Argentina v Colombia

Argentina are unbeaten in 18 matches now, winning each of the last four as they’re picking up momentum. After drawing 1-1 with Chile and beating both Uruguay and Paraguay by 1-0 scorelines at the start of the group stage, they’ve since been more convincing in 4-1 and 3-0 victories over Bolivia and Ecuador respectively.

Of course, Argentina were expected to take control of those last two fixtures and will surely have to sweat harder here. Although Colombia have only registered one victory over Argentina since 2009, these were typically tight affairs with La Albiceleste winning just one of the 10 meetings by more than a single goal. Four of seven clashes since 2013 have ended in a draw, with at least one team failing to score in six of these, as Argentina edged it W2-D4-L1.

In fact, Argentina have failed to win by more than a single strike in 15 clashes with any of the South American teams inside the top 20 of FIFA’s world rankings – Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay. They are unbeaten in the last eight of these though, drawing four of the last five such encounters, so it would come as no surprise if this tie can’t be settled within 90 minutes.

That’s especially true when considering Colombia’s results against the same bracket of teams. Since October 2016, they’re W1-D10-L4 in these fixtures with Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, drawing six of the last eight, so they’re more than capable of pushing Lionel Scaloni’s side all the way.

With no extra time in any of the knockout games bar the final in this edition of the Copa America, Colombia will take heart from their penalty shootout takedown of Uruguay last time out. They did however lose their previous two games that went to penalties, against England in the 2018 World Cup and Chile in the 2019 Copa America.

Argentina did actually beat Colombia on spot kicks in the 2015 Copa America, but suffered heartbreak against Chile by the same method in the finals of both 2015 and 2016. Nerves may well play on their mind if this tie goes the distance, and they’ve actually lost five of their past six shootouts against South American opposition since 1995.

As ever, Lionel Messi has been central to Argentina’s prospects and he’s delivering the goods with four goals and as many assists in this tournament so far. However, a reliance upon the Barcelona maestro may be their undoing in the end. It’s worth noting that the 34-year-old has only scored three times in 10 appearances against Colombia with the national team, and just once in five since 2013.

Draw @ 3.55
0.5pts: Colombia On Penalties @ 11

Edited by user 05 July 2021 19:16:01(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified