Andy Schooler previews Monday’s four games at the World Cup 2026, with tournament favourites Spain among those in action.
FIFA World Cup 2026 Best Bets: June 15th 2026
Tournament favourites Spain start their campaign under a roof in Atlanta so the heat shouldn’t be too much of an issue for them. They face debutants Cape Verde, who topped a group including Cameroon to qualify. More recently, they’ve beaten Serbia and Bermuda (both 3-0), while in March they drew with Finland.
World Cup 2026 Best Bets: Spain v Cape Verde
Group H, Atlanta (ITV, 5pm)
It’s far from certain they will get smashed here but it’s also easy to remember what Spain did to Costa Rica in their opening game of the 2022 World Cup – it was 7-0 that day. The European champions do, however, look less well prepared this time around in terms of the squad. While they are unbeaten in 31 competitive games, Luis de la Fuente has had injury concerns over wingers Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, while Rodri’s fitness has also been in and out all season.
Yamal and Williams have at least trained in recent days, although whether they will be risked in what, on paper, is their easiest group game is open to question. With that potential for Spain not to field their strongest side – others could be rested looking ahead to what’s to come – I’d be reluctant to get involved in player props, certainly before the team news. However, if you do expect Spain to dominate, I suspect there could be some value still in the odds-against about them winning both halves and keeping a clean sheet – use the Bet Builder tool.
World CUp 2026 Best Bets: Belgium v Egypt
Group G, Seattle (BBC, 8pm)
I’ve a sneaky suspicion that coming in under the radar for once will help Belgium. The past decade has been full of talk about potential tournament success but the nation’s ‘golden generation’ failed to reach a final. All too aware of their ‘specialists in failure’ reputation, to use a Joes Mourinho phrase, the bookies now treat them as if they hold little chance.
However, this is a squad which still features some star names and one which arrives here on an unbeaten run of 13 games. They’ve scored goals for fun during that period, too, and now have Romelu Lukaku seemingly back to something like full fitness – his record of 90 goals in 126 internationals is very impressive. They also have a red-hot player in Jeremy Doku, who was in excellent form for Manchester City in the second half of the season and I’m keen to get him onside in some way.
He’s had an assist in four of his last nine competitive internationals and created two more in the recent 5-0 demolition of Tunisia, a game very much arranged with this contest in mind. Egypt were rather defensive during the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this season but the skilful Doku is exactly the sort of player who can unlock defences and I believe if Belgium can make a relatively early breakthrough, they could go on to win by a decent margin again.
I’ll back the City star for an assist at 3.57. I the sub-markets, it’s worth noting that Marwan Attia has been carded in nine of his 21 competitive internationals. The defensive midfielder could face a busy night here with De Bruyne central and Doku and Leandro Trossard more than likely to cut inside on occasion. However, he’s only 2.75 for a card here which is little too short for me in tha market, despite his impressive numbers.
Instead, I’ll take another stats-based bet and that’s Yasser Ibrahim El Hanafi to make 3+ tackles. The centre-back likes to engage and he’s now managed to land this in seven of his last eight starts for Egypt. In three of those matches, he’s made 6+ tackles. The worry here would be that Egypt opt for a very low block and stand off the Belgians, although that didn’t really happen against Brazil the other day when they managed 49% possession and El Hanafi still made three tackles. A repeat looks a touch of value at odds-against.
World Cup 2026 Best Bets: Saudi Arabia v Uruguay
Group H, Miami (ITV, 11pm)
Saudi Arabia famously stunned Argentina at a massive price at the start of the 2022 World Cup but I’m not convinced about a repeat here. The Saudis scored only seven goals in their 10 games in the main round of Asian qualifying – their forwards have struggled for game time due to all the high-profile foreign signings in the Pro League back home.
With Darwin Nunez suffering the same fate and Luis Suarez not in the squad, Uruguay also look light up front and their creativity issues took another hit in the lead up to the tournament when Giorgian de Arrascaeta picked up an injury. He looks unlikely to be fit for this contest. Federico Valverde may need to push further forward if he is indeed absent, with Rodrigo Bentancur and Manuel Ugarte providing a solid base to the midfield and Ronald Araujo and Jose Maria Gimenez strong at the back.
Uruguay should have the quality to win this but it probably won’t be easy for them. They’ve kept six clean sheets in their last nine games – a 5-1 loss to USA very much an outlier – so I think the way to go here is to back Uruguay to win and under 2.5 goals at 2.7.
World Cup 2026 Best Bets: Iran v New Zealand
Group G, Los Angeles (BBC, 2am Tue)
Having watched New Zealand struggle to get the ball off England the other day, I could make a case for Iran here. They won their qualifying group ahead of Uzbekistan but clean sheets were rather hard to come by, while their players haven’t played too much of late – the Iranian league in which the majority play has been suspended since the US attacks began in February.
That said, they’ve managed to produce some pre-tournament wins – and goals – and will likely be too good for the Kiwis, who have won just one of their 10 friendlies since breezing through the Oceania qualifying section. However, the bet I like here involves New Zealand, who should at least have a lot more joy in an attacking sense than they did against England. While they managed only three shots in that game, New Zealand had struck 10+ in six of their previous seven friendlies. They reached double figures for shots against Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Poland.
With Belgium and Egypt to come, the underdogs will likely see this as their best chance of claiming a win which could take them into the next round so they will surely give this a decent go. Matt Garbett is the man to turn to, given his price. The Peterborough star, set to play in an attacking-midfield role, is 2.95 for 2+ shots and that looks too big. He hit two shots against Colombia and four when New Zealand faced Poland, while one of the three shots against England came from his boot. Indeed, he was arguably their standout performer in that contest.
World Cup 2026 Best Bets: June 15th 2026
Spain to win both halves & keep a clean sheet @ 2.05 with kwiff
Doku 1+ assist @ 3.57 with kwiff
El Hanafi 3+ tackles @ 2.15 with kwiff
Uruguay to win & under 2.5 goals @ 2.7 with kwiff
Garbett 2+ shots @ 2.95 with kwiff
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