Morning Coffee: England, Netherlands set for Euro 2024 Semifinal Showdown

All good things must come to an end.

For the Canadian Men’s National Team, reaching the Copa America semi-final in their tournament debut is a historic milestone that will resonate with fans for years to come.

Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.

Canada’s unprecedented run came to an end with a 2-0 loss to the tournament favourite Argentina last night.

Argentina will advance to face the winner of Colombia versus Uruguay in the other semi-final tonight.

It will be the fourth trip to the final in the last five Copa America tournaments for La Albiceleste.

Meanwhile, Spain rallied from an early deficit to beat France 2-1 in its Euro 2024 semi-final on Tuesday.

16-year-old Lamine Yamal became the youngest player ever to score in the European Championship.

Yamal was +500 to score a goal at FanDuel.

Spain will face the winner of today’s semi-final between England and the Netherlands. 

Euro 2024 favourites have dominated since the start of the knockout stage.

Will that trend continue this afternoon?

English soccer fans are certainly hoping it does as the Three Lions seek back-to-back Euro final appearances with a shot at redemption after losing a shootout to Italy back in 2020.

This is the Morning Coffee for Wednesday, July 10th, 2024.

England, Netherlands Set For Euro 2024 Semi-Final Showdown

England has never won a European championship.

However, Gareth Southgate’s team entered Euro 2024 as the favourite to win the title at +350 at FanDuel.

Four of the top seven choices reached the semi-finals.

It’s the first time that England was the betting favourite entering a major tournament since the 1970 World Cup.

Now the Three Lions can become the fourth team ever to make back-to-back final appearances at the European Championship.

Each of the previous three teams that made back-to-back Euro Final appearances won at least one tournament.

England will face a tough test against the Netherlands.

The Dutch are 4-1-4 in their previous nine matches versus England, with wins in three of the past four meetings.

England is -132 to advance at FanDuel this morning.

The Netherlands are +108 to advance.

Euro 2024 favourites have gone a combined 11-2 to advance since the start of the knockout stage, including a 5-0 record since the quarter-finals.

Despite that trend, 56 per cent of the bets and 51 per cent of the stakes are on the Netherlands to advance at FanDuel.

Per the FanDuel traders, 62 per cent of the stakes are on the under 2.5 goals.

While I took a strong position on Spain to advance versus France on Tuesday, I believe today’s Euro 2024 semi-final could go either way.

Meanwhile, we’ll find out whether it will be Colombia or Uruguay that meets Argentina in the Copa America Final tonight.

Colombia was the most popular pick to win Copa America at FanDuel before the tournament started.

Tonight’s semi-final has hovered around a pick’em, with Uruguay currently -118 to advance this morning.

For my FanDuel Best Bet, I’m going to pivot to the diamond.

I’ll take the Baltimore Orioles to beat the Chicago Cubs at -170 on the moneyline.

The Cubs have won four of five including a 9-2 win to begin a three-game series in Baltimore last night.

However, Chicago’s recent run has been a major change from what we’ve seen from them this season.

Prior to their current 4-1 run, the Cubs owned a 39-48 record, including a 17-28 record as the visiting team.

They also owned a minor-34 run differential.

On the flip side, the Orioles are tied for the second-best run differential in the majors at plus-99, while only the Philadelphia Phillies and Cleveland Guardians own a better overall record than Baltimore at 57-34.

Corbin Burnes is 9-3 with a 2.32 ERA this season.

Baltimore’s ace is 5-1 with a 1.78 ERA at home.

I’ll back Burnes and the Orioles to bounce back from last night’s loss with a win over the Cubs at home as my FanDuel Best Bet for Wednesday’s MLB slate.

Have a great day, everyone!