Copa America tournament winner predictions and best outright bets: Big two worth taking on

When does Copa America start?

1.30am Friday 

Copa America predictions & best bet

Uruguay to win Copa America
2pts 5-1

Colombia to win Copa America
1pt 12-1 bet365, Boyles

Copa America odds

Argentina 7-4
Brazil 9-4
Uruguay 5-1
Colombia 12-1

Copa America predictions

The market to win this year’s Copa America, which starts in the United States in the early hours of Friday morning, is unsurprisingly dominated by Argentina and Brazil.

However it must be noted that the big two have only won two of the last five tournaments and there are a pair of contenders beyond them who look a much more tempting prospect.

Uruguay have been revolutionised under Marcelo Bielsa, who has implemented his distinctive high-energy style on a squad with a rock-solid core of Ronald Araujo, Federico Valverde and Darwin Nunez.

Luis Suarez is the only veteran who remains from the team that finished fourth at the 2010 World Cup and won this competition in 2011 but his contributions could be key.

Bielsa is an expert at creating teams that are more than the sum of their parts and they have impressed in World Cup qualifying, beating Brazil and Argentina to sit second in the standings.

They have landed in a soft group alongside the USAs, Panama and Bolivia and will be a stern test for whoever they face in the bottom half of the draw.

Also housed in the bottom section of the draw are Colombia, who have a decent claim to be the most in-form team in international football at present.

La Tricolor are unbeaten in their last 23 games and have beaten Spain, Brazil and Germany in that time.

Nestor Lorenzo’s men got the better of the USA 5-1 in a warm up friendly and have a number of exciting young talents such as Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran and Watford’s Yaser Asprilla.

Their major negative is being housed in Group D alongside Brazil but the Selecao are in transition under new boss Dorival Junior.

Argentina should progress to the final from a soft top half of the draw but there is not much juice in their price and it is worth taking a chance on one of this in-form pair in the bottom section to cause an upset.   

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