Copa America Group C In Sunday Action As Uruguay Battles Ecuador

The Copa America is heading into it’s third day of competition and there has already been a huge upset that may completely change the dynamic of not only Group B but the entire tournament. On Saturday, Argentina was shocked by Columbia losing 2-0 on second half goals by Roger Martinez and Duvan Zapata. Columbia had done a very good job of defending Argentina in recent meetings and their defensive tenacity finally paid off in a victory.

Argentina had been a +350 second favorite to win the tournament behind top choice Brazil at +100. Prior to Saturday’s action which saw not only Columbia’s upset of Argentina but Venezula and Peru playing to a scoreless draw the rest of the Copa America soccer odds at BetOnline.ag were as follows: Uruguay (+600), Columbia (+850) and defending champion Chile (+1200) were the next three betting choices. Columbia will likely move up to at least the #3 betting choice and possibly even take over Argentina’s spot for the second favorite.

Of course, much will depend on the outcome of this game. A Uruguay win will likely move them into the second favorite spot while an Ecuador upset wouldn’t be quite as big as Columbia beating Argentina but it would still be surprising. The conventional wisdom among soccer cognoscenti is that the ‘die is already cast’ as far as the teams to advance to the knockout stages from Group C. The expectation is that Uruguay and Chile will advance which will leave both Japan and Ecuador in a tough position to do well enough in a third place finish to move through with the top two teams. The Group C betting odds reflect this as Uruguay is +100 to win, Chile is +150 while Ecuador is +600 and Japan +1400.

Uruguay is managed by the venerable 72 year old Oscar Tabarez who has had the job since 2006. He recently signed an extension to continue his role through the 2020 Qatar World Cup after which most observers expect him to retire. Tabarez has been called ‘the greatest figure in post-War Uruguayan football history’ and few would argue with that. Many people don’t realize that Uruguay has won the Copa America more times than any other team–they’ve claimed the crown 15 times giving them one more victory than Argentina and 7 more than Brazil. They’ve also been runners up on six occasions.

The problem is that most of their success happened decades ago. They won this tournament in 2011 but before that hadn’t won since 1995 and hadn’t reached the finals since 1999. If there is a rap against Tabarez it’s that he has a tendency to play ‘safety first’ football which doesn’t fully leverage a deep and talented roster. Tabarez has an embarrassment of riches at his disposal with top level talent at every position on the field. Martin Caceres, Diego Laxalt, Diego Godin and keeper Fernando Muslera are all veterans of Italy Serie A. Diego Godin will be paired with Jose Gimenez who plays for Atletico Madrid in Spain’s La Liga and they comprise one of the best defensive pairings in the tournament. The midfield consists of Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Torreira and Matias Vecino.

Uruguay may have more talent up front than anywhere else on the roster. Luis Suarez plays for Barcelona and scored 21 goals in La Liga play this season. Edinson Cavani plays for French Ligue 1 sideParis Saint Germain and scored 18 goals this year. They’ve also got Celta Vigo striker Maxi Gomez in a bench role who scored 13 goals this year. Suarez had arthroscopic surgery a month ago and although he played 30 minutes in a tune up game against Panama last week Tabarez might choose to use him in a bench role here.

Ecuador is decent and competitive team but can’t match Uruguay in terms of talent. Their best known player is versatile Antonio Valencia who has had a lengthy career throughout Europe including 339 appearances for Manchester United where he served as team captain putting him into elite company that includes Wayne Rooney, Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Michael Carrick. Even if Suarez doesn’t go it’s hard to see Ecuador being able to deny the depth of Uruguay.

BET URUGUAY -135 OVER ECUADOR

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