The second half of the double header to start up the Copa America on Sunday evening sees the former champions Colombia taking on a much improved Ecuador in a Group B contest in Cuiaba which could have plenty of implications for the tournament ahead.
Colombia are the more established side at this level but there is a feeling that they are on the decline whereas their opponents in this match could be about to enjoy a golden era of their own so this one carries plenty of interest.
Colombia
In the middle of the previous decade Colombia were one of the best teams in the world. They excitedly reached quarter finals of the World Cup back in 2014 and they were third in this tournament in 2016 but they have faded away a little since those glory days and there is a lot of pressure on this squad to try and live up to the expectations that those excellent sides created with the style they played with and the results they achieved.
It has been the best time of it in World Cup qualifying for Colombia. They have a pair of wins, a pair of draws and a couple of defeats and have leaked a number of goals along the way. They do go into this match having staged a fine recovery from 2-0 down to Argentina in their latest qualifier on Tuesday evening to draw 2-2 which will offer them some confidence but you sense how they go in this match and beyond will be down to how they deal with expectancy of delivering.
Ecuador
There was a time when the Ecuador team probably thought twice about leaving home for Copa America tournaments as they were rarely factors in them but that could be about to change as they look to be coming into their own somewhat at the minute. They have hit the ground running in World Cup qualifying and sit above their opponents here in the standings for that. They are an improving outfit under Gustavo Alfaro.
Enner Valencia is the man who carries their hopes in the attacking area of the pitch but the likes of Fidel Martinez and Gonzalo Plata are offering up plenty of support in that area for them. This is no longer an Ecuador side who are brilliant at home and pathetic away and given that they know that Brazil is to come in the group, you wonder and hope as a neutral if they will decide to take the game on here and look to pick up a positive result to ease their concerns with regards to qualifying.
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Team News
The stop start season that James Rodriguez endured means that he hasn’t been included in the squad for this tournament which means that the likes of Mateus Uribe, Luis Diaz, Luis Muriel and Duvan Zapata will get their chance to shine.
Enner Valencia is on the verge of becoming the leading scorer in international football for Ecuador and he is expected to lead the line for Ecuador here. There is a lot of excitement around Moises Caicedo at Brighton and he is expected to be the driving force in the middle of the park.
Betting
If this match had taken place a couple of weeks ago then I would have been leaning heavily on Ecuador but the last week of World Cup qualifiers haven’t been kind to them whereas Colombia actually picked up a little more of positivity from them and they might come good at the pressure moment. I like Ecuador and I hope they can still lay down a challenge to Colombia but perhaps this tournament comes at the right time for the former champions.
I’m not going to bet that is the case though because there is a bit of doubt and also I like the idea of there being goals in this match. The goal line for this one sits at 2.25 which feels a little on the low side to me. When these two met in World Cup qualifying Ecuador won 6-1. That was at altitude but it is still a crazy result but actually if you take that outcome out of their qualifying campaigns, in the other five matches then there have been 17 goals in five Ecuador matches and the same in the Colombia games. That tells me we may see more goals than expected here.
Tips
Back Over 2.25 goals for a 3/10 stake at 2.03 with Bet365
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