Argentina have finally arrived at the Copa America Final after they put six goals past Paraguay in the semi-finals to set up the clash with host nation Chile.
However, Chile with home support will be looking for their first ever Copa America title. Chile managed to keep their cool in the quarter-final clash with Uruguay which saw their opponents have two players and the manager sent off the field.
In the semi-finals against Peru, Chile also had to put up with some hostility. Peru was a man short after defender Carlos Zambrano was sent off after 20 minutes. They felt that Arturo Vidal should have been given a red card before that.
Still it was a double effort from Eduardo Vargas which saw Chile edged past Peru 2-1 and they are in their first Copa America final in 28 years.
Chile is the top scoring side in this years Copa America and in Eduardo Vargas they have the tournament’s top goalscorer with four goals. Then there is also Arturo Vidal to look at in attack.
On the other hand, even though Lionel Messi has only scored one goal, Messi remains a favourite to get the first goal here despite him having more shots than anyone else still . The other players to watch for the Argentina side will be Sergio Aguero with three goals and Gonzalo Higuain also with three goals.
It has to be said that Argentina may have peaked at the right time enroute to the finals. They were lifeless in the group stage managing a 2-2 draw against Paraguay and then only edging Uruguay and Jamaica by a 1-0 scoreline.
Argentina were then taken to a penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals against Colombia, but then the real Argentina then finally showed up as they crushed Paraguay in the semi-finals 6-1 with Angel Di Maria scoring a brace.
With regards to the head-to-head meetings with Chile, Argentina has dominated as they have only lost six games to Chile in their history. They won 53 and the 21 ended up as draws.
It has to be said that the last time Argentina lost against Chile was in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, going down 1-0. But the two most recent meetings between the two nations, which was at the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, was won by Argentina by 4-1 and 2-1 scorelines.
Chile has the home support here, while Argentina will no doubt be boosted after their huge win over Paraguay in the semifinals. So go for Argentina to win this match but by a low scoreline.
Go for Under 2.5 goals.
The Pick : Chile 0-1 Argentina
This post was last modified on February 2, 2019 5:51 pm