The United States officially punched its ticket for the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Wednesday, sending casual and big-money bettors alike flocking to the window to put their money down on the longshot to win it all in Qatar.
According to BetMGM data, the U.S. has taken a whopping 30.4% of the tickets as of Thursday morning, pushing it well ahead of 9.6% of the tickets on reigning champion France and five-time tournament winner Brazil. Those powers are the favorites at +550, followed by England (+700), Spain (+750) and Germany at +900 odds. Lionel Messi and Argentina sit at +1000 odds.
As for the highest handle at BetMGM, Brazil leads the list with almost a third of money coming at 32.2%. The U.S. is next at 22.7%, followed by France at 10.6%. The three make up the the biggest liabilities for the sports book.
Prior to Wednesday's lackluster performance, the Americans sat at +6600 in the futures market. However, that number jumped to +8000 after Wednesday's 2-0 road defeat at Costa Rica.
All nations who have already qualified for Qatar (and those still trying to reach the fall tournament) will learn who they're matched up with in their respective groups on Friday when the World Cup draw takes place.
The U.S. is part of the countries in Pot 2 of the draw, meaning it's guaranteed to face one of the following teams from Pot 1 — Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, England, France, Portugal, Qatar or Spain — in the group stage.
Despite the loss, American fans let out a collective sight of relief after the red, white and blue locked up one of the three automatic spots in the CONCACAF region. The U.S. finished with 25 points over a 14-match slate, which was good enough for a tie for third place in the eight-nation qualifying phase.
The Americans wound up tied on points with Los Ticos, but Christian Pulisic and his teammates secured the final spot due to winning the tiebreaker on goal difference. The U.S. missed the 2018 World Cup after failing to get out of the region's qualifying round.
Costa Rica will play Oceania region winner New Zealand in a June playoff for one of the final three spots in the 32-team World Cup field.
