World Cup odds: United States not favored to do much

The current odds for World Cup events being offered by Las Vegas casinos have been published, and somewhat unsurprisingly the United States are not favored to come out of their group. Not only have Jurgen Klinsmann and Alexi Lalas said publicly they don't believe much in the US, but now the sports books are saying the smart money is to bet against the US.

Unsurprisingly, Brazil has the most favorable odds to win the 2014 World Cup, with Messi's Argentina and the Germans right behind. The United States come in at 100 to 1 odds against winning the World Cup, the same odds given to Mexico and Switzerland.

Down in Group G, the Germans are the odds on favorite to win the group where it's twice as likely they'll take Group G than they won't. That's not as favorable as Argentina's 1 to 6 odds, but it's also not as Group of Death as Group D which has no odds on favorite.

Clint Dempsey is currently given the best odds to be the top US goalscorer in Brazil, with Jozy Altidore and Aron Johannson right behind him. No USA goalscorer is given equal odds to Michael Bradley being the leading US goalscorer, better odds than all but four US players. One can place bets on Clint Dempsey or Jozy Altidore winning the Golden Boot, currently given 200 to 1 and 250 to 1 odds respectively. Messi is the favorite at 6 to 1.

One of the prop bets offers is whether the US or Mexico will progress further in the World Cup, with Mexico predicted to come out ahead in that battle. That's not to say Las Vegas is predicting Mexico will advance from their group, the money line currently has Mexico not-advancing as the favorite, with slightly worse odds than Croatia. Brazil is the only team in Group A favored to advance. Group G is more clear cut, with Germany and Portugal favored with the US and Ghana looking up (the United States is currently predicted to finish last).

The over/under line for the total number of points the US will earn in Group G is 2.5, Mexico has their over/under at 3.5. The over/under for US group stage goals is 2.5, while Mexico were given 3.5 with the under the odds on favorite. So Vegas sees both Mexico and US scoring three goals, but in Mexico's case that gives them slightly better odds to win the group. We can call that the "Germans are a juggernaut and Cristiano Ronaldo is going to score five goals" factor.

There's a lot to consider about this upcoming World Cup tournament, and Las Vegas is willing to take your money on just about any angle.