Argentina vs. Colombia Betting Tip, Prediction & Odds
The first game of the 46th Copa America and Group B will be played between slight favourites Argentina and always dangerous Colombia.
Argentina vs. Colombia
- Copa America
- Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador, Brazil
- Saturday 15 June
- 23:00 UK Time
Argentina vs. Colombia Game Preview
The derby of Group B and perhaps the most interesting clash of the entire group stage is the tilt between Argentina and Colombia. Both teams are widely expected to advance to the quarter-finals and this encounter could decide who will finish at the top of the group.
Argentina Team News
Argentina are the second-most successful nation at the Copa America after Uruguay but they haven’t won any major trophy since 1993 and this could be the last chance for Lionel Messi to finally win something with La Albiceleste. They lost both previous finals to Chile and the pressure is mounting on Argentina to get a title, which won’t be an easy thing to do this year.
Head coach Lionel Scaloni has some world-class players in his squad but arguably, this is the weakest Argentina team in years. Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, and Paulo Dybala are the stars in the attack, Angel Di Maria is the biggest name in the midfield while Nicolas Otamendi is the highest profile player in the defence. However, the rest of the squad is rather inexperienced on the international level and even 17 players played under 20 matches for the national side. Midfield and defence are surely not top class as the offence and that could be a big problem for Argentina going forward.
Argentina Latest Form
Without a draw in seven matches since their last encounter with Colombia (W5, L2), Argentina like to strike late. La Albiceleste scored a winning goal after the 80th minute in each victory in that sequence, and overall, 40% of Argentina’s goals arrived in the final ten minutes.
Argentina scored in six of their last seven games and they managed to keep the clean sheet in even four of them, which is a bit surprising considering their rather inexperienced defence. Still, they did allow three in a 3-1 defeat to Venezuela in a friendly and that could be a warning sign for Scaloni.
Lionel Messi was at the double before half-time in Argentina’s final warm-up match against Nicaragua while five of Argentina’s last six victories were by at least a two-goal margin.
Colombia Team News
Colombia won the Copa America only once (2001) and they ended in the third place in the previous championship after defeating hosts USA. Qualifying for the quarter-finals is an imperative for Los Cafeteros and give that they made it into top 8 in the last three editions of the tournament, it would be surprising if they fail to do it here.
Colombia’s squad is pretty much unchanged from the previous World Cup in Russia when they were eliminated in the 1/16 finals to England on penalties. Captain Radamel Falcao will lead the attack but Duvan Zapata is the man to watch following his magnificent season at Atalanta and his 28 goals in 48 games in all competitions. Vice-captain James Rodriguez and the most technically gifted player in the team will likely be the main contributor to Falcao and Zapata along with Juan Cuadrado who can be lethal from the wing.
Colombia’s defence is also strong and have more experience than Argentina. David Ospina is nearing his 100th cap and he needs four appearances to celebrate that milestone while he has Cristián Zapata, Santiago Arias, Yerry Mina, and Davinson Sánchez in front of him, which is a rather solid defence.
Colombia Latest Form
In their last Copa America campaign, Colombia scored exactly two goals in each of their three group matches (W2, L1), with five of the six strikes across those games coming before half-time. More recently, four of their last six goals in their warm-up games arrived before the interval.
- Odds above average
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- Odds above average
- Fair new customer bonus
- Outstanding football betting selection
Los Cafeteros played eight matches following the 2018 World Cup and recorded six victories with a draw and a defeat. Colombia failed to find the back of the net in just one of those eight games and it was in a 0-0 stalemate with Argentina. Colombia’s Mateus Uribe scored either side of half-time to secure victory in their final warm-up match. He has been booked in two of his last three appearances (club & country).
Argentina vs. Colombia Head to Head
The rivals have met 31 times since 1945 and Argentina recorded 18 wins, Colombia have six while seven games ended without a winner. However, Colombia’s last victory came in 2007 and this generation of players didn’t taste a win against La Albiceleste. On the other hand, only Messi was included in Argentina squad in that loss. Colombia also failed to score against Argentina in the last eight years.
Argentina vs. Colombia Betting Tip
Argentina are slight favourites in this one and considering their positive record against Colombia, they seem closer to get three points here. Still, four of the previous seven H2H duels ended as a draw and I cannot separate these sides at the moment, so I am going with a draw in this one as well. I don’t think they will risk much in the opening game of the group and would be satisfied with point apiece. You can choose a draw at 21/10 with 888Sport while both teams to score at evens with William Hill. Despite failing to deliver goals on both ends in the last five H2H meetings, their respective offences are too good to miss out on this opportunity.
