Argentina vs Bolivia Betting Tips & Predictions

Lionel Messi showed why he’s indispensable to Argentina against Panama in the last group match in this Copa America. The tournament favourites went ahead in the first ten minutes thanks to Nicolas Otamendi, but without Messi in the starting line up they didn’t threaten Panama much for a while. Ever Banega forced a save from them, and even when Panama were reduced to ten men amid a flurry of first half bookings they couldn’t get a second. Messi came on for the final half an hour, and within that half an hour he bagged a hat trick with three left footed finishes, including a beauty of a free kick. Sergio Aguero rounded off the victory with a close range finish after earlier having a goal disallowed.

This 5-0 hammering of Panama came after they won the toughest group game against Chile 2-1, with Messi missing out on that due to injury. The Argentina captain could be rested again against Bolivia now that Argentina’s group is all but wrapped up, although he might be played to regain some fitness ahead of the crucial knockout stages.

Argentina have now won five matches on the bounce and are unbeaten in seven, and during these five matches they have scored 13 goals and conceded just two. Their last defeat came against an in form Ecuador last October, and that is their only defeat in their last 19 matches, not including their penalty loss to Chile in last year’s Copa America Final.

Bolivia are having no such luck with their results. They lost against Chile on Saturday, resulting in them being eliminated from the Copa America. They have zero points, with both Panama and Chile above them having three to their name.

The loss against Chile will have been a hard pill to swallow. Bolivia certainly weren’t threatening going forward but they held their own with a five man defence against the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Charles Aranguiz, and Arturo Vidal. They went behind within the first minute of the second half through Vidal though, but somehow managed to find an equaliser as Jhasmani Campos scored a stunning free kick. However, eight minutes into injury time all their hard work was thrown away as they gave away a penalty, which Vidal stepped up to dispatch.

This defeat followed on from the late winner that Panama scored against them in the opening group match, and it seems that Bolivia really struggle with concentration. All of their conceded goals this tournament have come either late on in the game or shortly after a start to play, with the first example being an 11th minute goal from Panama and the second being Vidal’s opener after just 30 seconds of second half play.

Bolivia have now lost six matches in a row and lost ten of their last 11 games. During this time they have conceded a huge 36 goals and netted just ten at the other end, including a huge 7-0 hammering at the hands of Argentina. They haven’t managed to limit the opposition to a single goal in 13 matches either , and outside of Bolivia they have lost eight games in a row.

Considering Argentina’s excellent attacking form and Bolivia’s dreadful defence I think this could be another hammering for the underdogs. They have lost by at least two goals in five of their last eight away games and in seven of their last 12 overall, and the 7-0 thrashing the last time these sides met will surely be preying on their mind. This makes odds of 1.675 for an Argentina -2.0 Asian Handicap  look good value to me, and I’m going for a 4-0 correct score prediction as well at 15/2.