5 Copa America Tips Through Friday-Sunday - 18/06/21

Hosts Brazil will look to build on their positive start to the Copa America when they face Peru in Rio de Janeiro in the early hours of Friday morning, as this tie sees the sides who are top and bottom of the standings in World Cup qualifying go head-to-head.

Tite’s side made the perfect start to continue a brilliant run of form when they comfortably saw off Venezuela 3-0 on the opening day, as that result saw them extend their winning run to eight matches, seven of which have seen them keep a clean sheet. They have turned a corner since a blip in 2019 saw them go five games without a win, and they are doing so in a very attacking manner, scoring 22 goals in that run of eight wins a row.

A win against Ecuador last week saw Peru end a torrid run of eight games without a win, but with all four of their group games being played across just nine days, they may opt to prioritise other matches in the group, as four of the five sides in both groups will progress. Their record against Brazil speaks volumes too, in 48 meetings they have won just five.

Since the hefty defeats which saw their 2014 World Cup campaign on home soil unravel against Germany and the Netherlands, Brazil are unbeaten in all home matches, winning 21 and drawing three of their last 24. With the Selecao in wonderful goalscoring form too, our tip is for them to beat Peru with a (-2) handicap here, available at odds of 2/1.

Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba will host the Group A clash between Chile and Bolivia, with both sides seeking a first win in this year’s Copa America.

Neither side are in great form of late, but they have both been scoring goals consistently, with eight of Chile’s last nine internationals providing BTTS, and despite only winning one of their last eight matches, Bolivia have scored in all of them. Chile have become draw specialists recently, drawing their last three matches, but their 1-1 draw with Argentina was more than welcome, especially after being under the cosh for much of the game.

Bolivia’s defeat to Paraguay in their opening match means they have now lost nine consecutive Copa America matches and they have just three wins in their last 31 matches in all competitions, and even they all came against weak opposition in the form of Myanmar, Haiti and Venezuela.

Chile have won ten of the last 13 head-to-head’s and in the history of the Copa America, this match has produced a staggering 4.6 goals per game. Therefore, we expect a Chile win with both teams to score here, which is boosted to 11/4, only with Sky Bet.

Argentina and Uruguay travel to the Brazilian capital Brasilia for their Group B encounter as Lionel Messi tries to fire his country to their first piece of silverware since 1993.

Messi’s superb free-kick in their group opener with Chile was only good enough for a draw, but despite feeling they should have won the game, it did extend their unbeaten run to 14 games, with their last defeat coming in the semi-final of this competition in 2019.

Goals may be an issue for both sides though which seems incredible when you have Messi and co. at one end and Luis Suarez at the other, but Argentina’s profligacy in attacking areas against Chile shows why. They have only scored more than two goals once in their last 11 games, while Uruguay have only managed that once in their last 15.

Uruguay have not scored at all for three matches now, and after a very strong 2019 which saw them go unbeaten (barring a penalty shootout loss to Peru), they have only won two of their six games since the start of 2020. Oscar Tabarez’s side also have a rotten recent record against Argentina, winning only one from the last ten head-to-head’s, failing to score in six of them.

An Argentina win with under 3.5 goals is our tip here, priced at 6/4 with Sky Bet.

In a meeting between two out-of-form sides, Venezuela and Ecuador will look to put defeats in their opening matches behind them when they face off in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday night.

So far, the summer has not been kind to Venezuela. A defeat to a weak Bolivia side saw them leapfrog them in the World Cup qualifying standings last week, while their squad was virtually decimated by the time their opening match of the Copa America came around against hosts Brazil. They lost 3-0 and named only five outfield players on the bench. Five defeats in seven since the start of 2020 is in great contrast to their form from 2019 which saw some amazing away wins over Argentina (3-1), the USA (3-0) and Japan (4-1).

Ecuador have followed a similar run of form, and have hit a rough patch at exactly the wrong time. Late 2020 saw three convincing wins, including a 4-2 success over Uruguay and a shock 6-1 hammering of Colombia, but Colombia would be their conquerors on matchday one with a narrow 1-0 win, condemning Ecuador to a third straight loss.

Neither side seems able to win at the moment, and the last two meetings between the two teams produced draws, and that is our tip for this one, priced at 5/2.

One of the sides fancied to go far in this year’s Copa America, Colombia, continue their tournament with a tie against Peru in Goiania to round off the weekend’s action.

Being favourites at 3/5 may potentially be a bad omen for Colombia, as all five of their defeats since the 2018 World Cup have come in matches when they were favourites, including some heavy losses to Uruguay (3-0), Ecuador (6-1) and Algeria (3-0). They were able to see off Ecuador in their opening match, but without talisman James Rodriguez, they managed to register just five shots on goal all game.

That win followed on from two positive results in World Cup qualifying at the start of the month, drawing 2-2 with Argentina and comfortably dispatching their upcoming opponents Peru 3-0. The result continued Colombia’s complete domination of Peru in recent head-to-head’s. The Peruvian’s have won just one of the last 18 meetings between the nations dating back two decades and have scored just twice in the last ten against them.