As Alexi Lalas would say: Good morning, sunshine. What are we shouting about today? Lionel Messi's stock among fans plummeted when he missed the All-Star game recently, perhaps.

Football's greatest decided against going from the circus of the Club World Cup to participating in carnival games at the All-Star event.

Now, from one fixture pile-up disguised as progress to another, the Leagues Cup is back to give us 36 more reasons to question the state of North American football.

Here, Sports News Blitz’s betting writer George Dempsey dives into some outright predictions for the tournament.