Olympics Day 13 betting predictions & top value picks – 5/8/2021

After falling to Canada in the semifinals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the United States women are set for a bronze medal matchup against Australia in soccer. This bronze medal game and a pair of semifinal matchups in men’s basketball and women’s beach volleyball make up Wednesday’s best bets in the Olympic Games.

Women’s Soccer: Australia (+0.5 goals) over United States

The United States women’s team has won gold medals in four of the previous six Olympic Games that have held a women’s football tournament with gold in 1996, 2004, 2008, and 2012. After failing to medal in 2016 and fighting a lengthy public battle about fair wages after their World Cup win in 2019, this year’s squad was all-in on winning gold again.

That dream came to an end on Monday when the United States suffered a stunning 1-0 upset loss to Canada. The USA hasn’t looked sharp throughout the tournament, needing penalty kicks to defeat the Netherlands in the quarters after going 1-1-1 in the group stage. That record includes a 0-0 draw against Australia during group play.

Australia has followed virtually the same path into this bronze medal game, going 1-1-1 in Group G, winning its first knockout game (4-3 over Great Britain) and then losing 1-0 in the semifinals to Sweden. The United States have the most talented women’s soccer team in the world and are a clear favorite on paper. But from a performance and form perspective, the USA have not played much better than Australia in Tokyo.

And from a motivational perspective, this match provides a slam dunk bet on Australia; the US side will be upset it isn’t playing for gold, while the Matildas are playing for their first-ever Olympic medal. Australia’s women are offering fantastic value at +275 to win bronze, but for the safer play, all they have to do at +0.5 is not lose in regulation.

Men’s Basketball: Slovenia (-2.0) over France

Slovenia entered the Olympics going off at over +3000 at most sportsbooks to win gold. Everyone knows how good Luka Doncic is, but what many basketball fans didn’t realize was how many strong shooters the Slovenians have. Throughout their first four games in Tokyo, Slovenia has demolished the competition with a 4-0 record and an average winning margin of 21.3 points per game. Teams that double-cover Doncic are getting crushed by the wide-open shots they are leaving, and teams that spread out are getting crushed by Doncic.

The United States has enough talented one-on-one defenders in players like Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Jrue Holiday to at least contain Doncic should both Slovenia and the United States advance to the gold medal game. France, on the other hand, even with its solid team defense, doesn’t have a clear answer for him. Rudy Gobert is an elite defender in the paint but is not known for his perimeter defense. Look for Slovenia’s red-hot offense to keep things going with another win here.

Women’s Beach Volleyball: United States over Switzerland

April Ross and Alexandra Klineman blew through Pool B with 2-0 wins over China and Spain and a 2-1 win over the Netherlands before defeating both Cuba and Germany 2-0 in the knockout stage. The match against Germany on Tuesday was a competitive one, but the United States team showed off its dominance by not dropping a set for the fourth time in five matches so far in Tokyo.

Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Heidrich finished second in Pool A and suffered a 2-0 loss to Canada. The Swiss team has earned a pair of 2-1 wins in the knockout stage to advance to this point. There is obviously no shortage of talent on the Swiss side given that this pair has advanced to the semifinals, but Ross and Klineman are the superior team and are in better form. They are worth trusting as the big favorites in this one.