A few hours after Spain or England are crowned European champions we will find out who the best team in South America is as Argentina go up against Colombia in a mouth-watering Copa America final in Miami.
Argentina have cruised through to this final in the main but I think it is fair to say they are going to face their toughest test of the tournament in the closing game as Colombia look a very confident outfit up to now.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Premier Sports 1 channel in the UK with the coverage getting underway at 12.50am ahead of the 1am kick off in Miami.
Argentina
We knew we were in the middle of something of an Argentine dynasty heading into the tournament and Argentina are a win away from confirming that. If they win this final and make a successful defence of their title then they would have won the last three tournaments that they have been involved in which is some effort. They are probably going to need to show their best showing of the competition in order to win this final though.
It has been a bit of a theme of the international summer that the favourites make it through without ever truly convincing. I’m not sure you could say that Argentina have improved with every match but the good thing is that they are at a solid level and aren’t falling underneath it. They will need to be ruthless up top here but there is a concern about them defensively. Canada and Ecuador have both got at this Argentina defence and Colombia are a much better side than those two.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for the Copa America! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Colombia
We knew going into the tournament that Colombia were a confident side. They were in the middle of an incredible 23 match unbeaten run, a sequence which they have now extended to 28 matches, and in the opening five games of this competition it has been easy to see why. They have been a breath of fresh air going forward throughout the event to date but when they have had to dig in and do it tough like in the semi-final they have been able to do that too.
Colombia look like scoring every time they go forward at the minute and they have been a particular threat at set plays, which isn’t hard when James Rodriguez puts each one on a sixpence. He has led this side with passion and quality but unlike some Colombia sides in the past this one is able to soak up pressure and find a way out of trouble to hurt the opposition. This will be the crowning test of this unbeaten run but there has been nothing so far to suggest that they are not up to it.
Betting
If you have followed me right through the tournament then you will be sitting on a betting slip for Colombia to win this match at 12/1 having already secured the place money as they were my outright pick for this competition. Argentina are a tough nut to crack but given that we have the place dosh secured I’m happy to let the outright bet ride. I’m not going to get involved in the match, especially as extra time is involved here so the latter stages don’t need to be quite as frantic.
There isn’t a huge amount that I do like over the course of the match but the 19/10 on Jefferson Lerma to get booked is a bet that I can’t ignore. He got booked twice in the group stage and was probably only one more foul away from getting a card in the semi-final against Uruguay. He’ll be patrolling the area where Alexis Mac Allister, who barely needs touching to go down, and Lionel Messi will be operating so it won’t take a whole lot for the Crystal Palace man to be booked. I’ll look to end what has been a very profitable tournament with a Lerma card.
Tips
Back J.Lerma to be booked for a 2/10 stake at 2.90 with Unibet
