2018 World Cup Group Odds: France, Brazil the Biggest Group Betting Favorites

The French and Brazilians are among the favorites atop the betting board on the odds to win the 2018 World Cup overall, so it is no surprise to see them as the teams to beat in their respective groups when action kicks off on June 14 in Russia.

But the competition for France and Brazil seems to be lacking when compared to some of the other groups, with Colombia and Uruguay sitting as two countries that have much tougher tests.

The Colombians are favored on the odds to win Group H, but they are currently the smallest squad in that role at just +120 (bet $100 to win $120), with the Brazilians the largest at -400 (bet $400 to win $100) at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark. That is because Colombia must deal with Poland (+175), Senegal (+500) and Japan (+700) in a more difficult group.

Meanwhile, Brazil has much longer shots in Group E with Switzerland (+600), Serbia (+800) and Costa Rica (+1800).

The top two teams from each group advance to the round of 16, something the Brazilians have accomplished in each of the previous eight World Cup tournaments. They failed to advance past the second group stage back in 1982 after winning the championship three times in their previous six attempts.

In 2014, Brazil won Group A before falling to Germany 7-1 in the semifinals and the Netherlands 3-0 for third place.

The Germans are the defending World Cup champions and -310 favorites at World Cup betting sites to win Group F over Mexico (+500), Sweden (+600) and South Korea (+2000). The Mexicans were runners-up in Group A behind the Brazilians in 2014 and then lost to the Dutch in their first round-of-16 matchup.

The Swedes did not qualify in 2014 or 2010 after making 11 previous appearances in the World Cup, finishing as runners-up in the 1958 tournament.

Like Brazil, France is a similarly large favorite at -350 to win Group C after taking Group E in 2014 before ultimately falling 1-0 to Germany in the quarterfinals of the knockout stage. The French won the World Cup for the first time in 1998 and were runners-up eight years later.

This time, they must battle Denmark (+450), Peru (+900) and Australia (+1800) in their group. The Danes also had their best-ever finish in 1998, making it all the way to the quarterfinals, where they lost 3-2 to the Brazilians.

For more odds information, betting picks and a breakdown of this week's top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast with Jon Campbell and Andrew Avery. Subscribe on iTunes or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.