2015 Copa America Betting – Argentina vs. Colombia

Argentina (-110) vs Colombia (+380), Draw (+240)

The most eye-catching game of the 2015 Copa America quarterfinals sees tournament favorite Argentina facing Colombia, one of the most lethal teams on the globe. The two South American powers will clash at Sausalito Stadium in Chile this Friday, June 26 (7:30 PM Eastern).

Argentina is currently sitting at roughly 2/1 to win their first Copa America since 1993 thanks, largely, to their trio of talented attackers: Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, and Angel Di Maria.  However, the Argentineans reached the quarterfinals playing their best soccer – especially offensively – squeaking by Jamaica (1-0) and Uruguay (1-0) plus drawing Paraguay (2-2).

The lack of goals in the round robin came as a surprise to everyone, including manager Gerardo Martino.

“I think we’re lacking effectiveness, which is something you cannot legislate for or predict considering the players we have and the goal threat they carry. Failing to put games to bed is making us edgy”, said Martino according to Marca.com.

Colombia has been equally disappointing up to this point and are now just 13/1 to win this year’s tourney (which would be their first title since 2001). In the group stage, they beat Brazil (1-0) but lost to Venezuela (1-0) and drew Peru (0-0). Strikers Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez have played without inspiration, and Jackson Martinez has barely seen the field.

Colombia manager Jose Pekerman wasn’t entirely displeased with his team’s performance against Peru, despite failing to tally.

“With the anxiety surrounding the result, it was not easy. The goal eluded us. We must be calm. We did enough to win”, said Pekerman to Goal.com after the scoreless draw.

In the head to head history, Argentina and Colombia have met in each of the last two Copa America tournaments; Argentina triumphed in a high-scoring 4-2 affair back in 2007, but the teams played to a scoreless draw in 2011. Overall, Argentina has won five of their last eight meetings with Colombia and lost just once (5-2-1). With Colombia’s attack seemingly on even worse form that Argentina’s, look for La Albiceleste to move onto the semifinals and keep their title hopes alive.

Pick: Argentina (-110). 

(Photo credit: Fanny Schertzer (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)