Argentina v Paraguay

After warm-up friendlies with Chile and Colombia ended in stalemates, as did their opening Copa America game against the former, Argentina finally picked up a win this calendar year as Uruguay were beaten 1-0. That leaves Argentina without a loss in 15 appearances now, with seven of them ending all square, including draws in four of the last six.

The Albiceleste are still worryingly reliant upon Lionel Messi though, with the Barcelona man scoring the free kick against Chile and setting up the goal against Uruguay. They squandered opportunities in both games and had to ride their luck on occasion at the back, as they need to improve at putting teams away having led in all four matches in 2021 so far despite taking just the single victory.

Indeed, at the last Copa America in 2019, Argentina failed to score more than twice in any of their games, ending the tournament with a W3-D1-L2 record as the only clean sheets picked up came against Qatar and Venezuela. Their recent shutout against Uruguay was just a fourth from their past 12 matches since October 2019, and with both teams scoring in five of their last seven, we’re unsure they’ll keep their opponents at bay here.

Paraguay kicked off their Copa America with a solid 3-1 win over Bolivia, although they did concede first and were aided in their second-half comeback by Juame Cuellar’s red card on the stroke of half time. Still, overall they did dominate the game, leaving them W3-D6-L1 from their past 10 fixtures as only Brazil got the better of them in a World Cup qualifier.

Paraguay aren’t prolific at the sharp end, scoring more than once in just three of their past 11 outings (twice against Bolivia and once against Peru). However, wide men Angel Romero and Alejandro Romero have both been amongst the goals with a combined eight strikes across Paraguay’s seven matches since the start of 2020, so they’re certainly not without an attacking threat.

Paraguay have also proven tricky opponents for Argentina in recent times as they’re unbeaten in four clashes since October 2015. Three of those ended in stalemates, with the two most recent meetings in June 2019 and November 2020 both finishing 1-1.

Given Argentina top Group A following their unbeaten start, a win here will put them through to the knockouts. However, although on paper a better team than Paraguay, it may be a case of slow and steady for them as they look to secure progression. Paraguay have shown an ability to grind results out of late, and with a strong recent record against Argentina look well-placed to pick up a point at the prices.

Draw @ 4
0.25pts: 1-1 Correct Score @ 8.6
0.25pts: Both Teams To Score (Yes) @ 2.38