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The summer of soccer rolls on Monday as the US Men’s National Team looks to stay alive. The hosts of Copa America are in desperation mode after losing to Panama, while the UEFA Euro 2024 Round of 16 continues.

And one of the great annual summer sporting rites, Wimbledon, gets going across the pond.  

Copa America group stage – USA vs Uruguay

The Americans put themselves in a deep hole by virtue of their loss to Panama on Thursday night, while Uruguay basically already qualified for the knockout rounds with their two wins and vastly superior goal difference.

As a result, La Celeste will certainly not be starting a full-strength side in this game. However, coach Marcelo Bielsa is rather annoyed that he is suspended for the contest thanks to his side taking too much time in the locker room according to CONMEBOL during their demolition of Bolivia.

I can see his team taking their coach’s frustration out on the home side, knocking them out of this tournament. Also consider that Uruguay’s B-side starting lineup – which should be talented enough to bother the USA – could well feature legendary veteran striker Luis Suarez.

And don’t expect the home crowd to be particularly fired up in Kansas City. The majority of them would rather see them lose and have underwhelming coach Gregg Berhalter fired as a result of a potential Copa America ouster.

Uruguay (+195 money line at DraftKings)

Euro 2024 Round of 16 – Slovenia vs Portugal

Slovenia squeaked into the knockout stages at the last possible moment, and now get rewarded with a Round of 16 matchup against Portugal, who won their group but didn’t exactly light the stage up, losing to Georgia in their final round robin contest.

Sure, that game didn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but Slovenia will likely have a similar game plan to when they earned draws against tough opponents England and Denmark in Group C.

They like to park the bus a bit and frustrate their opponents, something I think they can have success with against a Portugal side that may be more worried about Ronaldo’s state of mind than winning this game. I can see them perhaps pulling this one off in extra time or penalties, but I like the value here on Slovenia to get a result of some kind in 90 mins.

Slovenia double chance (+265 on DraftKings)

Wimbledon

The beautiful grass courts of Wimbledon are in superb shape Monday as the tournament gets underway in London.

Instead of picking a first-round game here, we look ahead to a couple of potential tournament winners on the men’s side making the semifinals.

Carlos Alcaraz may only have just recently turned 21, but he seems to have been around the top of the world rankings for what feels like forever. The defending champ shouldn’t face a major challenge until the quarterfinals where he could face Casper Ruud or Tommy Paul, with the winner to face top seed Jannik Sinner.

Speaking of Sinner, I don’t foresee him having any trouble cruising to the semifinals, either. The number one-ranked Italian is also young at just 22, but reached the semis last year and the quarters the year before.

Alcaraz and Sinner to both make semis (+110 on DraftKings)