2019 Copa America Soccer Expert Predictions and Betting Odds

by Chris Vasile - 6/12/2019

We are just over 48 hours away from one of the biggest and most entertaining soccer tournaments on the calendar - the Copa America. In this tournament, you will see soccer passion that is unlike any other (maybe the World Cup) and several games that offer up more drama and plot twists than your favorite soap opera. We will be with you every step of the way offering advice and insight into all of the tournament's biggest games.

With that said, and because you are reading this betting preview, you simply cannot afford to miss out on our soccer selections for this tournament. We will not be giving out a Futures play like we normally do, but we will have action on almost every single game this tournament in order to give you the full Copa America experience. You can join our soccer team and start winning with us now by clicking here. It should be noted that Doc's is on an outstanding soccer run and has hit a season-high in profit. Doc's releases soccer players Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11:30 am to cover you for the entire week's action.

Over the next few hundred words, I will be bringing you the important facts of the tournament to further your soccer knowledge. I will bring you the complete list of odds for every country's chance to actually win the tournament, and then I will break down some of the teams that I will be keeping an eye out for.

2019 Copa America - Need to Know

Location: The 2019 Copa America will be held in Brazil, and the games will be split between the following five cities/stadiums; Estadio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, Estadio do Morumbi and Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo, Estadio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte, Arena do Gremio in Porto Alegre and Itaipava Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador.

Scheduling: The opening match (June 15) will be played between Brazil and Bolivia at the Estadio do Morumbi in Sao Paulo. The semi-finals (July 2 and July 3) will be contested at Arena do Gremio in Porto Alegre and Estadio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte, while the finals will take place at the famed Estadio do Maracanã on July 7.

Referees : There will be VAR (video assistant referees) for the first time in a Copa America tournament. VAR was first deployed in last year's World Cup that took place in Russia.

Group Stage Format: Each team plays each other one time, and the two teams with the most points (three points for a win, one point for a tie) from the three group stage games automatically qualify for the Round of 16. Additionally, the two best third-place teams among all groups advance. If two teams are tied on points, the first tiebreaker is goal difference in all group stage matches, if still tied, the number of goals for and then if still tied, the head-to-head record of the two teams in question.

2019 Copa America Teams and Futures Odds

The following is a list of countries involved in the 2019 Copa America. In brackets, you will see their odds at winning the entire tournament. All odds you see are courtesy of 5Dimes.

Brazil (+110), Argentina (+365), Uruguay (+700), Colombia (+900), Chile (+1400), Peru (+2500), Paraguay (+3500), Venezuela (+4000), Ecuador (+4500), Japan (+5000), Bolivia (+6000), Qatar (+10000)

As you can see, the host nation Brazil is the overwhelming favorites to win the tournament. Anything short of a triumph would be considered a massive failure among the Brazilians across the globe. However, it should be noted that Chile are in fact the two-time defending champions, having won the 2015 and 2016 editions of the tournament.

The Favorites:

Brazil: For every person to tell you that home-field advantage is something all soccer teams crave heading into a major tournament, please rebut that with "it's not worth all the pressure". Brazil comes into this edition of the Copa America as hosts, but also under enormous pressure to succeed. They have not lifted a trophy since 2007, and the sour taste of getting knocked out in the quarter finals of last year's World Cup still lingers. On paper this Brazil squad is the most talented roster in the entire tournament. However, games are not won on paper, but on the grass, and the fact that Neymar has been ruled out and there are question marks among a few different positions only reiterate the fact that at +110, I would look elsewhere to find a winner. However, the Samba Boys should provide us with plenty of goals and entertaining football to get through the dog days of summer.

Argentina: Will he or won't he? That's the question facing Argentina ahead of their opening Copa America fixture on June 15. For those unsure what I'm talking about, a certain player by the name Leo Messi (you may have heard of him before) is still uncertain whether he wants to play in this tournament. This very well could be one of the last chances for Messi to lead Argentina to a major trophy, but the diminutive Argentine has drawn the ire of many Argentinian supporters over the years despite the fact that he simply does not play goalie nor defense. Messi, when playing for the NT, gives it his all and is still (in my opinion) an underappreciated talent. If he doesn't suit up, the onus will fall on Sergio Aguero. The Manchester City striker is in fine form, and it feels like he scores big goals in just about every game he takes part in. This team as a whole gives Brazil a good run for their money in terms of pure talent, but one thing La Albiceleste lack is cohesiveness. Lots of individuals and with no desire to put the team first. If Argentina are playing, there will surely be some sort of drama.

The Darkhorse:

Chile: How can the two-time defending champions be considered a dark horse and check in at +1050 to three-peat? Well, for starters, their two Copa America wins came via penalty kicks against Argentina (both times). A few inches here or there and they could have been runner-up on both occasions. The Golden Age of Chilean football has seemingly come, and their record since missing out on the 2018 World Cup is a mediocre 4-4-4. Chile has an extremely tricky group to navigate. And even if they get out of the Group Stage, they are likely on a collision course with Argentina, Colombia or Brazil. Those are three teams you'd like to avoid before at least the semi-finals.

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2019 Copa America Soccer Expert Predictions and Betting Odds

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