Last season, Chile and Argentina battled it out for 120 minutes of scoreless soccer in the Copa America final before the Chileans won the tournament on penalties. Now, the holders of the Cup meet up with the ones which were always favored to win it all in a rematch of the 2015 championship match on Sunday in East Rutherford.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Argentina -140
Chile +400
Draw +250
Over/Under 2 (over -115)
ODDS ANALYSIS
It's really hard to argue with anything Argentina has done in this tournament, including beating Chile in the opening match of Copa America for both of these sides. The Argentines didn't have Lionel Messi in the fold that day, yet they still were good enough to be the comprehensive winners.
That's why La Albiceleste are favored to win this match by a relatively wide margin at -140 on the moneyline and -280 overall, even with as well as Chile has been playing.
TOURNAMENT UPDATE
The only knock against Argentina at this point is that it hasn't played against a tremendous set of teams to get here. The United States and Venezuela were both overmatched by the Argentines from the get go, and outside of that first group stage match against Chile, there wasn't really anything in the first phase of the competition either that was all that impressive.
Chile though, has really hit its stride, and for as good as La Albiceleste were against the Americans in that 4-0 demolition, it's hard to argue with the Chileans beating Mexico and Colombia by a combined score of 9-0 in the two knockout rounds.
LIVE BETTING
This match is going to be all about pressuring the ball for Chile. The team made this entire tournament by not being afraid to press off of turnovers or missed shot opportunities, as its forwards haven't been afraid to come up and try to keep the ball in the opposing third.
We didn't see a lot of that out of Chile without Arturo Vidal in the lineup, but now that the creative midfielder is back after serving his one-match suspension, things could get a lot more interesting.
Argentina is as talented as could be, and we know when it breaks that pressure at the back, the run is sure to be on. The Americans found out what happens when Messi gets time in space, and the Chileans know that all too well, too.
As a live betting fanatic, your tell in this match is going to be how well Argentina handles the pressure. La Albiceleste might as well have been running Spain's tiki-taka against the United States, but this is a far different challenge, and kicking the ball from the back to the midfield and the forwards won't be nearly as easy.
QUICK PICK
Chile has played so well in this Copa America tournament. Alexis Sanchez and Eduardo Vargas have been out of their minds, and though Claudio Bravo had some moments against Argentina which were head-scratching, he had a great match against Colombia and has been a pillar in the posts since then.
However, there's just so much here riding on this match for the best team on the planet, and we think it's going to play like it. Messi has still never won a senior circuit international competition for his country, and this is his best chance to finally break that hex and capture some silverware.
Messi is just playing too well right now to be stopped, and the fact that he's got Gonzalo Higuain and so many others who can play alongside him up front is almost not fair. Chile will have its chances for sure, but in the end, we don't think it's going to end up being able to compete. If the Chileans couldn't figure out how to push Argentina without Messi, they aren't going to be able to do it with him in the fold either.
Copa America Odds: Argentina 2, Chile 0
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