We will find out who Brazil will face in the semi-final of the Copa America when the first of two quarter finals in the tournament takes place inside the iconic Maracana Stadium on Friday night, as Venezuela and Argentina battle it out to set up a clash with the Selecao.
These two sides made it into the last eight courtesy of coming second in their respective groups but despite that both will have more than one eye on the title from here on in. With that in mind another extremely competitive encounter is anticipated.
Venezuela
After keeping things extremely tight in their first two matches of the competition and ensuring they were not beaten, Venezuela came through what was effectively a knockout match against Bolivia in their last group outing to make it safely into this quarter final and it will be interesting to see what approach they adopt from here on in. We’ve already seen their two styles in this tournament after all.
They could resort to the tactics they used against Brazil which was ensure they don’t concede and look to find something through Rondon and his hold up play at the other end or they could open up a little and go after a weak defence. My gut feel is they will opt for the safer approach but should they be brave and take on this challenge head on they might just get better rewards.
Argentina
It was an incredibly sedate beginning to the tournament for Argentina too. Whether that was the weight of expectation weighing them down, a long season catching up with them, or them just not being as good as they were touted to be I’m unsure but they won’t be wanting a performance like the first two they gave that is for sure. They were marginally better but at no stage truly convincing in their last match but at least they won it.
I had concerns over this Argentine defence when they went into the tournament and I’ve seen nothing so far to suggest that I was wrong to have those worries. What has surprised me is how poor they have been in attacking areas and although they looked a little better last time out, there is still a whole world of improvement in them. The positive for Argentina is that they have qualified and we have barely seen Messi thus far.
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Team News
It appears as though Venezuela are going to keep their traditional 4-5-1 formation with Salomon Rondon assigned the task of leading the line. Ronald Hernandez is expected to continue to operate at full-back.
The goal Sergio Aguero scored against Qatar is likely to keep him in the side but there could be returns for German Pezzella and Marcos Acuna with Spurs defender Juan Foyth one of those expected to make way.
Betting
Although it was only a friendly, Venezuela do have the confidence that they have already beaten Argentina this year and I expect them to put that to good use here. They have the physical threat up front which this Argentina defence hate and there is enough quality in their midfield to fashion chances relatively regularly in this contest.
We have seen in their match against Brazil that they are capable of keeping things right and keeping the backdoor shut and so unless Messi has a much bigger impact on this game than he has had in the three so far it would be a real surprise if Venezuela go down at all let alone by more than the one goal. With that in mind I’ll take Venezuela on the Asian line where they get a goal start so even a narrow defeat won’t see us lose anything. I expect a result out of Venezuela here though so I’m anticipating collecting in full.
Tips
Back Venezuela (+1AH) to beat Argentina for a 4/10 stake at 1.90 with BetVictor
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