Copa America 2021 finally underway: Postponed for one year. With the current venue decided just a few days before the tournament, everything is ready for the South-American Football Championship. Who will win the 2021 Copa America?
After a lot of problems, the 47th edition of Copa America is ready to begin. As you all know, it was postponed for one year due to coronavirus. This year Colombia and Argentina (the original hosts of the tournament) were stripped of their hosting rights because of political and COVID-19 issues, respectively. Just days before the starting of the event, CONMEBOL decided to transfer the venue to Brasil, another place with many cases of COVID-19. A lot of the people were against it, as they wanted it to be canceled, but now it seems everything alright. On 13 June 2021, at 11.00 PM, Brasil will take on Venezuela to start this year's Copa America in Brasilia.
Format
We have a different format this year. It was initially supposed that there will be 12 teams, CONMEBOL's ten teams, and two invited federations: Qatar and Australia. However, the two invited federations had to decline the invitation due to the pandemic in South America. This year's format: ten teams divided into two groups with five teams each. The top 4 teams of each group will then qualify for the quarter-finals in the knock-out phase. The Grand Final will be played at the impressive Maracana in Rio.
GROUP A
Group A has Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Chile. 5 teams with four places to go to the quarter-finals means that all the matches will be hard-fought until the end since only one participant will not qualify from this round. Argentina comes as the favorite of this group, with Lionel Messi having the last chance of winning this cup with his national team. He has to be more motivated than ever. Then we have the most successful nation in Copa America, Uruguay, with 15 Copa America titles (Argentina with 14). They are looking to grab the number 16 for their trophy cabinet. Then we have Chile and Paraguay, two insidious teams that may be the ones to surprise us in the knock-out phase. Especially the Chilean team, with some great names seeking to repeat the 2015 and 2016 successes. Paraguay has won the competition two times in 1953 and 1979, but it will be a miracle if they can repeat that this year. The least favorite team from this group is Bolivia, the national winner of Copa America in 1963. Still, they are not in good form lately, and they might fail to qualify for the next round.
GROUP B
Group B is formed of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Peru. Seeing that in group A we have a large gap between the first four teams with Bolivia, here we have a more balanced one seeing that Venezuela and Peru, which have not been in good form recently, are expected to fight for a place in the quarters. Meanwhile, Ecuador and Colombia will try their best for the top of the group, but it won't be easy with the Brazilian team. Ecuador and Venezuela are the only two teams that have never won Copa America. Peru has won it two times in 1939 and 1975, Colombia got the silverware one time in 2001, and Brasil is nine times Copa America champion with the last title in 2019 in Brasil. This is the 6th time the event takes place in Brasil, and in the previous five, Brazil has won the competition.
Favorite teams, where to watch, prediction and odds
The original venue of the cup has changed, but not the main contender because Seleção was the 1st favorite team since the beginning. The second team with the highest possibility of winning is Argentina, with some big names in their squad. The third one has to be Uruguay, which can count on their crushing attack led by El Matador Cavani and Luis Suarez. Colombia is also a potential candidate, with Chile and Paraguay following them.
The odds from Bet 365 are: Brasil 2.1, Argentina 3.75, Colombia 8, Uruguay 9, Chile 13, and so on until the last contender Bolivia with 151.00 odds.
As for the Livestream, you can watch the games at Bet365, William Hill, 1xbet, BBC iPlayer, and BBC Sport's website and app.
Watch Copa America with Bet365
