The opening match of the 2016 Copa America sees the tournament hosts USA taking on one of the most successful sides in the tournament’s history in the form of Colombia. This match is the first game in Group A with Paraguay and Costa Rica the other two sides in the section.
USA
It has been an up and down run for America in recent times. Not so long ago they were losing to Guatemala in the World Cup qualifying and while they avenged that defeat it does so how fragile they are. That said they have got themselves together and warmed up for this tournament pretty well finishing off their preparations with an emphatic win over Bolivia in their final friendly.
Experienced players will need to play a really strong role for the States if they are to come out on top in this tournament. The likes of Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones and Tim Howard will all need big tournaments you would think.
Colombia
Jose Pekerman’s men have disappointed since they made it to the quarter final of the World Cup two years ago. The likes of Radamel Falcao have been moved on and an exciting, young attacking core has come in but at the same time Colombia have maintained a defensive solidity.
James Rodriguez has been looking for a platform to re-announce himself to the world again having fallen out of favour at Real Madrid since Zinedine Zidane took charge and he has exactly that here. All eyes will be on Carlos Bacca to see if he can fire the goals needed for the victory.
Team news
It looks as though Jurgen Klinsmann is going to go into this match with a 4-3-3 formation with Michael Bradley performing the defensive midfield role he has reverted to for Toronto FC this season. Bobby Wood and Gyasi Zardes are set to play either side of Clint Dempsey.
Colombia are expected to start with Carlos Bacca along with James Rodriguez and Juan Caudrado as their attacking unit. English based Carlos Sanchez and David Ospina are also likely to start for the 2001 winners of this competition.
Betting
Opening matches of tournaments are usually quite tight and I’m expecting no different from this one. In fact given the competitive nature of this group I would be surprised if many matches in it are particularly open especially with the renowned defensive and counter attacking style of two of three of the teams in it.
If there is a winner in this one I can see it being Colombia though. I’m not massively keen on USA. I don’t see too much in the way of progress since the World Cup and I think they will have needed to progress if they are to be tournament contenders at this level.
In the defensive areas of the field there probably isn’t much between these two sides but in the attacking parts where it really counts the extra class and quality of the Colombians is there for all to see. Given that we get some draw cover on the Asian lines I’ll take Colombia on the -0.25 line in the belief that over the 90 minutes that extra quality they possess can make the difference.
Tips
WON – Back Colombia (-0.25AH) to beat USA for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Paddy Power
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