We have a tripleheader of World Cup action Tuesday from the United States – I was also hoping for Game 6 of the NBA Finals, but obviously no dice – with the highlight match featuring Lionel Messi and FIFA world No. 1 Argentina. They officially open the defense of their 2022 title as they face Algeria with a 9 p.m. ET kick from Kansas City.
Tuesday's World Cup parlay
- Argentina ML (vs. Algeria)
- France ML (vs. Senegal)
- Iraq vs. Norway alt Under 4.5
FanDuel WC parlay price: +153
Argentina money line
There have been a lot of empty seats already at World Cup games, but that surely will not be the case at Arrowhead Stadium with Messi kicking off his final World Cup at age 38. Messi is the country's all-time leading World Cup scorer with 13 goals and the country's top scorer overall with 114 goals in 195 caps. He's the +100 anytime goalscoring favorite today.
Messi had seven goals and three helpers at the 2022 World Cup, responsible for two-thirds (10 of 15) of the country's goals overall – a total of 17 players from that team are back. For this tournament, La Albiceleste finished first in CONMEBOL with 38 points, nine ahead of second-place Ecuador. Messi led the club with eight goals in qualifying. Argentina haven't won their World Cup opener since 2014.
Algeria are no joke, ranked 27th in the world and in their fifth World Cup but first since 2014, when they reached the Round of 16. The country's lone opening win in this tournament came against West Germany in 1982.
The Fennec Foxes were first in their qualifying group. It's the last World Cup for one of their legends as well in Riyad Mahrez. At age 35, the former Premier League champion with Leicester City and Manchester City is one of the stars of the Saudi Pro League. Teammate Mohamed Amoura had 10 goals to lead all of CAF World Cup qualifying. He is Algeria's +500 anytime goalscoring favorite, which is longer odds than eight of Argentina's players.
The only previous meeting between the countries was a 2007 friendly won by Argentina in Barcelona, led by two goals from Messi.
France money line
The first match of Tuesday features another former World Cup champion in FIFA world No. 3 France. They face Senegal at 3 p.m. ET from East Rutherford, N.J., site of the final. Had the Knicks not clinched the NBA title in Game 5 of the Finals on Saturday, then Game 6 would have been tonight at Madison Square Garden and there was talk of traffic Armageddon with the overlap of people returning from this game, but that's obviously off the table. It wouldn't surprise me, though, to see a few Knicks stars at this match.
Les Bleus finished atop UEFA Group D in qualifying for the World Cup after of course losing in that 2022 epic final to Argentina. The last major tournament for the French saw them finish third at Euros 2024. Superstar Kylian Mbappe led the club with five qualifying goals, only playing in six games, and needs one goal to tie the all-time country record in this event.
Mbappe is +110 to find the net today, with fellow star Ousmane Dembélé at +185. The French haven't lost their WC opener since 2002, ironically enough against Senegal.
Senegal are a veteran club led by Sadio Mane (his 54 career international goals are the most in the country's history) that is ranked 16th in the world. The Lions of Teranga reached the Round of 16 four years ago before losing to England and they also finished first in qualifying this year in Group B of CAF without a loss, outscoring foes 22-3. I considered +1.5 instead of France money line on this match, so I hope I don't regret that.
Iraq vs. Norway alt Under 4.5
The middle match, with a 6 p.m. ET kickoff from outside Boston, features Iraq against Norway with the Norwegians back in the World Cup for the first time since 1998. They were utterly dominant in qualifying in taking first place in UEFA Group I with a plus-32 differential (11 team goals came in one game against Moldova) that was the best of any country in qualifying worldwide. Erling Haaland is one of the best players in the world.
He won this season's Premier League Golden Boot for the third time in his career with 27 goals, five more than anyone else. Haaland also led world No. 31 Norway with a whopping 16 qualifying goals, tying a UEFA WC qualifying record. The most career goals by a Norwegian in this event is two, so Haaland could easily break that. He's -235 to score a goal today, which is a bit outrageous, but he also has scored at least once in 32 of 50 career caps.
Playing Under 4.5 goals got me a lot better price on this parlay than Norway ML did, and it sounds like Iraq, ranked 57th in the world, know they have to play in a defensive shell to keep this competitive in the country's second World Cup appearance (1986). They have yet to lead a match, with one total goal scored.
Iraq were the last team to qualify, beating Bolivia in March in the intercontinental playoff. The man who scored the winner, Aymen Hussein, was originally stopped at O'Hare Airport in Chicago when the team first arrived in the USA, but that has been cleared up.
The Lions of Mesopotamia did draw with Spain, 1-1, in a World Cup warm-up friendly earlier this month. Manager Graham Arnold was in the same role with Australia at the 2022 World Cup and took the Socceroos to the last 16, where they lost to Argentina.
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