Argentina Faces Tough Test From Venezuela In Copa America Quarterfinals

Heading into the Copa America tournament the two clear favorites were the host country of Brazil and Argentina. After both sides underperformed during the group stage that has changed a bit. Brazil (+110) remains the top choice to win the tournament in Copa America futures odds but Argentina has dropped to a co-third choice along with Columbia at +550. Based on the way Argentina played in the group stage they might still be overvalued.

Argentina was upset by Columbia in their opening round of group play and then got extremely lucky not to lose to Paraguay settling for a 1-1 draw. They managed to beat an overmatched Qatar side by a 2-0 margin in the last group game which allowed them to advance to the knockout rounds. Keep in mind that they were expected to reach the elimination stage with ease and nothing about their group stage play suggests that they’re in sufficient form to challenge for the championship. In particular, Lionel Messi has started to look seriously past his prime and that might have much to do with Argentina’s struggles.

Venezuela, meanwhile, looks to be a team on the rise. They reached the U-21 World Cup Finals in 2017 and now many of the players from that side are starting to hit their prime. They still have some work to do offensively and might need a player or two up front to really become a formidable side. Even so, they’ve been very impressive defensively during the Copa America playing back to back goalless draws against Brazil and Peru. They had no problem with Bolivia in the final group stage contest.

Even with Argentina’s formidable performance during the previous decade the Venezuela team has been fairly competitive against them. They’ve won 2 of the previous six meetings including the most recent contest where Venezeula prevailed 3-1 in a friendly played in March. That leaves the head to head record in the last six at 2-2-2. Argentina dominated Venezuela 4-1 in the 2017 Copa America quarterfinals but it looks like these teams have headed in opposite directions since then. We’ll call for Venezuela to pull off the upset and playing it on the handicap line a draw will be good enough.

BET VENEZUELA +1 -115 OVER ARGENTINA

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