Argentina v Chile: Goal bet will land for second time in ten days

Argentina v Chile: Goal bet will land for second time in ten days

Two of the giants of South American football will meet on Monday night, when Argentina take on Chile in the Copa America. Dan Fitch is backing both teams to score...

Favourites have recent draw with Chile

The pick of the first round of Copa America matches sees Argentina clash with Chile on Monday night.

Argentina should of course be co-hosting the tournament, but instead have headed to Brazil, with this match taking place in Rio. Another unusual aspect to this game, is that they played a competitive fixture against Chile, just ten days ago.

With the Copa America having been postponed a year, it falls smack in the middle of World Cup qualifying. Argentina come into this tournament off the back of two disappointing results, drawing 1-1 at home with Chile and then blowing a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 away at Colombia. Though Argentina are the second favourites to win the tournament at 3.95, they look a lot weaker than Brazil. As ever, the expectation will be on Lionel Messi producing some magic, but he's not scored in open play for his country since 2019.

Veterans struggling in qualifying

Chile followed up that draw against Argentina with another 1-1 stalemate against Bolivia.

It was a continuation of their erratic form during World Cup qualifying. Chile have only won one of their six qualifiers (D3 L2), which has left them seventh in the standings after six games. Unsurprisingly, Chile are not particularly fancied at this tournament. They are ranked as fifth favourites at 24.0, despite having won the Copa America twice in recent years, lifting the trophy in 2015 and 2016.

Chile's side is still built upon the now veteran players who were involved in those victories. The likes of Claudio Bravo, Gary Medel, Mauricio Isla, Arturo Vidal, Eduardo Vargas and Alexis Sanchez, remain vital players for Martin Lasarte.

Avoid result as goals should flow

Argentina are the 1.7 favourites to win, with the draw at 3.8 and Chile at 5.9.

That seems pretty poor value for Argentina, considering that they could only draw at home with Chile, just over a week ago. Argentina are unbeaten in 13, but they've drawn six of those games (W7), of which two of those draws came against Chile. Of course, Argentina have the talent to claim victory, but with both sides proving to be pretty flaky and unreliable of late, avoiding the results markets could be a smart move.

Both teams to score looks a great value bet at 2.14. It's landed in four out of five matches for Argentina and five out of Chile's last six games.