World Cup 2026 Bet Builder Tips — Thursday 18 June | Best Picks & Predictions

The second round of group stage matches gets underway on Thursday night, with Mexico, who take on South Korea in probably the standout match of the night, while Switzerland and Bosnia both look to recover from their opening day draws.

Mexico will entertain South Korea in Guadalajara in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with both teams having enjoyed victories in their opening matches, while in Group B, Switzerland will be desperate to get three points on the board after late heartbreak in their first game.

Switzerland vs Bosnia Bet Builder Tips — World Cup 2026

Kick-off: 20:00 BST, Thursday 18 June
Venue: SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles
Group: B

Switzerland vs Bosnia bet builder at 10/1 with bet365

Switzerland to win, Breel Embolo to score, Nikola Katic to be carded

Switzerland will be eager to knock off the disappointment of having dropped points against Qatar in their opening match of the 2026 World Cup, scoring a 94th minute own goal to cancel out Breel Embolo’s early penalty.

Murat Yakin’s side headed into the tournament as favourites to win Group B, which also contains co-hosts Canada, and will be desperate to finish top of their group as they seek what should hopefully be an easier draw in the early knockout stages.

Bosnia managed to hold on for a point against co-hosts Canada in Toronto in their first World Cup match since 2014 in just their second time having qualified for the tournament since their independence from Yugoslavia.

Sergej Barbarez’s side managed to score early on but it was one way traffic for the large majority of the match, and some might have thought the Canadians unlucky not to earn all three points in the first ever World Cup match played on their home soil.

Switzerland striker Embolo scored their only goal of the game in their tournament opener in San Francisco, bagging his sixth for his country since the start of last season, at least two more goals than any other player.

The Rennes striker’s third World Cup goal was also his third in four matches for his country, and his second in his last two caps having also bagged in pre-World Cup friendlies against Germany and Jordan in recent outings.

Nikola Katic has been on the receiving end of more yellow cards than any other Bosnia player since the start of their World Cup qualifying journey.

The one-time Croatia international and former Plymouth centre back has been booked in three of this last four competitive appearances for the country of his birth, including one for a rash challenge to stop a counter attack in their 1-1 draw with Canada last Friday.

Mexico vs South Korea Bet Builder Tips — World Cup 2026

Kick-off: 02:00 BST, Friday 19 June (Early hours of Friday morning)
Venue: Estadio Akron, Guadalajara
Group: A

Mexico vs South Korea bet builder at 29/1 with SBK

Mexico to win, both teams to score, Raul Jimenez to score, Han-Beom Lee to be carded

Mexico kicked off the 2026 World Cup with a memorable win in the tournament’s opening match, defeating South Africa 2-0 in front of 81,000 people at the Estadio Azteca, getting their campaign off to the perfect start.

Javier Aguirre’s side will be playing all three of their group games in Mexico, and will see themselves as favourites to finish in top spot in Group A, and based of last week’s matches, Thursday night’s clash against South Korea will be their most difficult in their group, against their main challengers for that all important first place finish.

El Tri have now won each of their last four matches in all competitions, as well as seven of their last nine since the turn of the year, without defeat in any of those.

Mexico drew 2-2 with South Korea in Nashville back in September, and with the added impetus of playing in front of a home crowd on Thursday, a win could well be on the cards as they look to make it two wins from two to kick off their home World Cup campaign.

South Korea impressed in their come-from-behind 2-1 win over Czech Republic in what felt like a home game with all the fans that had made the long trip across the Pacific Ocean, but those fans will no doubt be heavily outnumbered against the co-hosts on Thursday.

Fulham striker Raul Jimenez has scored more goals for Mexico than any other player across the last 12 months, including the second goal in last Thursday’s opening match of the World Cup, his second goal in as many games after also bagging in their final warm up match against Serbia.

The goal saw him draw level in second place in Mexico’s all time top goal scorer list, now just six behind Javier Hernandez, and will be looking to close that gap further with confidence sky high after an impressive performance against South Africa.

No player in Group A committed more fouls across the opening round of fixtures than South Korea centre back Han-Beom Lee.

The Midtjylland defender, who played on the right of back three, could be in for another difficult night with Julian Quinones, scorer of the tournament’s first goal and man of the match in the opener to deal with on the left hand side along with Jimenez’s darting runs up front.

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