Born in the south east of Ireland, Simon put his life-long love of football to good use when he started a successful independent blog in 2010. That opened up an alternative route to a career in journalism, and having had work published across a number of sites and publications, Simon joined the staff at Spotlight Sports Group in 2018.
With the Group Stage of the 2019 Copa America safely negotiated, the competition’s 8 remaining combatants are gearing up to contest the tournament’s Quarter Finals this week.
Having already been treated to feast of frenetic South American football in the opening stages, supporters are bracing themselves for a further ramp up in intensity in the knockout rounds.
Check out our 2019 Copa America Quarter Finals predictions and betting tips below, including a huge 16/1 4-fold acca!
FST correctly predicted the winners of all 3 2019 Copa America Groups – landing a 4.8/1 accumulator in the process! Read our other Copa America predictions here.
Brazil vs Paraguay (June 27th, Arena do Grêmio, Porto Alegre)
Pre-tournament favourites and host nation Brazil coasted through Group A, collecting 7 points from 9 on their way to topping the section.
The Seleção rattled the net 8 times across their 3 Group matches, notching more goals than any other team involved in the competition so far. Huge 3-0 and 5-0 wins over Bolivia and Peru on Match Day 1 and 3 respectively highlighted the attacking power available to Head Coach Tite.
In contrast, Paraguay made it to the knock-out rounds by the skin of their teeth as the second best third placed team.
Los Guaraníes took just 2 points from the Group they shared with Colombia, Argentina and Qatar, though their draws against the latter 2 were enough for them to secure qualification.
Despite their underwhelming results, Paraguay did at least manage to limit the number of goals scored against them, shipping just 4 goals in 3 games in total across their trio of Group matches.
The resoluteness in defence they showed in the Group Stage is in keeping with a long-running trend of low goals conceded figures for Paraguay – in fact, they have allowed their opponents to score 2 or more goals against them only 3 times in their last 12 matches, and under 2.5 goals were registered in 8 of those contests.
We expect Brazil to win in Porto Algre this week, though Paraguay’s defensive numbers suggest that an avalanche of goals is unlikely. With that considered, we think the Brazil win/under 3.5 total goals combination is priced brilliantly at 5/6 with BetVictor.
Venezuela vs Argentina (June 28th, Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro)
Argentina saved themselves from another dose of international football mortification with the Match Day 3 2-0 win over Qatar that allowed them to qualify for the 2019 Copa America Quarter Finals as Group B runners up behind Colombia.
After losing 0-2 to the Colombians on Match Day 1, a Messi spot-kick earned them a share of the spoils against Paraguay 4 days later in Belo Horizonte, yet despite their Match Day 3 reprieve, the Argentineans continue to look a million miles from their traditional high standards.
It seems then, that the door is open for FST’s tournament dark horses Venezuela to pull off a South American upset in Rio this week. Even though they needed a Match Day 3 win to secure their place in the Quarter Finals, the Venezuelans were unbeaten in Group A on their way to finishing second behind Brazil, and their performance in their 0-0 draw with the tournament hosts on June 18th shone a light on the reliance and quality in the La Vinotinto ranks.
Remarkably, Venezuela are unbeaten in their last 3 meetings with Argentina, and they beat their more illustrious rivals 3-1 in a friendly encounter as recently as March. With the factors at play, we think Venezuela are brilliant value at 7/5 in the Double Chance market with BetVictor for Friday’s game.
Read our more comprehensive match preview for more Venezuela vs Argentina predictions and betting tips here.
Colombia vs Chile (June 28th, Arena Corinthians, São Paulo)
In what is undoubtedly the pick of the Copa America Quarter Final ties, Colombia and Chile face off at the Arena Corinthians in São Paulo.
The contest immediately evokes memories of Chile and Colombia’s tussle in the Semi Final stage of the 2016 Copa America – a skirmish that the Chileans emerged victorious from, winning 2-0 in Chicago on their way to eventually lifting the trophy in New Jersey 4 days later.
The landscape has shifted considerably since then however, and with Chile’s golden generation on its last legs, Colombia come into Friday’s game as favourites to progress.
The Colombians were the only team in the 2019 Copa America to win all 3 of their Group matches, despite sharing a tough looking section that included fellow Quarter Finalists Argentina and Paraguay.
Marshalled by the brilliant pairing of Yerry Mina and Davinson Sanchez, Colombia’s defence kept a trio of clean sheets to go along with their 9 points in the Group Stage. We think Chile will struggle to penetrate the Colombians rock solid rearguard in Sao Paulo, even with a rejuvenated Alexis Sanchez in tow, making Carlos Queiroz’s team a great bet at 5/4 with BetVictor to avenge their Semi Final defeat 3 years ago.
Uruguay vs Peru (June 29th, Itaipava Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador)
With a squad packed to the brim with high-level European club football regulars and international tournament experience, it’s no surprise to see Uruguay involved at the latter stages of another Copa America tournament.
The Uruguayans have now made it to this stage of the competition in 7 of their last 8 attempts, and they look favourites to outgun a relatively toothless looking Peru team on Saturday.
Uruguay took top spot in Group C with little difficulty, taking 7 points from the 9 available while scoring a healthy 7 goals in 3 games along the way.
In contrast, Peru scored just 3 times on their way to finishing 3rd in Group A, and it’s worth noting that all 3 goals were plundered in the Peruvians’ Match Day 2 win against Bolivia. Peru failed to register a single goal in either Group game against Venezuela and Brazil.
Saturday’s match-up in Salvador pits a notoriously mean defence against a mis-firing attack, and we think Uruguay have all the tools they need to ease past Peru and into the 2019 Copa America Semi Finals.
We’ll be covering all of the Copa America fixtures extensively in our match preview section.
