Argentina’s bid to win a fifteenth Copa America got off to the worst possible start at the weekend when they crashed to a 2-0 defeat against Colombia in Salvador.
They went into the tournament with lower expectations than in previous years, as they aim to end a drought in this competition that they haven’t won since 1993, although they have finished as runners-up in each of the last two editions. And of course, they have the presence of the world’s best footballer in Lionel Messi, which is always going to mean they will be among the favourites.
Messi’s lack of honours with the full national side has been well documented. Although he has won a gold medal and an Under-20 World Cup for Argentina, and has reached a World Cup final with the senior squad, he has yet to lift a major trophy in his national colours, while his great rival Ronaldo has won the European Championships and this year the Nations League with Portugal.
At the age of 31, he still has time to put that record right, but if Argentina are going to lift this year’s Copa America, they will need to improve drastically, starting with their next Group B game against Paraguay, which takes place on Wednesday June 19.
Paraguay are one of the lower-ranked teams in South America. According to FIFA, they rank only above Ecuador and Bolivia, and they came into this tournament with a mediocre record, having won just one of their preceding four games, against Guatemala. They’ve also entered a period of transition following the dismissal of Juan Carlos Osorio in February and his replacement by Eduardo Berizzo, whose tenure they have been conceding an average of two goals per game.
Like Argentina, they conceded two in their opening Copa America game, but they had a far easier task, taking on Qatar, one of two non-CONMEBOL teams invited to this year’s tournament. Having been expected to pick up an easy win, Paraguay took a 2-0 lead before the hour mark, but conceded twice in the space of nine minutes in the last half an hour, and any repetition of that level of fragility against Argentina is likely to be severely punished.
So, it’s no surprise to see Messi and co regarded as the clear favourites for this one. In fact, BetCris make Argentina the -217 favourite with Paraguay rated as +627 and the draw at +339. Still Argentina will be taking nothing for granted in this fixture against opponents who have caused them problems in the past. In the last round of World Cup Qualifying fixtures, Paraguay held their neighbours 0-0 at home before inflicting a surprise 1-0 victory in the reverse fixture.
And Argentina have some defensive frailties of their own to address, having conceded twice to Colombia in the last twenty minutes of their opening fixture, a game in which the stellar strike force of Messi and Sergio Aguero was unable to produce a goal. Argentina are favourites here but getting the win they need to get their campaign back on track may not be easy.
