Ahead of the Copa America getting underway in the early hours of Friday morning, there is still just about enough time to have a look at a couple of the popular player markets for what should be an exciting tournament.
The top goalscorer market is always a popular one for any competition like this and there are a couple of value picks that I like in that offering and there is a big priced runner that I can’t resist in the player of the tournament market too.
Top Goalscorer
This market is dominated by Argentina and Brazil players as you would expect with Lionel Messi the favourite which is probably fair enough given how strongly Argentina are fancied to win the tournament but I wouldn’t be rushing to bet on any Brazilians. They are not guaranteed to go deep, have plenty of options to regularly rotate and are in a group with three defensively proficient sides. I can’t bring myself to bet on Darwin Nunez at 5/1 even though Marcelo Bielsa has turned him into something of a monster but there are two that I like at prices.
Luis Diaz arrives at the Copa America fairly fresh having had an injury in the second part of the season. He was the joint top scorer at the last tournament and his Colombia side are expected to go very well in this tournament. It is a concern that he is in that defensively strong group but three of the four goals he scored in 2021 came in the knockout stages where he would dodge those defences. He is a key man for Colombia and at 40/1 there is enough juice in this price to lead me to having a bet on him.
The other one I can’t avoid a nibble on is Enner Valencia. I expect Ecuador to offer up a good showing in this tournament and Valencia is still the main source of goals and with the exciting Kendry Paez likely to be able to unlock the defences he should get a lot more opportunities than he usually might. You would think Ecuador would be able to feast on the Jamaica defence if not the Venezuela one and if they win the group they will face a weak side in the quarter final. Valencia definitely knows where the back of the net is and he can’t be ignored at 40/1.
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Player of the Tournament
I think if we are being honest there is an extremely strong chance that Lionel Messi will be the player of the tournament but it wasn’t so long ago that he missed some Miami matches because of an injury and there is a school of thought that he isn’t particularly great playing on some of the artificial turf used in this part of the world so while I’m not going to be huge into opposing him there is a chance he might not have the regular impact we would expect.
I am only getting involved in the market because James Rodriguez is 66/1 to come out on top in it. He has been a great player for Colombia for a decade or more and has been thriving in the number 10 position for Los Cafeteros in recent times. The Sao Paulo star is probably at his last tournament for his country so he will be determined to go out with a bang and if Colombia go as deep as I expect them to then he will certainly standout along the way. He is still the main man in the central area of the pitch and so at the prices I’ll have a nibble to see if he is the best player at this tournament.
Tips
Back L.Diaz Top Goalscorer (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 41.00 with Bet365 (1/3 1-3)
Back E.Valencia Top Goalscorer (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 41.00 with Boylesports (1/3 1-3)
Back him here:
Back J.Rodriguez Player of the Tournament for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Bet365
