Time doesn’t allow for full match previews on the Copa America
so this bumper package has everything for the Saturday action.
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| Colombia's Rafael Falcao -The main threat |
The first quarterfinal clash of the Copa America sees Group
A winner Colombia face its neighbour to the south, which finished as the top
third-placed team and qualifies being one of the two selected third placed finishers.
Peru had a mixed group stage. They drew one, won one and
lost one to finish third with four points in Group C. Indeed some could say
that Peru were quite lucky to qualify considering that their equalizer against
Uruguay was against the run of play and also largely due in part to the failure
of the Uruguayan centre backs to notice the offside wasn’t in their favour.
Credit can’t be taken away from them for a valiant win over
Mexico (albeit a team with a lot of problem to say the least) when ate goal
from Paolo Guerrero, scored seven minutes from time, gave Peru a well-earned
1-0 victory but they weren’t the only teams to beat the Mexicans and this is
their toughest test yet.
Colombia are the fancy in this primarily thanks to their
attacking talent, headed by star striker Falcaco and badly backed up by a
number of talents which also include 24-year-old Jackosn Martinzez, who was a consistent
scorer for Medellin and has fared well in Mexico with Jaguares.
Not only do they boast a powerful attack, but they’re yet to
concede in this tournament (against Costa Rica, Bolivia, and Argentina) which
makes them wholly appealing on more than one basis. While we’ll keep things simple
by backing outright but also go in on the 1-0 scoreline as these quarter finals
can get sticky at the best of times.
Then the main event for many kicks off, in Argentina v
Uruguay. The bookies have the hosts as favourites for many reasons but it’s
clear that this is going to be much tighter than those odds suggest – This will
be the toughest test that either team has faced by some distance.
Argentina's early troubles in the competition (disappointing
draws against Bolivia and Colombia which where 1-1 and 1-0 respectively) have
been forgotten thanks to their 3-0 win over Costa Rica in their third and final
group game. The quality of the team performance (and Lionel Messi's outstanding
individual contribution within it) has suddenly revved up the hyperbole that saw
everyone back them into odds on for the tournament, as they were before.
Uruguay were many people's (including mine) dark horses to
win the competition and they did not impress many when drawing 1-1 against Chile and Peru in their opening
two games and were unconvincing 1-0 winner against Mexico. That’s probably not
going to count for much though and if you fancy Uruguay a lot then don’t be
afraid of taking on Argentina. Looking through some stats, it’s fascinating
that both sides have a half time record of W1-D2-L0, meaning that the draw at
Half – Time is a fairly obvious recommendation from that.
To add to that , It might be worth having a cheeky poke on
the Draw/Argentina double result given that it’s 7/2 along with the persuasive
claims of Argentina on paper, with their forwards now up and running.
Advice
3 pts Columbia
(4/5 Stan James)
1 pt 1-0 Columbia
(5/1 888 Sport)
2 pts HT Draw between Argentina & Uruguay (5/4 Bet365)
1 pt Draw/Argentina (7/2 Coral)
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