Biggest Rivalries in the Copa América

The Copa América is approaching, and in order to prepare our readers for the tournament, we wanted to introduce the most exciting games.

Copa América will start on 11 June and will last until 4 July. The event, which will decide on who the best South American national football team is, will take place in Chile. We expect to see many thrilling and emotional clashes during the tournament.

• Argentina and Brazil are great rivals
• Uruguay wants to be better than their neighbour
• Clásico del Pacífico decides the 4th best team of South America

However, some of the games are just known to be like that, from the very beginning. There are 12 teams participating in the continental tournament, and among them there is huge rivalry. Our aim was to introduce to our readers which matches should be paid extra attention to, as they are usually the most exciting ones

Argentina vs Brazil is always a passionate encounter

The debate between South America’s best two football teams in the history has been a controversial topic for a very long time now. The rivalry can be lead back to the beginning of football, as both teams have been introducing world class players to the world and both teams have won many titles.

Argentinian gambling news report that Argentina has given the football world the likes of Alfredo Di Stefano, Diego Armando Maradona, Fernando Redondo or Lionel Messi, while Brazil’s history is full of incredible players such as Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos, Garrincha, Pelé or Rivaldo.

Encounters between Brazil and Argentina are not only notable because of the incredible and outstanding quality of the two squads, but also because the neighbor countries have always been competing each other. These clashes, which are also called “The battle of South America”, usually have controversial outputs and infamous incidents.

The first memorable incident of these ones is the South American Championship’s final in 1937. Argentinian fans kept mocking Brazilians by calling them “macaquitos” and giving sounds of monkeys. Argentina won the game by 2 goals after a goalless 90 minutes, while Brazilians decided to leave the stadium before the official ending as they thought they had better not confront the Argentinian football fans.

Uruguay’s greatest rival is Argentina

Argentina and Uruguay are neighbor countries due to which they are unconsciously competing each other in the sense of which one is the better country. Uruguay is a small country yet they produce many important things, however the huge neighbor country gets all the credit all the time for everything.

According to online sportsbooks, Uruguay is the most successful team in the Copa América, while Argentina is the second, just winning one fewer of the continental trophies. However, the smaller country has won the first World Cup in 1930 and then again in 1950. The fact that Los Charrúas won the first World Cup by defeating Argentina by 4-2 in the final made the basics of a lifelong rivalry between the two nations.

However, Uruguay have been in declining form in the intercontinental tournament ever since, while Argentina is greatly arising, losing only in the final last year, not to mention the fact that they also have 2 World Cup titles, just like their neighbor country.

Online gambling sites in Uruguay report that Argentina and Uruguay are in the same group, accompanied by Paraguay and Jamaica. The encounter between the two ancient rivals will take place on the 16th of June at Estadio La Portada. Great and passionate clash is expected on the second game day of group B.

Chile and Peru always compete each other

Chile and Peru are neighbour countries on the west coast of South America. They are both situated right next to the Pacific Ocean. That is why the classical clash between the two sides is called “El Clásico del Pacífico”. Both the fans and the teams believe it is one of the most important matches of the year.

Obviously, they always want to win against their greatest rivals. The origins of this huge rivalry has started in the beginning of the 20th century, however the earlier games have not been as intense as they are in recent times. Moreover, the clashes between them are also rough sometimes, a red card is not a surprise at these matches.

CNN World Sport has chosen the fight between the two nations as one of the top 10 football rivalries in the world. The aim of the competition is to decide who is the 4th best South American national football team, after Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

Mobile betting sites in both countries also claim that their nation’s football players invented the bicycle kick, which also adds to the rivalry. Unfortunately it is not very probable that we will be able to see a Clásico del Pacífico in this year’s Copa América, however there is a chance if Chile qualifies from group A and Peru from group C.
Read more about how to bet on the Copa America here