
The World Cup moves into day four on Sunday and the schedule remains at full speed after Saturday’s jump to four matches per day. Once again there are four games to get stuck into, beginning in the early evening UK time and running through into the early hours of Monday morning.
Throughout the tournament, Ben Smith will provide our 2026 World Cup betting tips in the form of an acca for the day using odds from BetMGM, focusing on side markets and alternative angles rather than relying on match odds and goal lines.
By the time Sunday’s action gets underway, Groups A, B, C and D will already have completed one round of fixtures, while attention now turns to the first appearances for teams in Groups E and F.
Group E gets underway with Germany facing Curacao in Houston before Ivory Coast take on Ecuador in Philadelphia in a game that could turn out to be decisive even at this early stage due to the make-up of that group.
The highlight of the day sees Group F begin with the Netherlands meeting Japan in Arlington before Sweden face Tunisia in Guadalupe. Several nations are making their tournament bow with realistic ambitions of reaching the latter stages, making Sunday another interesting card from a betting perspective.
Curacao are one of the tournament’s standout stories. With a population of around 158,000, they become the smallest nation ever to reach the finals after a rapid rise over the last decade.
Much of that progress has come through tapping into Dutch-born talent and guidance from experienced figures, including Dick Advocaat, who takes to the dugout here at 78 years old. They are technically sound, organised defensively and unlikely to be overawed, but this is a huge step-up in class with Germany being 3.5 goal favourites on the handicap.
With a high goal count forecasted, the anytime scorer market looks one of the more interesting places to attack and Jamal Musiala stands out.
He scored three times at Euro 2024 and has followed that with another four goals in seven starts under Julian Nagelsmann. Operating centrally in the number 10 role, the Bayern Munich midfielder consistently finds dangerous pockets of space and should see plenty of opportunities to get efforts away in this matchup.
Japan arrive in North America carrying genuine expectations. They were dominant in their qualification campaign and recent results against elite opposition have strengthened belief that this could finally be the squad to push beyond the last 16. Injuries have taken some shine off that optimism, but Hajime Moriyasu still has a disciplined, technically polished group built to compete.
The Netherlands head into the tournament with familiar ambition and a slightly more measured style under Ronald Koeman. Defensive quality, midfield control and dangerous transitional play give them a solid foundation, although questions remain over balance and attacking output.
Virgil van Dijk is coming off his most productive goalscoring season for Liverpool and also chipped in with a couple of goals for the Netherlands during qualification.
Always a major threat from dead-ball situations, the Dutch captain attacks crosses aggressively and he looks a bigger price than expected to register a shot on target here against Japan who aren't the most physical outfit.
Ecuador are not a side that naturally generate huge attacking numbers, but John Yeboah is often one of the players trying to change that.
A left-footer who usually starts from the right, the Venezia winger averaged 3.77 shots per 90 last season. He doesn't quite reach those heights at international level, but he still attempts more efforts than any Ecuador player other than central striker Enner Valencia.
Yeboah has cleared 2.5 shots in six of his last 13 starts for Ecuador, so 2/1 looks bigger than it should be here. BetMGM’s Golden Sub offer adds further appeal too, with the bet continuing through to his replacement if he is taken off.
Gabriel Gudmundsson drew 1.85 fouls per 90 throughout the 2025/26 season, and backing his direct opponent to commit fouls became one of the more reliable betting angles during the campaign.
Happy to revisit that approach here with Yan Valery expected to start at right-back for Tunisia. His recent numbers are eye-catching too, having committed 2, 4, 2, 3 and 3 fouls across his last five starts.
This 42/1 acca leans heavily on individual player involvement. Germany are expected to create enough chances for Musiala, Van Dijk’s set-piece threat always gives him a route to goal attempts, Yeboah’s volume makes his line look generous and Valery’s recent foul numbers fit the matchup nicely.
Put all four together and there is enough value to take a swing at a nice price.
BetMGM is not only one of the best sites to bet on the World Cup, but they also have several World Cup betting offers, including a welcome bonus which allows new users to claim £40 in free bets after signing up and placing a £10 wager. Some of those free bets can be used on this summer's big tournament. Check out the BetMGM bonus.

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