Copa America Betting – Arg., Chile open with finals rematch
Argentina (+131) vs Chile (+215), Draw (+204)
After losing the 2015 Copa America to Chile, Argentina will have an opportunity for redemption tonight when the teams meet in their opener of the Copa America Centenario at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara (10:00 PM Eastern).
Argentina come into the tournament as the betting favorites, sitting at 13/8 to life the championship trophy. Those odds are based entirely on roster talent and potential and not on past results; Argentina haven’t won an international tournament since 1993 when they won the Copa America for the last time.
Lionel Messi won’t dress for tonight’s match; the Barcelona star is still recovering from a back/rib injury he suffered in a friendly against Honduras last week.
Without Messi in the lineup, Argentina loses the best player in the world, but they’re one of the few squads in the tournament that can weather such a loss. Manager Gerardo Martino will still have arguably the three most talented players on the pitch at his disposal in Angel Di Maria, Sergio Aguero, and Gonzalo Higuain. Look for Di Maria to attempt to fill the roll vacated by Messi in the Argentina attack.
Argentina already exacted a small measure of revenge on the Chileans, beating them 2-1 in Santiago in the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup. They currently sit third in the standings with 11 points through six matches, and have played four of those without Messi as well.
Chile are just one point behind Argentina in the qualification standings, but they haven’t showed the same level of play that led them to the Round of 16 in the 2014 World Cup and the last Copa America title.
They made a coaching change, going from Jorge Sampaoli to Juan Antonio Pizzi, in an effort to revitalize the squad, but the team’s game has never looked as smooth as when it was at its best under Sampaoli.
Argentina have won four of the last six meeting against Chile in all competitions. Chile indeed took last year’s tournament final, but they were also the host of that edition. Take Argentina to win by one a goal in this neutral site game. Even sans Messi, they have too much offensive power.
Pick: Argentina (+131)
(Photo Credit: Fanny Schertzer (Own work) CC BY 3.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0], via Wikimedia Commons)
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
