Saturday, June 23: 11pm – Ecuador v Venezuela
Copa America 2024 Group B match – Santa Clara, California
TV: Premier Sports 1
Under 2.5 Goals
ECUADOR! Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo!
Yes, grab a cowboy hat, some glow-stick and a few pieces of shiny clobber for your accompanying dancers because it’s time to stand on a big rock somewhere in South America and scream garbled half-understood Spanish phrases at the top of your lungs to the greatest 1997 banger related to a small equatorial republic we know of.
That’s because Ecuador get their Copa America campaign underway tonight against Venezuela, about which we do not know of any similarly earworm-like tunes.
And well you might break into a big fish, little fish, carboard box routine when you look at the current CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying standings as Ecuador stand in fifth place – ahead of Brazil – after six games, and that despite being docked three points for some dodgy player registration shenanigans in the last qualifiers.
Not bad at all.
That puts them behind their opponents tonight, who have never qualified for a World Cup but have started this campaign with some hard-fought results, winning twice, drawing three games, including a 1-1 tie with the Brazilians, and lost just once.
They’ve earned those results by keeping it tight at the back and their last five games have seen over 2.5 land just once, a 2-1 friendly loss against Italy being the exception to the rule.
Ecuador aren’t flush with goals either, former West Ham front man Enner Valencia still leading the line in their last game against Honduras at 34 tells you something.
As such, we have to fancy under 2.5 goals in this, especially with it being the first game of the tournament for each side.
Sunday, June 24: 2am – Mexico v Jamaica
Copa America 2024 Group B match – Houston, Texas
TV: Premier Sports 1
Double Chance: Jamaica and Draw
Two CONCACAF representatives meet in the second game from Group B, and while they might not have a nineties club anthem on their side, the Raggae Boyz of Jamaica have to be worth a look against a Mexican side in transition.
They are without Leon Bailey, who has fallen out with the national team coach Heimir Hallgrimsson in classic star player style, but there are still plenty of Premier League and Football League names set to don the yellow strip late on Saturday night in Houston.
Michail Antonio, Demarai Gray, Bobby Decordova-Reid and Ethan Pinnock stand out and with the Mexico squad shorn of familiar names like Guillermo Ochoa, Hector Herrera, Andres Guardado and Raul Jiminez, they have seen a downturn in results, a 4-0 hammering by Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay followed by 3-2 loss to a Brazil side in turmoil have made up their build-up to this tournament.
They’ve lost five of their last eight games, the only wins coming against Panama, Honduras and Bolivia, not exactly powerhouses of the game.
Hallgrimsson took Iceland to the 2018 World Cup and we should expecting them to follow their attritional, dogged style. At the prices, they have to be worth a look on the Double Chance market.
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Michail Antonio to have 1 or more shots on target
We’ve seen him batter and bustle Premier League centre-halves for years and the 34-year-old will fancy his chances of netting a fourth international goal against a Mexican side leaking goals.
Even if he can’t, he’ll still be handful and a shot on target is not much to ask if we expect Jamaica to make a game of this.
Copa America Betting Tips
Ecuador v Venezuela
Under 2.5 goals
Mexico v Jamaica
Double Chance: Jamaica and Draw
Michail Antonio to have 1 or more shots on target
All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
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Source link : https://news.paddypower.com/football/2024/06/22/football-tips-copa-america-ecuador-venezuela-mexico-jamaica/
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Publish date : 2024-06-22 11:43:32
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