The first set of group matches in the Copa America come to an end on Monday night when the final two teams to get their campaigns underway do so when the invited nation Japan take on the defending champions Chile in a good looking Group C clash in Sao Paulo.
Both teams have seen Uruguay pull off the biggest win of the tournament thus far in their group opener so they will be eager to respond with a victory of their own. A win would just about guarantee no worse than third spot with Ecuador’s heavy negative goal difference.
Japan
If the Japanese needed their tournament form to be franked it kind of was on Sunday night when the side they went down to in the Asia Cup final earlier in the year, Qatar, reeled off a decent comeback to get a result out of Paraguay. I always think the invited nations have a bit of a free roll in this event and it will be interesting to see if Japan treat it as thus. If they do they are entitled to be dangerous.
Japan are generally quite an attacking side. They need to be really because they are not the biggest and can be bullied defensively, although not many South American sides are particularly direct so they are likely to get away with that here. I would imagine most have the defending champions to win this so there should be a freedom about Japan here which could mean we see the best of them.
Chile
I think we would be pushing the boundaries to suggest that this Chile squad is as good as the ones which have won the last two Copa America tournaments but that doesn’t mean they don’t have what it takes for a three-peat. Their form in recent times hasn’t been the best but we’ve seen time and again that things like that don’t always mean everything when it comes to a tournament.
There is potentially a duty for Chile to lay down a marker in this match if they harbour hopes of retaining the title. Already it looks like Uruguay are going to qualify from the group so this is a match Chile can’t afford to lose particularly if they want to avoid the harder route to the final. They are likely to need their iconic duo of Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal to be strong if they are going to win this match.
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Team News
Japan have named a host of uncapped players in their squad for this tournament so we are likely to see a raft of debutants for the Asia Cup finalists in this match. They are using this event as a test run for players for the Olympics on home soil next summer.
Chile are sweating over the fitness of Alexis Sanchez after he missed their friendly against Haiti last week because of an ankle injury. The likes of Matias Fernandez was not included in the squad for the tournament.
Betting
I’m expecting to see goals in this match. Chile have become very open at the back and a young Japanese side much better in attack than defence can exploit that. You would think the defending champions will get plenty of opportunities at the other end though so this one could easily develop into one of the better games of the tournament thus far.
We saw shades of that with the other Asian representatives in their first match when Qatar came up with a very good performance. I’m really expecting both these teams to have a go here. It is in their DNA so the 10/11 on over 2.5 goals really appeals to me here as we round off the opening set of matches in the tournament.
Tips
WON – Back Over 2.5 goals for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfred
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