The second quarter-final match of the 2019 Copa America will take place at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, when title contenders Argentina take on Venezuela. The two sides have met in a friendly match in March and Venezuela collected a surprising 3-1 victory. That was only the second win for Venezuela out of thier 21 matches against Argentina since 1956. The last Copa America clash between these two sides was in 2016, and back then Argentina secured a comfortable 4-1 victory.
Venezuela reached the quarter-finals of the Copa America for the first time in 2007, but after that they even manage to get to the semi-finals in 2011. However, after that moment of glory they never seemed capable of producing the same football, they finished last in the 2018 World Cup qualification group with just two wins in eighteen matches. Their qualification for the quarter-finals is a bit of a surprise, they secured goalless draws against both Peru and Brazil and then defeated Bolivia 3-1 to finish second in the group. Head coach Rafael Dudamel doesn't have any injury concerns ahead of this game.
Argentina barely managed to squeeze past the group stage, they had such a terrible tournament so far that failing to reach the last eight seemed entirely possible. They started with a 2-0 defeat against Colombia, then got held to a 1-1 draw by Paraguay, and eventually secured a 2-0 win over Qatar to make it to the quarter-finals. Lionel Messi played in all three matches but scored just one goal, from a penalty kick against Paraguay. Argentina played four of the last five finals of the Copa America and lost all four of them.
Probable line-ups:
Venezuela: Farinez - Hernandez, Chancellor, Villanueva, Rosales - Savarino, Herrera, Moreno, Rincon, Machis - Rondon
Argentina: Armani - Foyth, Pezzella, Otamendi, Tagliafico - Lo Celso, Paredes, Acuna - Messi - Martinez, Aguero
My prediction:
Argetnina definitely have the better players, but head coach Lionel Scaloni doesn't seem able to make a real team out of them. On the other hand, Venezuela seem extremely solid in defence, so I predict a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Venezuela win - 6.00
Draw - 3.80
Argentina win - 1.57
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