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Morning Coffee: Argentina an obvious favourite entering Copa America quarters
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It’s an Independence Day tradition unlike any other.
This time around, the annual challenge will go off without the biggest name to ever compete at the event.
After winning his 16th Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest title last year, Joey Chestnut will not compete this year due to his decision to endorse another hot dog brand.
Chestnut signed with Impossible Foods, which makes plant-based hot dogs.
With the record holder absent, the stage is set for somebody other than Chestnut to be crowned champion at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest for the first time since 2015.
Geoffrey Esper is the favourite at FanDuel at even money.
James Webb is a close second choice at +155.
No other contender has shorter than +850 odds.
Meanwhile, Miki Sudo returns to defend her title as a massive favourite in the women’s competition.
After winning nine of the last 10 titles, Sudo will attempt to join Chestnut as the only 10-time champions in the history of the event.
Sudo is -750 to win the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Mayoi Ebihara is a distant second choice at +450.
No other competitor is shorter than 75-to-1 to win it.
Once the main event of the day wraps up, we’ll shift our collective focus to a busy night on the TSN network.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders and Toronto Argonauts kick off Week 5 of the CFL season on Thursday Night Football.
At the same time, Argentina will clash with Ecuador in the quarterfinals at the Copa America.
While we’ll miss out on another dominant performance from the legendary eater Chestnut on the grand stage, at least we can still watch another impressive athlete, Lionel Messi, showcase his talents.
This is the Morning Coffee for Thursday July 4th, 2024.
Argentina An Obvious Favourite Entering Copa America Quarters
Argentina entered the Copa America as an obvious favourite to win the title at +175 at FanDuel.
After winning Group A with a 3-0-0 record and outscoring its competition 5-0, Messi and company are now +110 to win the tournament entering tonight’s quarterfinal.
Argentina is the only team to have not conceded a goal.
While Messi is officially questionable after he did not play in the last game due to a leg injury, he is expected to play against Ecuador.
Messi’s 13 career Copa America goals are four shy of the record held by Norberto Mendez and Zizinho.
He’s the favourite to score the first goal tonight at +280 and the favourite to score anytime at +120 at FanDuel.
Argentina is -750 to advance tonight.
Considering their dominance at the tournament and their projected path to the final, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Argentina is down to +110 to win Copa America.
Meanwhile, Canadian soccer fans will have to wait another 24 hours before the men’s national team clashes with Venezuela in the quarters.
Canada will attempt to become just the third CONCACAF debutant team to advance to the semi-finals.
Canada is currently +112 to advance at FanDuel.
The Canadians will be an underdog versus Venezuela.
However, they’ve already exceeded expectations by qualifying for the knockout stage at +200.
The quarter-final clash between Brazil and Uruguay is the only match considered more even on paper.
Meanwhile, Euro 2024 continues on TSN with a pair of quarter-final matches on Friday.
The top five choices to win the tournament have all advanced to the elite eight.
Four of those five teams – Spain, Germany, France, Portugal - are on the same side of the bracket.
Spain versus Germany is considered a pick’em at FanDuel.
France is a favourite versus Portugal at -158.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands is considered the most likely team to advance to the semi-finals at -385 versus Turkey.
England is -178 to advance versus Switzerland.
Will we see another upset in the quarters at Euro 2024?
The favourites went a combined 6-2 in the Round of 16.
As for the FanDuel Best Bets, we went 2-0 with back-to-back winners to start the week.
While I have a couple of leans for today’s slate, I’ll pass on a FanDuel Best Bet for Thursday with the potential to cap off the week with a couple of plays on Friday.
Drew is 10-1 with his game picks through the first four weeks of the CFL season.
He’s back today with three more game plays for Week 5.
Happy July 4th to all!