The biggest match of the World Cup group stage — at least for fans of the United States Men's National team — is here.
USA takes on England on Black Friday, and the Action Network's soccer experts are here to provide you with the best bets to make on the fixture.
Read on to see the different perspectives our writers have on the mega-match.
USA vs. England Best Bets
Both Teams to Score – Yes (-110)
Anthony Dabbundo: The USMNT haven't faced a team with England's level of attacking talent in a long time. The English have talent and attacking depth all over the pitch, whether it is set pieces, Kieran Trippier crosses, Raheem Sterling’s pace or Jude Bellingham’s late arriving runs into the penalty area.
With Harry Kane expected to be fit, the USA backline will be tested and there are reasons to believe it will show cracks given how much it relied on Matt Turner’s shot stopping in qualifying. England are getting more attacking production from their midfield now with Bellingham, making them all the more dangerous going forward.
While England may be better going forward, there are reasons to think the defense could regress a bit. The absence of fullback Kyle Walker makes a difference in defending against balls in the channel over the top of the defense and dealing with wing play. The USA’s strengths could exploit this with the quality of the direct dribbling attacking players.
Between Christian Pulisic and Timothy Weah, the USMNT have two elite dribblers to run at defenders. Yunus Musah also provides a lot of ball carrying from midfield. Unlike Iran’s conservative approach, the USA have the ability to progress the ball and put pressure on England’s back line.
England conceded more than one non-penalty expected goal (npxG) to Iran and I think they will remain vulnerable to the USA’s attack on Friday.
Johnathan Wright: This is essentially a bet on team USA to find the back of the net at least once against the Three Lions. England have proved their star-studded attack is just as explosive on the pitch as on paper, netting six against Iran.
The chink in England's armor is their defense. They are good for one to two defensive miscues per game, conceding an average of 1.3 goals per match in 2022. This was shown once again in their opening match against Iran, where Gareth Southgate's side gave up two goals on eight shots and 1.75 xG.
And while the USA struggled to get much going in their opening match against Wales, they proved they can capitalize if given a chance on the counter.
Led by Christian Pulisic, Timothy Weah and hopefully Gio Reyna (if Gregg Berhalter allows), the USA have enough speed and creativity — more than Iran — to take advantage of one of England's defensive lapses.
Exact Score: England 3-1 (+1200)
BJ Cunningham: London is a beautiful town, I’ve always wanted to live there anyway.
Here is the reality with the United States right now. Since this core wasn’t at the World Cup in 2018, we haven’t seen the Americans have to sit and defend in a low block against an elite attacking side like England. Jude Bellingham has been the missing piece for this English side with his ability to make line breaking passes and runs into the box that free up space for England’s other attackers.
I have major concerns about how a center back pairing of Walker Zimmerman and Tim Ream is going to defend England's wealth of attacking talent.
England did show some cracks defensively against Iran, as they allowed over 1 npxG, plus Harry Maguire is injured, so it’ll likely be a center back pairing of Eric Dier and John Stones, which is one the Americans can attack.
I project England 3-1 at +1070, so there is a little bit of value at +1200.
