The 2019 Copa America is set to begin on June 14th in Brazil. This year’s tournament is the 46th edition of the South American continental championship. Chile is the defending champion, having won in 2015 and 2016.
Twelve teams will participate in this year’s Copa America with the 10 CONMEBOL teams joined by the Asian Cup finalists. The teams have been bracketed in three Groups with the top two placers of each group advancing to the quarterfinals along with the Top 2 third-placed teams.
In this article, we shall take a look at the 2019 Copa America Groups and pick a winner for each group to help you make your bets for the Group Winner prop betting.
The pressure is mounting for Brazil. Not only are the Samba Boys the hosts of this year’s Copa America, but they are also in search of their first major soccer title since 2007. Brazil’s quarterfinals exit in the 2018 FIFA World Cup only adds to the expectations to deliver. Head coach Tite omitted the likes of Fabinho, Lucas Moura and Vinicius Junior on his squad but despite that, and the absence of Neymar due to injury, Brazil is still the soccer betting favorites to win a group that’s labeled as “easy” for them.
Peru has all-time leading goal scorer Paulo Guerrero back after a drug suspension. Guerrero has looked good in his return to club competition but this is a team that made the 2018 FIFA World Cup but failed to make it out of the group stages. Bolivia hasn’t won a match since beating Myanmar 3-0 in October last year. The Bolivians are 0-3-2 after that victory. Venezuela has a very experienced squad led by Tomas Rincon. But the political turmoil in that country will be something that they will carry at the back of their heads in the Copa America.
The last time Brazil hosted the Copa America was in 1989. They won the Copa America that year to end 19-year major title drought. Now Brazil hasn’t won a major soccer title since 2007, which was the last time they won the Copa America. Will they snap their dozen year-long dry spell in this tournament? Remains to be seen but as far as topping Group A is concerned, consider it a lock. Prediction: Brazil
The biggest question for Argentina heading to the 2019 Copa America was whether Lionel Messi Would play. Well, that question has been answered as this may be Messi’s last chance at winning a major international tournament for his country. Messi will only be 34 at the 2022 FIFA World Cup but who knows? Argentina has finished as the runner-up in the last two editions of the Copa America and has lost both instances via penalty kicks so this is a team that’s played well in this tournament. Sergio Aguero is one year younger than Messi and he is going to deliver as well to ease the pressure on Messi.
Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez will lead Colombia in the Copa. Add Davinson Sanchez, Yerry Mina, and goalkeeper David Ospina and you have one of the most formidable lineups in the tournament. Paraguay finished as runner-up in 2011 but 2018 was a year where they didn’t have a win on their record and where their best game was a 1-1 tie against South Africa.
Qatar’s twenty-two-year-old sensations Aram Afif and Almoez Ali are a pair for the future and Qatar have been a team on the rise since being named as 2022 World Cup hosts. But even the Qataris admit that their main goal in the Copa America is to gain the all-important experience for 2022. I think Argentina is in a league by itself in Group B. I don’t think they will have any problems winning this group. The big question here is who finishes as 2nd placer. Prediction: Argentina
Uruguay is the betting favorite in Group C despite the presence of the defending Copa America champions in their group. Uruguay has three world-class superstars leading their squad. First is a defensive legend and skipper Diego Godin who has 125 caps in his resume. Then Uruguay also called up forward Luis Suarez who has 55 goals in 106 appearances. Thrown in Edison Cavani who has 46 in 109 caps and this is a powerhouse squad right here.
Chile is the defending Copa America champions. La Roja won their first Copa America crown in 2015 by defeating Argentina in a penalty shootout. Then they repeated with another victory at the 2016 Copa America Centenario in the United States. Chile also finished as runner-up to Germany in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. There will be tons of pressure on Alexis Sanchez to deliver again and being in arguably the toughest group of the competition, it’s not going to be easy to complete the hat trick.
Along with Venezuela, Ecuador is the only South American team never to have won the Copa America. In fact, they have not finished in the Top 3 in the tournament. They have shown progress in recent years and head coach Diego Hernan Dario Gomez is the only coach to have steered three different countries to a World Cup. Gomez has admitted that their main goal is the 2022 World Cup as they will be using the Copa America to strengthen their squad. Japan is the other guest team in the competition and they are out to redeem themselves after losing to Qatar in the Asian Cup. Good as they are, they will need to be in top shape in all of their matches in order to make it out of the group stages. It’s a daunting task, really as this is the group of death in this tournament. I think the most complete team wins this group and that team is Uruguay. Prediction: Uruguay
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