Ice Hockey World Championship quarter-finals, Thursday, 23.05.2024
There are now only seven games left. I’m leaving out the match for third place at this point, as all eight opponents are solely interested in the title of “best ice hockey team in the world”.
The most exciting quarter-final match promises to be this one. In fact, it could be so close that in my USA-Czech Republic betting tip I assume that 60 minutes of ice time won’t be enough to decide a winner
Everyone knows how incredibly close this game will be. In fact, there is no other quarter-final pairing at the 2024 Ice Hockey World Championship where it is so difficult to name a favorite.
In addition to their playing qualities, the Czechs naturally have the home advantage, which has been noticeable in every group game so far. The fans have already whipped their own men to absolute peak performances on several occasions.
However, the Americans have taken an extremely large number of experienced NHL players and All-Stars with them to the 2024 World Championship – and in the games against Kazakhstan (10:1) and Latvia (6:3) you could already see what this squad is capable of
In terms of pure playing potential, I’m a little more convinced by the Americans’ line-up, but the preliminary round defeat against Slovakia (4:5) did surprise me a little in the meantime …
I’m deliberately ignoring the other defeat against Sweden (2:5) at this point, as it was close and the Scandinavians are the undisputed top favorites for gold in my eyes. There’s probably no way around them in 2024.
All in all, I initially had slight doubts as to whether the US selection would deliver in a knockout game of this magnitude. But now I’m increasingly getting the impression that they have finally settled in sufficiently.
Because the last four appearances against France, Poland, Kazakhstan and Latvia have all been won by a margin of at least two goals in each case
What sets the Americans apart, meanwhile, is by far the best offense of the tournament. With all the NHL greats, it’s not hard to see why it has already “rung” 37 times.
On average, the US boys score over five goals per game, which is of course an outstanding figure.
But I would be cautious at this point to automatically assume a high-scoring game on Thursday. Because even though the Czechs only have two active NHL defensemen, their defense has been reasonably tight even in the top games
Both teams know each other very well. They met twice at the World Cup two years ago, once in the group stage (1:0 for the Czech Republic) and again in the match for third place (8:4 for the Czech Republic).
At the last World Cup in Tampere & Riga, however, it was the US team’s time to shine, winning 3:0.
And if we also bear in mind that the squad for the A World Cup has been upgraded considerably since then, the victory over the hosts should be all the more clear-cut this time.
However, the various first-class providers who specialize in ice hockey betting, such as Bet365, don’t really seem to be convinced of this. Their USA-Czech Republic odds have been almost perfectly balanced.
The bookmakers have called odds averaging 2.33 to 2.68 in favor of the North Americans – and here, of course, the home advantage of the Czech Republic is already priced in.
An assessment that I can live with very well, but which only partially helps me. Because there is not necessarily much room for a value bet given this starting position.
Nevertheless, I can’t say that the odds on the Americans to win are too low for me not to try a bet on the favorites …
At the end of the day, I’m interested in a bet where I get very high odds on an event that the sports bettors mistakenly think is a little too low.
In this case, I choose a risky but lucrative draw bet on my sports betting app. If the game does go into overtime, you’ll get more than four euros back for every euro you bet!
Conclusion: There are certainly different ways to bet on this match. Personally, I would just avoid a win bet on the Czech Republic.
I have a lot of respect for the squad that the North Americans have nominated for this World Championship, which is peppered with absolute NHL greats.
The last performances of the US boys were extremely convincing, but the Czechs are always good for a surprise, so I think an overtime in this quarter-final is quite promising …
My USA-Czech Republic betting tip is therefore as follows: Draw after 60 minutes
