-back losing seasons in football, a notable fall for a program that had 22 straight winning seasons from 2002-23. Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell has gone 17-21 after posting a 53-10 record with one College Football Playoff appearance in his last five years at Cincinnati. Eichorst hasnt worked with Fickell before but said hes encouraged by their initial conversations. "Obviously hes won every place hes been," Eichorst said. "My expectation is more of me than him, meaning I need to pour into him, learn more about his program, how he has things set up, how his athletes are taken care of, how were supporting that endeavor. And then we can figure out, as we move along, what that might look like." Football struggles led to Eichorsts downfall the last time he was an athletic director. He fired Nebraska coach Bo Pelini in 2014 and hired Mike Riley, who had gone 93-80 in 14 seasons at Oregon State. Eichorst was dismissed shortly after Nebraska suffered an early-season loss to Northern Illinois in 2017. Riley was fired at the end of that season after going 19-19 in three years. When Eichorsts hiring was announced last week, he spoke about how much he had grown from that Nebraska stint. Wisconsin interim chancellor Eric Wilcots led the search and has emphasized Eichorsts accomplishments at Texas, which has won the Learfield Directors Cup all-sports standings five times in the last six years. Texas ranked anywhere from fifth to ninth in the Directors Cup standings in the five years before Wilcots arrival. Texas football team went a combined 23-27 from 2014-17 but has made two College Football Playoff appearances in the last three years. "Everybody looks at the end result of what we did at Texas," Eichorst said. "When we got there in 2018, we werent very good in a lot of areas. And that didnt change overnight." Eichorst said one thing that has caught his attention about Wisconsin is the overall quality of its head coaches. "Youre going to be as good as your coaches," Eichorst said. "Thats it. If you have an elite group of coaches who are working together and uniting and galvanizing and learning from one another and taking it out to their individual programs, I think you can start to build something special. I go back to Texas. We built a room of really elite head coaches and put them at the top of everything we did to help guide us." Eichorst said this job is particularly important to him because of his Wisconsin roots. He was born in Lone Rock, about 45 miles northwest of the Madison campus. He treasured his previous stint at Wisconsin and says he believes this school "represents everything that is great about higher education and college athletics." "Nobody will work harder for Wisconsin athletics," Eichorst said. "I love this state, and I love everything that it represents. The passion is there. You can see it. I dont have to make it up. Ive lived it. Its in my heart." ___ AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports