Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Vegas Play of the Day: Costa Rica vs. Netherlands

World Cup Costa Rica vs Greece

Hassan Ammar / AP

Costa Rica’s Bryan Ruiz, left, and Greece’s Sokratis Papastathopoulos challenge for the ball during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Costa Rica and Greece at the Arena Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil, on Sunday, June 29, 2014.

The South Point-lined Play of the Day will stay in Brazil for another day.

The World Cup proposition wager sheet is where I’ll keep trying to build my bankroll back towards its starting $10,000 mark.

Costa Rica over .5 goals (includes injury and extra time, not penalty shootout) vs. Netherlands minus-120: $318 to win $265

Before probing the props, I told myself I’d consider betting Costa Rica to score a goal if the line fell anywhere below minus-150.

The 30-cent discrepancy is wide enough to prove I probably have no idea what I’m talking about. Not like you haven’t figured that out already if you’ve read past soccer Play of the Days.

Nonetheless, Costa Rica isn’t as helpless as perceived. The Netherlands also isn’t as overwhelming.

Maybe the Netherlands has been on offense, where it’s scored more goals than any team in the World Cup. But defensively the Netherlands has looked somewhat susceptible. Australia scored two goals in a group game against Holland.

And Costa Rica is better than Australia. The Central American country is the surprise of the tournament thus far, but they’re better than most are giving them credit.

It’s easy to forget that not everyone had Netherlands penciled in this far before the start of the World Cup either. The European power was thought to be down from the 2010 World Cup when it finished as the runner-up.

The gap might not be quite as expansive as the betting line suggests. Costa Rica will have its chances and should slide one through.

Standings: Bern (33-24-1, $12,019), Keefer (29-33, $9,244), Brewer (22-35-3, $2,435)

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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