The last of the Copa America quarter finals sees Argentina looking to take a step closer to another final when they take on the fourth placed side from Group B in the form of Ecuador over in Goiania on Saturday night.
Argentina, like so many in the tournament, have progressed in solid rather than stylish fashion but they will be expected to do a job on an Ecuador side who possess a bit of danger themselves and could become very awkward.
Argentina
Argentina started their campaign with a draw against Chile but finished the group with three successive wins. There wasn’t too much impressive about the first two but they did look a good side when putting Bolivia to the sword in the final match, although just what they beat in that one remains to be seen. Given that Bolivia didn’t qualify from the group it might not be much, but as I always say you can only beat what is in front of you.
I guess if you were in the Argentina camp you would suggest their pathway through the competition so far has been a perfect one in that they have built their way to form and kept everyone fit and involved but as a neutral watching on I would have liked to have seen more from them in attacking areas. To be fair to them they have looked decent enough defensively and I guess in a tournament that has no extra time until the final that is as important.
Ecuador
It has been a very up and down campaign for Ecuador but they achieved their primary aim which was to qualify for this knockout stage. There is no doubt that they are up against it now but they don’t have a whole lot to lose so they can at least approach this without any caution which could be important. The big problem for Ecuador is that they never actually won a match in the group stage although three draws was enough to get them through.
Ecuador fans will be excited about their draw with Brazil in their final group game but that was very much a second string Brazil team so I’m not sure I can get too enamoured by that draw. Even the draws against Venezuela and Peru they were in command of both matches and failed to win so I wonder if that is a mental thing they have to deal with. They haven’t pulled up any trees defensively and that could be a concern.
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Team News
Sergio Aguero seems to have made his way into the starting plans for Argentina with Lionel Messi supporting him. Lautaro Martinez did score in the win over Bolivia though so that could easily change at the last minute.
Enner Valencia is yet to find the net in this tournament but he is so important to this Ecuador outfit that he isn’t likely to be left out. Moises Caicedo is going to be a big player trying to keep Lionel Messi quiet for the night.
Betting
I’m a little surprised that we can get an Asian line on Argentina which is only -1 here because I expect them to move through the gears from here on in and this Ecuador defence is yet to keep a clean sheet in the tournament. I certainly don’t expect that to change here and if Ecuador don’t find the net then those statistics alone ensure we get our money back. If Ecuador do go behind though they’ll need to open up even more and that is only going to play into the hands of the Argentines.
Argentina have underachieved in this tournament in recent times so now is the time to lay a marker down and stamp their authority on it. They have an excellent set of attacking players and their defence has played a lot better than it has looked on paper so I don’t see Argentina not winning this match but I’ll take the chance they win it by more than the one goal so that we get a full return on our bet.
Tips
Back Argentina (-1AH) to beat Ecuador for a 3/10 stake at 2.11 with Bet365
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