Argentina to set up potential classic 2021 final
Argentina and Colombia will meet at the Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha in Brazil on Tuesday evening, and by that time, they'll know which of Brazil and Peru they'll potentially face off against in the final at the weekend, which will bookend a supremely troubled Copa América 2021. Leo Messi's days as the talisman for his national side are starting to look numbered for good this time, as is the window to win a major international tournament. Read our preview here:
Out on Paredes
Manager Lionel Scaloni had the luxury of confining Nicolás Tagliafico, Sergio Agüero, and Ángel Di María to the subs' bench at the outset of their 3-0 win over Ecuador in an empty stadium. All three could be restored to the lineup to really put the pressure on Colombia, but even if they don't, there's now an embarrassment of riches on the roster where it had looked decidedly lopsided only a few years ago. Paris Saint-Germain's anchorman Leandro Paredes exemplifies that, and whilst he didn't enjoy as full a season with his club as he would've liked, it has made him relatively fresh this summer. It will be up to him at the base of midfield to confine Colombia's chance creation to out wide at best, and then spring forward on the counter to unleash the likes of Messi and Lautaro Martínez at the apex.
A bit of zip and a bit of Zap
La Tricolor successfully negotiated a tense quarter final against Uruguay by beating the favourites via the lottery of penalties after a stalemate. Reinaldo Rueda must also contend with both Mateus Uribe and Yairo Moreno's absences as he looks to devise a strategy to upset the odds once again. Colombia are likely to stick with a 4-4-2, emphasising full use of the width of the pitch in order to escape Paredes' clutches and get in behind the full-backs. Veteran Juan Cuadrado retains a turn of pace on the right flank, but the best bet will be to put balls into the channel for aerial duels, which one of the strikers, particularly Atalanta's potent Duván Zapata, would fancy winning one-on-one with Marcos Acuña. The 30 year-old hitman will have a lot of the onus riding on him to unlock the defence in white and sky blue, and will look to involve himself as much as possible in the build-up play to make it harder for him to be marked.
Argentina won't be crying
Even so, with much greater defensive discipline thus far in the tournament, Argentina are hard to overlook to reach the final. Parimatch have odds of 2.15 for only one team to score in the regulation 90 minutes.
