The Copa America continues with another double header of action on Sunday evening as Group B moves past the halfway mark. Brazil look in control of the group but they are not in action so the other four sides get the chance to hog the spotlight, beginning with Venezuela and Ecuador who meet in Rio de Janeiro.
Venezuela have a defeat and a draw from their opening two matches whereas Ecuador lost their only match of the campaign so far and still have Brazil to play so this might be a bigger game for them than Los Vinotinto.
Venezuela
All the issues that Venezuela had prior to the tournament have been well documented and they were unfortunate. They were unfortunate for them as a team because it has pretty much taken away any natural attacking threat they had and it is unfortunate for us as watchers because we are denied the chance to see if Venezuela are progressing as a nation because Covid has taking away near enough their entire attacking threat.
That is all the negatives for the Venezuelans but we have to give them credit for not folding and just rolling over in this competition. They muscled up and while it wasn’t necessarily pretty to watch, they held Colombia in their last match and are probably only another positive result away from qualifying. They would have looked at this match prior to everything that happened as their best chance of a victory but obviously things might have changed now.
Ecuador
If World Cup qualifying is anything to go by then Ecuador have certainly improved even though they lost a couple of those matches on the eve of this tournament. They now have the chance to show just how much they have improved because they would probably have been expected to beat Venezuela before all their Covid issues so now that they are facing a much weakened Vene side they will be expected to do something of a job on them.
Ecuador have only played one match in this tournament so far which was a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Colombia when it never really clicked up front for them. That is the task at hand here. They have had a good break now having had their game off in the last set of matches in this group so they should be fresh. I’m looking for Ecuador to come out all guns blazing and get in front as early as they can in order to make it an easy evening for them.
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Team News
We know all about Covid-19 denying Venezuela of the likes of Josef Martinez, Tomas Rincon, Jefferson Savarino and Roberto Rosales which means that the likes of Luis Martinez, Luis Mago and Cristian Casseres will continue to be given their chance to shine.
Ecuador have reported no fresh injury concerns and have had the six day break to get some energy into their legs so they might field an unchanged side here with Enner Valencia once again leading the line for his side.
Betting
Colombia couldn’t break down a dogged and determined Venezuela side in the last round of matches in this group but they did give Los Vinotinto a good run around and having played Brazil prior to that you’ve got to think this third game in six days is going to be a tough assignment for what is Venezuela’s second string across most of the pitch. Colombia lost their way and their heads in that game but I don’t expect Ecuador to make that mistake.
I think they have enough talent up front to exposed this Venezuela defence and if their opponents do get leggy at any stage in the match then the power of Moises Caicedo and Orlando City midfielder Jhegson Mendez in the centre of the park could prove tough to contain. Ecuador are beginning to make decent strides. They had won four on the trot prior to the World Cup qualifiers at the beginning of the month and I expect them to get back to winning ways here. If they can get in front early they could run out very comfortable winners too.
Tips
Back Ecuador (-1AH) to beat Venezuela for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with BetVictor
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