It is the turn of Group C to conclude in the Copa America on Monday night with the pick of the matches coming from Kansas City where the host nation USA will look to come out of the group when they take on Uruguay.
Barring a very strange set of results, Uruguay are through to the knockout stages but if USA are to be the team that joins them they will need to better the result that Panama get in the other game else they will be out of their own party before the bangers have started playing.
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 up and running at 1.50am ahead of the 2am kick off.
USA
The stakes are high for the USA in this match. They have already had one chance to secure their spot in the knockout stages but completely fluffed their lines despite taking the lead early against Panama. They were already down to 10 men by that point and couldn’t stay in front for long enough to really get themselves sorted out to look to protect what they had and the longer the match went on the more it looked like they would concede a winner and that eventually came seven minutes from time.
The defence of USA has been a real concern in recent times and they are going to need to be at their best if they are to get the win which it is likely that will be needed to keep them in the competition. They are going to have to rejig their attack with Timothy Weah now suspended so it will be interesting to see how they shape up in this match. I’ve actually liked USA in attack in this tournament, although they have missed some huge chances. They can’t afford to do that here.
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Uruguay
It is impossible not to enjoy watching Uruguay at the minute. They bring the flair and chaos that every team managed by Marcelo Bielsa has in their arsenal and it makes them a great watch and very hard to play against. They have won both of their matches so far by pretty convincing margins, and would have won them by more had they need more ruthless in front of goal, and now just a narrow defeat here will see them through as group winners.
Uruguay have shown all tournament that they have goals in them. That doesn’t surprise anyone. This is a team who win the ball high up the pitch and look to exploit exposed defences. Where they have been a bit of a surprise is defensively where they haven’t really been under any pressure. It remains to be seen if that changes here. If it doesn’t then the South Americans will surely be through as group winners and might do it with three wins from three.
Betting
I am really surprised that a match with a team coached by Marcelo Bielsa is having a 2.25 goal line where the over is even money. There is a feeling that Bielsa might rotate his squad here and that is fair enough but no Bielsa team goes onto the pitch lacking in intensity and you could argue that assuming it is Luis Suarez who is swapped into the number nine position they would be upgrading in terms of finishing from Darwin Nunez.
USA have to carry a goal threat here. It would be a real surprise if Panama don’t win the other match so USA have to win this match and they might need to look to win it well. That sort of risk taking will only allow Uruguay to naturally get in on goal so then it comes down to whether the chances are taken. Both these teams have been guilty of missing chances so that is why I’ll side with the over 2.25 goals rather 2.5 but I fully expect an open, entertaining game with plenty of goal threat.
Tips
Back Over 2.25 goals for a 3/10 stake at 2.01 with Bet365
