Argentina’s passage to the Copa America Centenario quarterfinals is secured, with one game to spare. And that’s with superstar Lionel Messi playing just half an hour. On the flipside, Bolivia’s tournament is done after back-to-back losses. As the two meet in the group finale, will Argentina show no mercy and send Bolivia home with another blowout loss?
Read on below for our complete preview of this Copa America Group D. And for more Tuesday Group D action, check out our preview of Chile vs. Panama.
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After big wins over Chile (2-1) and Panama (5-0) Argentina’s already sealed qualification to the quarterfinals. And unless they somehow conspire to surrender their advantage in goal difference, they will top Group D.
With the job essentially done in the group, it’ll now be interesting to see exactly what manager Tata Martino decides to do for the group finale.
Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero already got their run out against Panama. As Messi showed with his nine-minute hat-trick, he’s sharp and ready to go after his recent back injury. But Martino could look to give Messi a bit more playing time against Bolivia to get him back to full match fitness ahead of the knockout round.
Angel Di Maria, though, will likely be rested after suffering a groin injury against Panama. But even without Di Maria, there are still enough weapons to ensure that Argentina will enter the quarters with a perfect record. The prolific Gonzalo Higuain is still around, and the likes of Ezequiel Lavezzi and Javier Pastore, who have yet to feature in the tournament, will also be eager to make some sort of impact.
Argentina has a terrific record against Bolivia, winning their last three meetings by a combined score of 14-0.
Bolivia’s run of futility continues. After losing their first two Copa America matches against Panama and Chile – both by a 2-1 scoreline – the Bolivians have now lost 10 of their last 13 games (2-1-10). Two of those losses have been dealt by their next opponent – Argentina.
Objectively speaking, Bolivia just doesn’t have the horses to run with Argentina. They are a team lacking in talent and even more in confidence. They couldn’t even beat Panama, a team that got absolutely smoked by Argentina a few days ago.
The best-case scenario Bolivia can hope for at this point is if Argentina does decide to make wholesale changes and the replacements don’t quite give 100 percent. That’s an entirely possible situation seeing as Argentina’s virtually sealed qualification.
But if Martino opts to give Messi more burn, which is also a distinct possibility, the Bolivians can only hope for a miracle to spare them a humiliating scoreline like the one Panama suffered.
Writer’s Prediction
Argentina (-197) puts the foot off the gas a bit, but still has enough to roll to a 2-0 win.
