Copa America 2021 Betting Odds And Predictions
The 2021 Copa America is scheduled to go ahead in Brazil, kicking off with the hosts facing Venezuela on Sunday night.
For the first time in the tournament's history, the 10 entrants have been split into two groups; North and South, with the top four from each progressing to the quarter-final stage.
As a result of the top two from each group facing each other in the knockout rounds, favourites Argentina and Brazil are most likely to meet in the final, provided they don't suffer a big upset along the way.
Therefore, many feel backing both Brazil and Argentina with Ladbrokes on your-bonus-code.com is as good as an arbitrage bet as you can get in the modern day.
Here's our predictions ahead of this summer's competition in South America:
Winner
Brazil are the defending champions from two years ago, where they beat Peru in the final. Manager Tite has a number of top players at his disposal to defend the trophy too.
On a rare occasion, the Brazil manager has two excellent goalkeepers to choose from - with Liverpool's Alisson and Manchester City's Ederson.
In front of the shot stopper will likely be 2021 Champions League winner Thiago Silva, alongside his former club teammate, Marquinhos. Fabinho and Casemiro are two excellent holding midfielders to protect them.
Going forward, Richarlison was one of the stars of the tournament two years ago. The Everton forward has the likes of Neymar, Vinicus Junior and Gabriel Jesus to help with the goals and creativity.
Brazil are the bookmakers' and our favourites at 9/4
The only other nation that has a squad that can possibly compete with the defending champions is Argentina.
The White and Sky Blues are long overdue success in this competition, having not lifted the trophy since 1993.
Lionel Messi leads an exciting attack that could also include Lautaro Martinez, Angel Di Maria and Sergio Aguero. It's the rest of the team on paper that prevents them being the favourites.
With Sergio Romero no longer playing there is little experience among the goalkeepers at international level. Despite most of the defenders playing in Europe, few competed in the most recent edition of the Champions League.
There are some decent central midfielders in Leandro Paredes and Giovani Lo Celso but not a huge amount of depth.
Argentina are 11/4 to win the 2021 Copa America. As stated earlier, the Copa America 2021 fixtures mean the two giants have a clear route to the final.
Top Scorer
The three favourites to win the Golden Boot all have a Barcelona connection.
Lionel Messi 4/1
The Barcelona forward is coming off another excellent season. Now 33 years old his opportunities to win his first Copa America are running out.
Expect Lionel Messi to have an excellent tournament, but when he has the likes of Lautaro Martinez and Sergio Aguero around him, goals could be spread out.
Neymar 4/1
In his prime and the key to Brazil's attack, don't be surprised if Neymar is the top scorer this summer. With Argentina set to be their toughest test and for the two most successful South American countries unlikely to meet before the final, Neymar can rack up his goals before then.
Group games include Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru.
Luis Suarez 6/1
A 2020-21 La Liga winner with Atletico Madrid, the former teammate of both Lionel Messi and Neymar is the sportsbooks' third favourite for the Golden Boot.
Luis Suarez relied heavily on creativity from his teammates in La Liga for his goals this season, something he won't have as much of for Uruguay. In fact, with Edinson Cavani's good movement inside the penalty area, the two ageing strikers could split the goals.
In a group with both Argentina and Chile, it's hard to see either scoring enough to win the prize, unless they bag a hatful versus Bolivia maybe.