Category: Sociedade

Christian Lundgaard should have no trouble finding an INDYCAR ride, and a good one at that.

He shouldn’t have to find a ride, but here he is, needing a ride after Arrow McLaren opted that his two wins and being third in the standings wasn’t good enough for their goals of winning an Indianapolis 500 and having a proven championship mentality.

The two best seats open are at Chip Ganassi Racing and Meyer Shank Racing, the places where the two new drivers (Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist) at Arrow McLaren are coming from.

It would seem Ganassi would be the best fit and Lundgaard the most prepared to replace an icon in Dixon at Ganassi. He should win races right away. And as everyone knows, Chip Ganassi likes winners (hello: Alex Palou).

It appears Ganassi might talk to some other drivers, but it would seem to be a waste of time. Lundgaard is the best driver available. He appears to put in the work. He doesn’t appear to be a problem for sponsors. While he isn’t the most bold personality on the circuit, he is polite and carries himself professionally. What’s not to like?

Lundgaard will certainly cost some coin, but Ganassi should have the sponsorship to cover it. Maybe the formality is to make sure the sponsors are good with Lundgaard. Maybe Ganassi wants to look and see what other drivers it could build around or what other drivers might be helpful when the series transitions to a new car in 2028.

If for some reason, Ganassi doesn’t hire Lundgaard, then MSR — a Ganassi affiliate — would be a likely place. 

Lundgaard is young at age 24, and Shank would have two great young drivers in him and Marcus Armstrong in its stable.

Which would be a better fit? Both would be good fits. That’s what makes Lundgaard valuable. He appears he can adapt to various situations, whether it might be a little more corporate at Ganassi or a little more free-flowing at Meyer Shank. 

Lundgaard probably will want to make McLaren pay for releasing him. But he shouldn’t. And, frankly, he doesn’t need that motivation. He maybe had a little motivation earlier this year knowing he didn’t have a contract for 2027, but he probably figured if he built on his solid performance in 2025, a contract extension would happen.

All Lundgaard needs to do is keep doing what he did this year on the road courses and improve on the ovals. There’s no reason to doubt that he will continue to hone his skills on both. The only question is which team will get that chance.

Para a maioria de nós, a semana dos calouros na universidade leva pelo menos mais uma semana – ou duas – para se recuperar.

Mas Tammy Beaumont teve pouco tempo para pensar em um borrão nebuloso de cansaço ou na excitação avassaladora pela liberdade recém-descoberta, enquanto ia direto de Loughborough para sua estreia na Inglaterra, no Caribe.

Beaumont, agora com 35 anos e acabando de anunciá-la aposentadoria do críquete internacional após o teste desta semana contra a Índia, refere-se à sua estreia como um turbilhão.

Também é uma palavra adequada para descrever uma carreira que a viu rebater em todas as posições, de um a 11, tornar-se uma Vencedor da Copa do Mundo, um Cinzas duplo centurião e agora se despedindo na ocasião histórica do primeiro teste feminino no Lord’s, na sexta-feira.

“Foi uma semana emocionante desde que tomei a decisão final”, disse Beaumont à BBC Sport.

“No final da Copa do Mundo com mais de 50 anos no ano passado, surgiram algumas dúvidas. Não tive necessariamente o momento da lâmpada quando soube.

“Mas eu tive algumas conversas com Lottie [head coach Charlotte Edwards] nos últimos meses sobre para onde a equipe estava indo e eu realmente não me via nisso, então tomei a decisão há cerca de uma semana, de definitivamente ir em frente.”

Também tem sido uma carreira de resiliência, embora Beaumont, brincando, se refira ao discurso de seu pai em seu casamento, no qual ele usou essa palavra entre aspas para significar “teimoso”.

Depois de um início flutuante no futebol internacional, foi em 2016 que o então técnico Mark Robinson a promoveu para abrir e ela nunca mais olhou para trás.

Um ano depois, ela foi a melhor jogadora do torneio e a artilheira da Inglaterra na vitória da Inglaterra por 50 gols na Copa do Mundo em casa.

A partir daí, ela foi um dos primeiros nomes na planilha de equipe com sua consistência no topo da ordem, mas outro ponto de virada veio em 2022, quando ela foi deixada de fora do time T20 e, como resultado, perdeu os Jogos da Commonwealth em casa.

No início deste verão, porém, quando Edwards deixou Beaumont de fora da seleção internacional de um dia contra a Nova Zelândia, houve uma diferença.

A teimosia não estava fazendo efeito.

E na semana passada, quando o capitão do teste masculino Ben Stokes anunciou sua aposentadoria, Beaumont se viu fazendo comparações.

“Acho que foi a primeira vez que fiquei de fora de um esquadrão e não tive aquele fogo para voltar, para provar que as pessoas estavam erradas mais uma vez e forçar meu retorno”, disse Beaumont.

“Quando ouvi Ben Stokes falando sobre ‘voltar ao poço’, acho que nunca me conectei tanto com outra pessoa.

“Eu já disse muitas vezes que você é derrubado sete vezes e levanta oito. Mas aquele momento foi uma espécie de alerta – o momento em que pensei que não poderia continuar fazendo isso e não queria.

New Wisconsin athletic director Shawn Eichorst, who spent the last eight years at Texas, believes his new and old schools have much in common.

Both are well-regarded research universities in state capitals that belong to major conferences and have relatively similar enrollments.

He also pointed out one difference.

“There’s swag at Texas, right?” Eichorst said Tuesday during his introductory news conference. “There’s 30 million people in Texas. We’ve got swag, too, but we have a little humility with that deal. We need to get our shoulders up. We need to feel good about what it is that we’re doing.”

Wisconsin could gain more of that Texas swagger if its football program gets back to winning the way it did the last time Eichorst was employed in Madison. Eichorst, who most recently worked as a deputy athletic director at Texas, received a five-year deal worth $1.6 million annually, with provisions for increases and incentives. He was hired 2½ months after Chris McIntosh left to become the Big Ten’s deputy commissioner for strategy.

Eichorst worked at Wisconsin from 2006-11 when Barry Alvarez was AD and Bret Bielema was leading the football program. He followed that up with stints as an athletic director at Miami (2011-12) and Nebraska (2012-17) before Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte hired him in 2018.

He returns to Wisconsin with the Badgers coming off back-to-back losing seasons in football, a notable fall for a program that had 22 straight winning seasons from 2002-23. Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell has gone 17-21 after posting a 53-10 record with one College Football Playoff appearance in his last five years at Cincinnati.

Eichorst hasn’t worked with Fickell before but said he’s encouraged by their initial conversations.

“Obviously he’s won every place he’s been,” Eichorst said. “My expectation is more of me than him, meaning I need to pour into him, learn more about his program, how he has things set up, how his athletes are taken care of, how we’re supporting that endeavor. And then we can figure out, as we move along, what that might look like.”

Football struggles led to Eichorst’s downfall the last time he was an athletic director.

He fired Nebraska coach Bo Pelini in 2014 and hired Mike Riley, who had gone 93-80 in 14 seasons at Oregon State. Eichorst was dismissed shortly after Nebraska suffered an early-season loss to Northern Illinois in 2017. Riley was fired at the end of that season after going 19-19 in three years.

When Eichorst’s hiring was announced last week, he spoke about how much he had grown from that Nebraska stint. Wisconsin interim chancellor Eric Wilcots led the search and has emphasized Eichorst’s accomplishments at Texas, which has won the Learfield Directors’ Cup all-sports standings five times in the last six years.

Texas ranked anywhere from fifth to ninth in the Directors’ Cup standings in the five years before Wilcots’ arrival. Texas’ football team went a combined 23-27 from 2014-17 but has made two College Football Playoff appearances in the last three years.

“Everybody looks at the end result of what we did at Texas,” Eichorst said. “When we got there in 2018, we weren’t very good in a lot of areas. And that didn’t change overnight.”

Eichorst said one thing that has caught his attention about Wisconsin is the overall quality of its head coaches.

“You’re going to be as good as your coaches,” Eichorst said. “That’s it. If you have an elite group of coaches who are working together and uniting and galvanizing and learning from one another and taking it out to their individual programs, I think you can start to build something special. I go back to Texas. We built a room of really elite head coaches and put them at the top of everything we did to help guide us.”

Eichorst said this job is particularly important to him because of his Wisconsin roots. He was born in Lone Rock, about 45 miles northwest of the Madison campus.

He treasured his previous stint at Wisconsin and says he believes this school “represents everything that is great about higher education and college athletics.”

“Nobody will work harder for Wisconsin athletics,” Eichorst said. “I love this state, and I love everything that it represents. The passion is there. You can see it. I don’t have to make it up. I’ve lived it. It’s in my heart.”

___

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

O Índice de Preços no Consumidor Nacional (IPCN) registou uma variação homóloga de 10,11% em Junho de 2026, confirmando a continuidade da desaceleração da inflação em Angola. O valor representa uma redução de 0,76 ponto percentual em relação a Maio e de 9,62 pontos percentuais quando comparado com o mesmo período de 2025.

De acordo com a nota de imprensa do Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), a classe “Transportes” foi a que registou a maior subida de preços, com uma variação homóloga de 15,40%. Seguem-se “Educação” (13,40%), “Habitação, água, electricidade e combustíveis” (11,14%) e “Alimentação e bebidas não alcoólicas” (10,73%).

Apesar de não apresentar a maior variação, a classe “Alimentação e bebidas não alcoólicas” foi a que mais contribuiu para o aumento do nível geral dos preços, com 6,53 pontos percentuais, o equivalente a 64,58% da inflação registada em Junho. Também tiveram impacto relevante as classes “Transportes” (0,73 ponto percentual), “Bens e serviços diversos” (0,54) e “Saúde” (0,46).

Ao nível provincial, Cabinda registou a maior inflação homóloga do país, com 15,22%, seguida de Malanje (12,93%) e Moxico (11,66%). Em sentido contrário, Huambo apresentou a menor variação de preços, com 7,53%, seguido da Lunda Norte (7,65%) e Cunene (7,75%).

Os dados do INE mostram que a inflação mantém uma trajectória de desaceleração ao longo dos últimos doze meses, embora o aumento dos preços em sectores essenciais, como transportes, alimentação, habitação e educação, continue a pressionar o custo de vida das famílias angolanas.

Putellas foi a estrela do Barcelona durante 14 anos, ajudando-o a conquistar surpreendentes 38 troféus importantes, incluindo 10 títulos da liga e quatro Ligas dos Campeões.

Ela atingiu o pico em 2021 e 2022, ganhando prêmios consecutivos da Bola de Ouro, antes que uma lesão no ligamento cruzado anterior (LCA) na véspera da Euro 2022 a abalasse.

O meio-campista se recuperou a tempo de vencer a Copa do Mundo com a Espanha em 2023 e fez parte da equipe que terminou como vice-campeã da Inglaterra na Euro 2025.

Resumindo, ela ganhou tudo e fontes dizem que ela sentiu que era hora de mudar.

Com o contrato expirando em Barcelona, ​​Putellas tomou a decisão de sair e acredita-se que sempre gostou da ideia de ir para a WSL.

Isso colocou as London City Lionesses no comando e elas a perseguiram por algum tempo, apesar da concorrência da maioria dos principais clubes do mundo.

Ela recebeu ofertas da Inglaterra, México e Estados Unidos, com fontes próximas ao jogador afirmando que o Boston Legacy era a competição mais acirrada.

No entanto, acredita-se que ela admirava as ambições do bilionário norte-americano Kang para o futebol feminino, tendo sido uma rival de longa data do bem-sucedido clube francês do proprietário, o Lyon.

Houve uma ligação entre Putellas e Kang, com fontes próximas ao proprietário sugerindo que uma parceria comercial além da carreira de jogador do meio-campista provavelmente se estabelecerá e florescerá.

O espanhol revelou na quarta-feira que a dupla se conheceu em Miami há quatro anos, quando jantaram, e discutiram sua visão para o jogo.

As esperanças de Putellas eram ingressar em um clube que pudesse impactar fora e dentro de campo, e deixar um legado que ajudaria a fazer crescer o futuro do futebol.

Ela desistiu da chance de jogar na Liga dos Campeões nesta temporada – uma grande decisão para alguém que foi capitão do Barcelona até a vitória em 2026.

Mas está no plano de cinco anos do London City competir por troféus e eles esperam lutar por uma vaga de qualificação europeia na WSL nesta temporada.

Com a Copa do Mundo se aproximando no próximo ano, Putellas gostaria de ter se firmado em 2027, com um contrato de três anos em Bromley garantindo seu futuro.

England midfielder Jordan Henderson rejoined The Three Lions at their World Cup training base Wednesday after undergoing surgery on his left wrist following a freak injury that he sustained while celebrating their Round of 16 triumph over Mexico last weekend.

The 36-year-old Henderson posted a photo on social media of his left arm wrapped after the procedure at the Kansas City Orthopaedic Institute, which is about a 10-minute drive from their team hotel in the suburb of Prairie Village, Kansas.

“Surgery done!” Henderson said. “Now let’s get ready for the big one Saturday.”

Henderson, who has been ruled out for the remainder of the World Cup, had been an unused substitute for Sunday’s match against Mexico at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. The Three Lions had just survived a 3-2 thriller to advance to a quarterfinal against Norway when Henderson hurt his wrist while climbing over an advertising billboard.

“I’m sad because Jordan injured his wrist,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said after the match. “It’s quite serious.”

Henderson was taken from the field on a stretcher and remained in Mexico City while the rest of England’s players returned to their base camp in Kansas City, Missouri. He later returned to the United States and underwent surgery on the wrist.

Henderson’s only World Cup appearance this year came in the group stage, when he came off the bench against Panama. It was his 91st career cap and made Henderson the first player from England to have appeared in four different tournaments.

“Time goes very quickly,” Henderson said that day in East Rutherford, N.J. “It’s very special to represent my country in four World Cups, so, yeah, I’m just delighted to be a part of this team. It’s still as special now as when I made my debut in 2010. Time goes quickly, but I’m just delighted that I can help the team as much as possible, both on and off the field, and just try and give everything I can to help us achieve our dreams, really.”

England failed to make it out of the group stage in 2014, lost to Belgium in the third-place match four years later, and fell to France in the quarterfinals four years ago in Qatar. The Three Lions’ only World Cup title remains their 1966 triumph over West Germany.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

O resultado era impensável antes que os jogadores, separados por mais de 100 posições no ranking, saíssem.

Mas, em termos de sets disputados, este foi o sucesso mais directo de Fery na sua inesquecível jornada até às meias-finais.

O britânico passou por uma maratona consecutiva de cinco sets nos tie-breaks para chegar a esta fase, depois de se recuperar de um set down para vencer nas duas primeiras partidas.

Fery demonstrou notável caráter e resiliência contra o ex-número três do mundo, Dimitrov, recuperando-se duas vezes de uma quebra em um quarto set obrigatório antes de vencer em pouco menos de quatro horas.

Este foi um desafio totalmente diferente. Embora Fery tenha ganhado confiança com a vitória anterior sobre Cobolli no Aberto da Austrália deste ano, seu oponente lutou fisicamente com problemas estomacais naquela ocasião.

Mas Fery puniu a inconsistência de Cobolli em seu último encontro, aproveitando ambas as oportunidades de break point nos dois primeiros sets, antes de correr para a linha de chegada após um excelente tie-break.

Cobolli, que permitiu que a multidão barulhenta o afetasse em momentos-chave, cometeu 41 erros não forçados à medida que o seu desafio se desvendava rapidamente – e Fery estava sempre lá para capitalizar.

O favorito da casa, que teve o público engajado desde o início com sua intenção, acertou 27 gols e se manteve sólido no fundo da quadra, registrando apenas 15 erros não forçados.

The largest turnover of Big 12 head coaches in seven seasons includes two first-timers at their alma maters, a national championship winner and another who last season almost got a Group of Five team into the College Football Playoff.

“I grew up a Big 12 kid,” new Kansas State coach Collin Klein said Wednesday. “And being able to be part of this conference as a fan, as a player, as a coach, and now being part of helping move our game and our conference forward is absolutely tremendous.”

Klein, part of Big 12 titles at K-State as a Heisman Trophy-finalist quarterback in 2012 and then an assistant coach a decade later, returned to Manhattan after Chris Klieman unexpectedly decided to step away last December. Klieman was among the newcomers in 2019, when the league last had four new coaches at the same time.

The other coaching changes this time are Utah alumnus Morgan Scalley, who nearly two decades ago recruited Klein as a quarterback, Jimmy Rogers at Iowa State and Eric Morris at Oklahoma State.

Scalley has been part of Utah’s staff since being a graduate assistant in 2007, three years after his last game as a defensive back for the Utes. He was their defensive coordinator for 10 seasons before his debut as head coach in a Las Vegas Bowl victory last New Year’s Eve, following Kyle Whittingham’s surprise departure after 21 seasons and then becoming Michigan’s coach.

Collin Klein’s Recruiting Visit To Utah

It was while recruiting the Colorado area as a graduate assistant that Scalley saw “this quarterback that I absolutely loved.” But since GAs can’t do off-campus recruiting, he couldn’t go see Klein in person.

“So I had him come to us, and on his own dime he flew out, showed up on campus in a suit and tie and left without an offer,” Scalley recalled Wednesday. “But you know who offered him? Kansas State. It was Collin Klein. Isn’t that crazy?”

Klein still remembers the visit, including lunch at a burger joint in downtown Salt Lake City with Brian Johnson, then going into his senior season as the Utes QB.

“Coach Scalley was tremendous. I mean, he was an unbelievable relationship builder, energy, detailed,” Klein said. “I knew he was going to be an unbelievable coach. I had no idea we’d end up coaching against each other in the same league as head coaches.”

Klein’s coaching career began as a GA at his alma mater in 2014, and he has since remained at Kansas State, except in 2016 as Northern Iowa’s QBs coach, and the past two seasons as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, which made the 12-team playoff last year.

Close to where Jimmy Rogers Won FCS Title

After last season at Washington State, Rogers made his debut at Big 12 football media days 18 months after leading South Dakota State, his alma mater, to the FCS national championship. That title game was played only about four miles from the headquarters of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, where the conference’s annual two-day event wrapped up Wednesday.

“This is a perfect fit for me. I’m a big people person. I’ve recruited the state for seven years when I was at my prior tenure at South Dakota State, had a prior relationship with (athletic director) Jamie Pollard and felt really confident about the leadership that was in place here,” Rogers said. “(Another) portion of that is the opportunity to compete at a Power 4 school and to compete in the Big 12. … You win this conference, you punch your ticket into the College Football Playoff, you have an opportunity to compete for a national championship. That is the goal.”

Rogers replaced Matt Campbell, who left Iowa State after 10 seasons for Penn State.

From Denton To Stillwater

Morris took 21 players with him from North Texas, including quarterback Drew Mestemaker, the national passing leader last season as a freshman with 4,379 yards. The Mean Green were ranked for the only time since 1959 and missed out on a CFP berth after losing to Tulane in the American Conference championship game. The Green Wave made the playoff.

Before Mestemaker, Morris had coached quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes, Cam Ward and Baker Mayfield in college. The coach now takes over an Oklahoma State team that has lost 19 Big 12 games in a row — a streak that began with a 49-21 loss to Texas in the 2023 championship game before the Cowboys went 0-9 in Big 12 play each of the past seasons.

“Super-excited for Stillwater. It was a big draw for me and my family to come to Stillwater,” Morris said. “I’m from a small town in west Texas, and that’s how I wanted raise my family. So Stillwater has been nothing short of amazing. Super genuine people, hard-working, blue-collar organization.”

Reporting by the Associated Press.

Alexander Zverev teve uma exibição dominante para encerrar sua série de derrotas sombrias contra o lesionado Taylor Fritz e chegar à sua primeira semifinal em Wimbledon.

O segundo cabeça-de-chave havia perdido seus sete encontros anteriores com Fritz e perdia por 10-5 no confronto direto, que incluiu duas derrotas no All England Club.

Mas com o americano prejudicado por uma lesão no joelho, Zverev aproveitou um desempenho quase perfeito para conquistar uma vitória por 6-4, 6-4 e 6-2 na quadra um – sua primeira vitória sobre Fritz em mais de dois anos.

Um mês depois de conquistar seu primeiro título de Grand Slam de simples no Aberto da França, Zverev está agora a apenas duas vitórias de um segundo grande troféu e o alemão manteve os braços erguidos depois de garantir a vitória em pouco menos de duas horas.

“Ele vem me vencendo há dois anos consecutivos e estou muito feliz por estar nas semifinais depois de finalmente conseguir uma vitória”, disse Zverev.

“É claro que você não vence um adversário há mais de dois anos, ele já venceu você muitas vezes seguidas.

“Isso é sempre algo que você tem em mente, mas hoje eu sabia que tinha que fazer uma partida perfeita, tinha que fazer uma partida quase perfeita para ter uma chance e senti que fiz isso hoje”.

Zverev enfrentará Arthur Fery na semifinal de sexta-feira, depois que o wildcard britânico derrotou o italiano Flavio Cobolli, vice-campeão atrás de Zverev na final de Roland Garros no mês passado.

Enquanto Zverev sacava para a partida, a notícia do triunfo de Fery chegou à quadra um, levada por aplausos da quadra central e da colina.

“Está tudo bem, todos vocês podem apoiar Fery – eu entendo e não tenho problemas com isso”, disse Zverev quando questionado sobre seu adversário nas meias-finais.

“Para ele é uma história de conto de fadas – um conto de fadas para Arthur Fery, viu o que eu fiz lá?

“Tenho que confiar em mim mesmo e no meu tênis e ver o que acontece.”

A month ago, before the first ball was kicked, France was the favorite in World Cup futures odds. 

Now, with a 5-0 record and a 14-2 goal differential, the French are even stronger favorites to lift the trophy.

And the public betting masses overwhelmingly believe in Kylian Mbappé & Co.

“Les Bleus have been popular since Day 1, given the quality of their team along with their star power,” Caesars Sports vice president of trading Craig Mucklow said Wednesday night. “In the futures, they are head and shoulders the most popular team remaining.”

Read on for more, as Mucklow assesses 2026 World Cup odds and action ahead of the quarterfinals.

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Singing Les Bleus

Keep in mind that France is more than familiar with this territory. 

The French reached the past two championship matches, beating Croatia in 2018, then rallying to force overtime vs. Argentina in 2022, before losing in a penalty-kick shootout.

France enters the quarterfinals coming off two straight knockout stage shutouts — 3-0 vs. Sweden in the Round of 32 and 1-0 vs. Paraguay in the Round of 16. Bettors have been on France since the group stage and kept on riding Les Bleus in the knockout matches.

“One of the best results of the tournament for bettors came with France’s victory over Iraq,” Mucklow said of a 3-0 shutout, while noting that Mbappé netting two goals in that match contributed to a big win for Caesars customers.

The knockout stage raised the wagering interest in France. Of the 96 matches so far, both of France’s knockout games were among those drawing the most money.

“France holds the fifth- and eighth-best-handled games of the tournament to date, vs. Paraguay and vs. Sweden,” Mucklow said.

Keep in mind, too, that of the four matches drawing more money at Caesars, two involved the USA. So among non-USA matches, France was involved in two of the top six, in terms of money wagered.

And as Mucklow pointed out above, France is the most popular team in World Cup championship futures, taking more dollars than any of the other seven quarter-finalists.

“Of the remaining teams, they are the best result for bettors. Argentina follows as second-best, then Norway and Spain,” Mucklow said.

France opens the quarterfinal round with a 4 p.m. ET Thursday match. Spain vs. Belgium follows at 3 p.m. ET on Friday, and the quarters wrap up Saturday with Norway vs. England at 5 p.m. ET and Argentina vs. Switzerland at 9 p.m. ET.

All matches are on FOX.

Riding the Lionel Train

Defending World Cup champion Argentina has gotten all it could handle in its last two matches. The Argentines were nearly dealt the upset of the tournament in the Round of 32, edging huge, plucky underdog Cape Verde 3-2 in overtime.

Then in the Round of 16, Argentina trailed Egypt 2-0 late in the second half, seemingly destined for an early flight home.

But Lionel Messi & Co. weren’t to be denied. 

Cristian Romero broke through in the 79th minute, and Messi followed four minutes later to tie the match. Then Enzo Fernández scored two minutes into injury time, as the Argentines advanced with a shocking 3-2 comeback victory.

You might think that would give bettors pause, but Mucklow said it’s quite the opposite. In fact, during both those riveting matches, in-play betting on Argentina was massive.

“If anything, it has turned on bettors,” Mucklow said of Argentina’s heroics. “Rarely do you see world champions struggle with, in theory, lesser opponents. The Cape Verde classic was third in money and third in ticket count.

“Then, when you get the champs down 2-0 [vs. Egypt]as probabilidades em jogo para a partida e para a qualificação são bastante convidativas. Foi o que aconteceu, já que muitos clientes aproveitaram a reviravolta argentina em 25/1 em 90 minutos. Muito possivelmente, este foi o maior retorno da história da Copa do Mundo.”

E as massas públicas que apostam tendem a lembrar-se principalmente da última coisa que viram. No caso da Argentina, são duas das vitórias mais emocionantes da Copa do Mundo de 2026, com Messi bem no meio.

Portanto, sem dúvida, os apostadores voltarão para mais nas quartas de final da Argentina contra a Suíça e nas probabilidades futuras.

“Os argentinos e os apostadores nunca ficam fora de perigo quando um dos maiores de todos os tempos, provavelmente na sua última Copa do Mundo, ainda está em campo”, disse Mucklow.

A Argentina é o segundo maior passivo do campeonato no Caesars, atrás apenas da França.

Messi x Mbappé e mais

A corrida pela Chuteira de Ouro também começou e não é surpresa que Messi e Mbappé estejam na liderança. Messi lidera uma perseguição acirrada com oito gols, enquanto Mbappé tem sete, assim como o popular astro norueguês Erling Haaland.

E o inglês Harry Kane também está na lista, com seis gols.

Neste momento, antes das quartas de final, o Caesars preferiria que o astro argentino ganhasse o prêmio.

“Os clientes ganham muito para Mbappé, mas Messi é um [good] resultado para o livro”, disse Mucklow. “Mas não descarte Haaland e Kane, já que um deles tem garantia de avançar para as semifinais, enquanto Messi e Mbappé não.”

Na verdade, como a Noruega enfrenta a Inglaterra, Haaland ou Kane têm vantagem sobre Mbappé e Messi. O Caesars tem Messi como favorito +110 nas probabilidades da Chuteira de Ouro, com Mbappé logo atrás com +125. Depois, há alguma queda para Haaland em +550 e Kane em +700.

Provavelmente há algum valor em pegar Haaland ou Kane, e certamente um pagamento melhor – se você escolher corretamente qual deles permanecerá vivo neste fim de semana.

O ímpeto das apostas em Haaland ganhou força significativa ao longo do torneio. Antes do torneio, Haaland tinha +1500 e, aparentemente, alguns apostadores apostaram com probabilidades melhores do que as que existem agora.

“Haaland é um grande vencedor para os apostadores, e com razão”, disse Mucklow. “Ele e Mbappé são provavelmente os avançados mais quentes e perigosos do mundo. A Noruega tornou-se o novo queridinho do torneio, após a eliminação de Cabo Verde, e o mesmo pode ser dito sobre o Grande Norueguês e a sua popularidade na Bota de Ouro.”

Antes do torneio, Messi estava quase tão longo quanto Haaland, com +1400, enquanto Mbappé e Kane estavam com +600 e +700, respectivamente.

Jogo por partida

Com França x Marrocos começando primeiro e estando há mais tempo no quadro de probabilidades da Copa do Mundo, Mucklow disse que esse confronto é o mais popular das quartas de final.

Mas quando todas as quatro partidas terminarem, ele projeta que o confronto Kane-Haaland superará as outras três partidas.

“Prevemos que Noruega x Inglaterra terá o maior controle nas quartas de final, dado o horário de início do amistoso e a familiaridade dos jogadores”, disse Mucklow.