Argentina vs. Uruguay 6/18/21 Copa America 2021 Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Argentina and Uruguay are clashing at Estadio Nacional Mane Garrincha in round 2 of Group A in Copa America 2021. Argentina is on a 3-game draw streak while having 4 draws in their last 5 games. Uruguay hasn’t won any of their last 3 games, and they also haven’t scored a goal during that streak.

Argentina is undefeated in their last 14 games, but they have a lot of draws during that streak, including in their 2 World Cup qualification games. With those 2 draws, Argentina is still in second place, but they are now a big 6 points behind Brazil. As far as Copa America goes, Argentina was playing against Chile, and they were the better team, at least in the first half. Argentina has had 49% of ball possession, 5 shots on goal, 7 corner kicks, 4 big chances created, and 81% of the correct passes. Argentina has scored a brilliant freekick goal in the first half, and you are guessing right, Messi was the goalscorer, but instead of using another one or two more chances, Argentina has conceded a goal in the second half, and this game has ended in a 1-1 draw. Not many teams have the offensive firepower and the best player in the world in their roster, but Argentina is just not using them well, and their defense can’t handle the pressure, sure, Argentina can win this tournament, but they will need a ton of luck.

This is the first game of the tournament for Uruguay, and the perfect time for them to score their first goal in 4 games. Uruguay is not a bad team with Suarez and Cavani at the top, Valverde, and Bentancur in the midfield, and Araujo, Godin, and Gimenez on the defensive end, but they don’t have a player that will make that final pass and feed the ball to Suarez and Cavani. Uruguay was playing against Venezuela in their last game, and they have had 56% of ball possession, 3 shots on goal, 7 corner kicks, 1 big chance created, and 82% of the correct passes. Uruguay didn’t create a decent chance in this game, and if you don’t create a chance, your strikers can’t score a goal There is a lot that has to change in this Uruguayan team, and it better change fast. In the World Cup qualification standings, Uruguay is now in 4^th place, which is the World Cup spot, but they will need to score a lot more goals to stay there. There are no reported injuries or Covid cases in Uruguay as of right now.

The trends are on Argentina’s side in this matchup, but I don’t think this will be an easy game. Argentina is better in the attacking end, but Uruguay is better defensively. The question here is whether Argentina will be able to keep a clean sheet and win a game, or if Uruguay will finally break its dry spell. I will side with Argentina, and I think we will see another low-scoring game.