Copa América – Who Will Win?

The CONMEBOL Copa América returns towards the end of June and will be hosted in the United States of America, featuring 16 national teams all battling it out for the title.

We preview this year’s Copa América and the current favourites below.

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What is the Copa América?

The Copa América is the top men’s football tournament contested among North and South American national teams and is the oldest still-running continental football competition, also boasting the third-highest number of viewers of any international football tournament.

The first editions of the competition were only contested by four nations in 1916-21, in which the format was a round-robin group of four. However, this year there will be a more familiar structure in which 16 teams battle it out in four groups of four, followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals, a third-place playoff and then the final.

The tournament will kick off on the 20th of June and consist of 10 of the regular participants from CONMEBOL; Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Alongside them, six CONCACAF invitees will also take part in the competition in the form of Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, the United States and debut participants Canada

In the 2021 renewal of the tournament, the final saw two South American powerhouses in Argentina and Brazil take on one another, with Argentina emerging victorious just over a year prior to their historic win in the World Cup.

Who are this year’s favourites?

Argentina – 7/4

Argentina have been in spectacular form of late, lifting the two most prestigious international trophies on offer to them in the past three years – the Copa América and World Cup. It is no surprise that they enter the competition this year as favourites with a strong team of experienced individuals, spearheaded by captain Lionel Messi, who many dub as the greatest of all time.

The Argentines look to have a pretty easy group to navigate, coming up against Chile, Canada and Peru. They are 2/9 to win Group A and 7/4 to win the whole competition. Argentina will kick off proceedings against Canada in the opening game for which they are 1/3 to win in 90 minutes as overwhelming favourites.

Should Argentina reach the final this year, it’ll be their 30th final, having won 15 Copa América titles to date and placing second 14 times. It’s tough to overlook their form and they are our strongest pick ahead of this tournament.

Brazil – 9/4

Brazil just lost out to Argentina in the final of this competition three years ago and come back full of vengeance to reclaim their title as the best team in South America. They are heavy favourites in Group D at 4/11 to come out on top, with Colombia looking the only real challenger for that spot at 5/2. Paraguay (14/1) and Costa Rica (25/1) also feature in the group.

There are plenty of Premier League players and familiar faces that will don Brazil’s famous yellow jersey. However, due the injury that Neymar Jr. sustained in their 2-0 defeat to Uruguay last October, he will not be appearing in this year’s tournament.

Uruguay – 9/2

Uruguay are the third favourites for this competition at 9/2 and should be pretty confident ahead of the group stage as 4/6 favourites to win group C. Hosts USA are 11/8 second favourites, with both Bolivia and Panama at 20/1 apiece.

Should they manage to proceed into the knockout rounds, it’ll be a tough ask to reach the final, a feat they have managed just once since the turn of the millennia when they won in 2011 against Paraguay. However, the Uruguayans have a tendency to produce some moments of magic so one can’t write them off just yet and they certainly have a good chance given their success in the history of the competition.