The group stage of the Copa America tournament concludes on Tuesday night and it does so with the last quarter final spot up for grabs where it could be decided in the heavyweight clash between Colombia and Brazil in Santa Clara.
Colombia know that whatever happens they will be into the quarter final but if they avoid defeat here they will win the group and face Panama in the last eight rather than Uruguay. Brazil need a draw to qualify but they’ll top the table if they win here.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Premier Sports 1 channel in the UK with the build-up beginning at 1.50am ahead of the 2am kick off in California.
Colombia
This has been a wonderful campaign for Colombia so far as they have extended their unbeaten run to a crazy 25 matches. They have won both matches to date but I don’t think they have done anything they weren’t expected to do. The positive for them is that they did a much better job on Costa Rica than what Brazil did so that might given them the edge on the form guide although it is never easy to tell in these events.
The one thing we do know is that this is a potent Colombia attack that can get at you from both sides in the wide areas not to mention through the middle and as we saw in the wins over Colombia and Paraguay, they carry a set play threat too. The one thing we still have the odd question mark over is how strong they are defensively but there is a good chance we are going to find the answer to that one over the course of the 90 minutes here.
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Brazil
This tournament did not start well for Brazil when they failed to get the better of Costa Rica in their opening match and in truth they really didn’t inspire confidence at any stage in that contest. They made up for it in their second one though when they pulverised Paraguay to put themselves on the fringes of the quarter final. They only need a point to make it through to another Copa America knockout stage but in reality the goal difference swing that it would take for them to miss out is likely to ensure that doesn’t happen.
The attack looked a little clunky in the opening match for Brazil but it came alive in the second one and had Lucas Paqueta not missed a penalty in the first half you suspect they would have won that game by more than they did. That was the first really convincing performance that they have displayed for a while and now they need to back that up. There is still a concern about what they are like defensively but if they dazzle in attack nobody will care about that.
Betting
We saw the real force of the Brazil attack in the last match against Paraguay and I would expect to see that unit continue to flourish but we have seen Colombia in very good order in the attacking department in this tournament as well and that makes me think that both teams will find the net here. Qualifying for the quarter finals is the overriding aim for both teams and a draw might well be the outcome as a result of that but both would probably look to face Panama rather than Uruguay in the last eight.
That can make this one fairly competitive and when you consider that Paraguay scored against both of these defences and these two attacks are a lot more vibrant and varied than that one, I’ve got to think that both teams to score looks good. Whoever scores first the other is going to attack. If it is Colombia it will be to win the group and if it is Brazil it is to get back into the game and keep things in their own hands. You can get a shade under evens on both teams scoring and that looks good to me.
Tips
Back Both teams to score for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Coral
