Women's World Cup Betting: Spain-England Play for it All in Final on Sunday
We're down to two teams to play for it all.
Spain and England were among the favorites to win the World Cup, so it's no great shock to see them playing each other in the final.
They've both had some ups and downs in the tournament, and it hasn't always been smooth sailing. Based on the odds, this will be a close game, and it will be hard to pick a winner.
The World Cup Final kicks off Sunday at 6:00 AM Eastern, and it's well worth getting up for this match.
All Women's World Cup odds provided by FanDuel Sportsbook.
Spain (-112) vs. England (-104)
This will be a rematch of the quarterfinal game from the Euros last season. In that game, England won 2-1 after extra time and was certainly given a scare by Spain. They needed an Ella Toone goal in the 84th minute to tie the game before Georgia Stanway scored in the 96th to put them over the edge.
Spain recovered nicely from the setback they had in the group stage -- a 4-0 loss to Japan. They thoroughly dominated throughout the knockout rounds in attack, creating 8.5 expected goals (xG) in the three matches, according to FBRef.com.
Spain's standout players have been Alba Redondo, Jennifer Hermoso, and Aitana Bomanti. They each have three goals in the tournament. Redondo leads all players in the tournament in non-penalty xG, and she is +290 to score at any time.
In midfield, Teresa Abelleira has done a great job of controlling play. She has created the most expected assists in the tournament and had a key assist for Spain's equalizer in the semifinal against Sweden.
England did not have an easy tournament to start but seem to be peaking at the right time now. They had scored eight goals before the quarterfinals, but six of them were in one match against China. Now, they've scored five goals in their last two games.
Interestingly, they were able to do it without Lauren James, who had been one of their best players in the tournament. It remains to be seen if she will go back to the starting lineup as she returns from suspension, or if they stick to what's worked in the past two matches.
They did outperform xG by 2.2 in their last two wins, however, and lost the xG battle in the semifinal against Australia. This is by far the toughest test England will face in the tournament. Spain is ranked sixth by FIFA, and the only other top-10 team they've faced was 10th-ranked Australia.
Spain are slight favorites and have performed better than England in this tournament. Even in that game against Japan in which they lost 4-0, they only lost 0.9-0.7 in xG.
The -112 price is good enough for me to want to wager on Spain. Another way to play this game is over 2.5 goals. Both teams will have a ton of attacking talent on the pitch that can score goals, especially Spain with the way they've been able to create chances.
All of Spain's knockout stage games have gone over 2.5 goals, and England's last two matches have, as well.
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