Copa América Preview: Argentina v Colombia

Argentina will play a thrilling clash against Colombia in Chile in order to reach the semi-finals.

The Copa América is getting more and more exciting as time goes by. The best teams are still fighting for final triumph, while the weaker sides

• Argentina could do better
• Colombia has not been playing at its best either
• The Albiceleste might eliminate Colombia

bid farewell and traveled back home after eliminating. Argentina and Colombia are amongst the strongest sides in the competition and both of them are still in the race. However, one of them will go home sadly after the next round, while the other will qualify for the semi-finals.

Better performances were expected from Argentina

Online gambling sites in Argentina believe that their national team has been the biggest favourites for the championship from the very beginning of the tournament. With the likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Agüero, Ángel Di Maria, and so on it is only natural that they are amongst the main candidates.

However, the tournament did not start that well for Tata Martino’s men. They kicked off the competition in Group B against Paraguay, and they managed to lose two points in an already won game. Agüero and Messi scored in the first half, giving the Albiceleste a 2-0 advantage. Yet, Paraguay managed to eqalize in the last minute, saving one point for themselves, and taking away two from Argentina.

In the next round it was the thrilling clash between the two group favourites, Argentina against Uruguay, the most successful teams in the history of the Copa América, having claimed the title 14 and 15 times respectively. Sergio Agüero scored the only goal of the match, which resulted in three points for his side.

In the last round, an incredibly easy game was expected against Jamaica, the group’s definitive underdogs. However, the game did not go that well for Messi and his teammates. Gonzalo Higuaín took the lead already in the 10th minute, and everyone expected a gala, which was postponed as no more goals were scored. In addition, Jamaica had several chances to equalize, but they missed them all.

Colombia have been underachieving so far

In the beginning of the tournament, Colombia was amongst the greatest favorites as well, thanks to their good performances in the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil. Colombian gambling news reported that they had high expectations towards their shiniest star, James Rodriguez, who was thought to be a leader of his national team.

However, these hopes were almost completely gone immediately after the first clash of the group match. Colombia started the tournament against Venezuela, in which they were clear favourites. Yet they suffered through the entire game and Rondón scored the only game of the match, which gave three points to Venezuela.

In the second round, Colombia faced group and title favourite Brazil. In the beginning of the tournament, they were regarded as more or less equal forces but after the first round of the group phase, Colombia became underdogs against Dunga’s side. However they were focused throughout the entire game and Murillo’s goal was the decider.

In the last round of the group stages, Colombia had to play against Peru, in a game which was going to decide who goes through in second place and who will finish third. None of the teams were especially motivated in the match, which ended in a boring 0-0, sending both teams to the quarter-finals.

Argentina are favourites against Colombia

Taking into consideration how the two teams have been performing so far, we might easily say that Argentina are clear favorites of the clash as they qualified as group winners while Colombia slightly managed to reach the quarter-finals, having been the second best team out of the three third-placed sides.

Yet, we cannot predict the final result of the game as Colombia have already showed their class against Brazil. In that game, they were just as much of an underdog as they are right now against the Albiceleste. Yet they have managed to stay concentrated and win that match, so putting Argentina already in the semi-final would be a great mistake.

Even though the fact that we cannot predict the final result of the game, it can be known for sure what we can expect of Saturday’s quarter-final: an extremely passionate and thrilling encounter between two top-quality teams, in which you can see your stars for 2015, such as the likes of Messi, Di María and James Rodriguez.

There is a lot at stake. Whoever wins the game, they will qualify for the semi-final, where they will face the winner of the Brazil v Paraguay game. Mobile betting sites would be thrilled to see a legendary clash between Argentina and Brazil, one which is always very exciting, emotional and passionate, but of course Colombian and Paraguayan supporters would prefer if the clash just did not occur.