Group C play continues at the Copa America on Friday as Chile and Ecuador play in the day’s only scheduled match. The tournament has been chaotic in many way thus far but this group has really played to form. Uruguay and Chile won easily in their opening games meaning that Japan and Ecuador lost badly. That should give Chile a lot of confidence heading into this game but Ecuador could have focus issues knowing that they have virtually no chance of making it into the knockout rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Team Ecuador was already in a bit of turmoil before the tournament began and the opening game result only made it worse. Many of the team’s supporters are angry that more players from the Ecuador U20 squad haven’t been added to the ‘big team’ after they won the South American U20 Championships. They’re also not particularly happy that manager Hernan Dario Gomez appears to be using the Copa America as a tactical ‘tune up’ for World Cup qualifying. To be fair, they face a tough road to qualify for the World Cup and this approach could pay dividends down the road. At the same time, it’s a tough thing for supporters to swallow when they get the vibe that their team isn’t trying to win in a big competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chile has a talented but aging team. They are, after all, the two time defending champions of this event but aren’t expected to defend their title. They were well down the list on the Copa America soccer betting odds<\/a> before the tournament. Keep in mind that the Copa America was last played in 2016 meaning that a team can be the defending champion and still be well past it’s prime. One ‘red flag’ is the fact that Chile failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup and it’ll be an uphill battle for them to reach the 2020 World Cup in Qatar. The 4-0 result in the opening round against Japan may have had more to do with Chile’s far superior experience than anything else. They’re likely not as good as that result would suggest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neither side were in particularly good form entering this tournament. Chile has only 4 wins in their last 15 games and have lost 3 of their last 5. As noted above, the focus is primarily on getting the team ready to qualify for the 2020 World Cup though there are questions about their ability to do so without an influx of young talent. Chile had won only 3 of their previous 9 games before the win over Japan. In many ways, however, this game is a similar matchup to that game. Ecuador might be less mentally prepared to play but in terms of talent and tactics there’s no reason that Chile doesn’t win this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n