Argentina and Colombia set down a monumental clash in the semifinals of this year’s Copa America tournament. Gauchos cruised past into the finals beating Ecuador in the quarterfinals, without some considerable trouble. At the same time, on the other side, Colombia defeated Uruguay following a penalty shootout, earning their place in the top four even though the bookies saw them as huge underdogs. Will Cafeteros be able to stop Lionel Messi? Argentina’s No.10 has been incredible since the tournament started, playing his best football in recent years. And we all know how that looks like.
Preview
Argentina (-125) rolled over Ecuador in the quarterfinals without any problems. The result was 3-0 for Gauchos, with the scorers being Rodrigo de Paul in the late first, and Lautaro and Messi in the late second half.
Messi, who is currently without a club as his contract with Barcelona expired, reached up to four goals and four assists in this tournament, being the frontrunner for the best player award. We are more than sure that Messi’s motivation is at the highest possible level. His future is at the crossroad, Argentina has a chance to beat Brazil in their own house, which would be an incredible way for him to win the first trophy with the national team.
The last two games Argentina played ended with over 2.5 goals, which is a refreshment following numerous inefficient matches. Previously, six of seven games the Gauchos played finished under 2.5 scores.
Colombia (+450) went against odds vs. Uruguay, eliminating the rivals following a goalless draw and the penalty shootout afterward. Los Cafeteros are playing without James Rodriguez and didn’t have Juan Quadrado in the quarterfinals.
Despite that, the Colombians held on against Suarez, Cavani, and the boys, forcing a penalty shootout where they had more composure and focus. All four players Reinaldo Rueda picked to take the shot hit the back of the net, while on the other side, Vina and Gimenez missed their hits.
Colombia’s matches have been pretty unpredictable when it comes to efficiency and scoring. Over the past 10 games, the situation goes like this, five events were under 2.5 goals, and five went above that limit. The same applies to both teams scoring and not scoring.
Latest News
There aren’t any suspended players in either team, which is perfect as both Scaloni and Rueda have the best possible lineups available.
Head to Head Matches
Less than two weeks ago, these two sides met in the World Cup qualifiers, in Barranquilla. Argentina got the early lead, with two goals in the opening eight minutes, while Colombia earned the point with scores in the second half. One of them in the fourth minute of the injury time, when Borja beat Marchesin.
Prediction
Argentina is the favorite, and we are all in on their victory here. The Colombians are a good team, but on the other side, they have a much better rival, with its leader (Messi) on fire in recent times. The odds on our pick are pretty nice, and we expect to see them dropping as time goes by.
Here is the preview for the other COPA America semifinal between
Both previews for EURO 2020 semifinals are on these two links.
Nikola Velickovic is a sports journalist who loves to write and read on all sports. Nikola contributes both news updates and functions as a sports breaking news writer at WagerBop.
Twitter:
Email: nikola@wagerbop.com
Leave a Reply