2015 Copa America Betting

This Thursday, 12 teams from South America, North America, and the Caribbean will start the battle for the Copa America in Chile. The intermittently-held tournament features all ten teams from CONMEBOL plus two other invitees. This year, Mexico and Jamaica round out the 12-team field.

Let’s take a look at the favorites heading into the highly competitive tournament.

Argentina (2/1): Argentina hosted the last edition (in 2011) but failed to win on home soil. Coming off an appearance in the World Cup finals against Germany, the Argentines are the top dogs in the Copa America odds. The team’s success lies on the shoulders – er, at the feet – of Lionel Messi, who captured the Champions League crown with Barcelona just days ago.  Argentina has a decent track record at the tournament, winning the title 14 times. But they haven’t lifted the trophy since 1993. I guess that’s what you get when you name your country after silver.

Brazil (10/3): Brazil last hoisted the Copa America trophy in 2007 (two tournaments ago). After getting embarrassed by Germany (7-1) at home in the World Cup semifinal last year, La Selecao will feel a huge amount of pressure to win. Messi’s Barcelona teammate Neymar will be the focal point of the Brazilian offense; the young striker led the Champions League with 10 goals, including one in the final against Juventus. Neymar gives Brazil a chance in any game, despite the rest of his generation representing a bit of a downturn for Brazilian soccer.

Chile (4/1): The Chilean team has never won the Copa America before, but they will have home field advantage and are coming off an impressive showing in the World Cup. Placed in a veritable group of death with the Netherlands, Spain, and Australia, Chile was all expected to fall short of the Round fo 16. But the Chileans shocked the world by downing defending champion Spain and moving on to the knockout phase. It was the team’s second straight trip to the Round of 16 and hopes are high that Chile can continue its strong play at home in the Copa America.

Colombia (11/2): Coach Jose Pekerman is entering his fourth year as coach of the Colombian national team, and after getting to the 2014 World Cup quarterfinals, Colombia is a real contender to win just their second Copa America. Winger James Rodriguez won the Golden Boot at the 2014 World Cup and will be counted on to lead the Colombian offense once again.

The Field:

• Uruguay: 16/1
• Ecuador: 20/1
• Mexico: 25/1
• Paraguay: 40/1
• Venezuela: 80/1
• Peru: 100/1
• Bolivia: 200/1
• Jamaica: 500/1

Pick: Brazil.

(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.)