The 48th edition of the Copa America gets underway on Thursday as reigning champions Argentina start their title defence against Canada at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
World champions Argentina lifted the Copa America for a record-equalling 15th time after beating Brazil in the 2021 final and with captain and Inter Miami star Lionel Messi leading their charge, they are fancied to enjoy another successful campaign.
First up for Messi and Company is this Group A clash with a Canada team playing at their first Copa America, but one that claimed a notable goalless draw with France in their final warm-up fixture.
After backing up their 2021 Copa America success by winning a third world title the following year, Argentina have shown no signs of slowing down, winning 13 of their 14 matches since seeing off France on penalties in the Qatar showpiece.
It is no surprise really, as La Albiceleste boast some of the best attacking talent in world soccer, with Inter Milan star Lautaro Martinez and Manchester City ace Julian Alvarez among the many forward options available to head coach Lionel Scaloni.
That's before you even get to the impervious Messi.
Argentina have won all four of their matches since the turn of the year and they have scored at least three goals in three of those games, comfortably seeing off El Salvador, Costa Rica and most recently Guatemala 4-1 in their final warm-up match before this tournament.
While Canada will arguably represent a step up in quality from those sides - as they proved in their recent draw with France - this is also a Canadian team that have shipped four against both the Netherlands and Japan, three against Jamaica and two when facing the United States, Cuba and Guadeloupe over the last 12 months.
All the evidence points to Argentina winning this one and there could be plenty of goals along the way, although most of those should come for the reigning champions.
To add further evidence to the likelihood of Argentina winning this with something to spare, the only previous time these two sides have met was in a friendly in 2010 and it ended in a 5-0 victory for the South American giants.
That demolition may have been 14 years ago, but there are still a couple of Argentine players involved that day that remain part of the current squad and one of those, Angel Di Maria, was on the scoresheet.
Di Maria struck Argentina's third goal that day, one of 31 he has registered for his country over a 16-year international career, the most recent of which came against Ecuador in La Albiceleste's penultimate friendly before this tournament.
He may be 36 years old, but Di Maria remains a key component of this Argentina squad. After 32 goal involvements in 48 appearances for club side Benfica this season, he offers plenty of value at +100 to register a goal or an assist against Canada.
Argentina should end up winning this match with plenty in reserve, but their recent friendly matches suggest they are not the quickest team out of the blocks.
In two of their last three friendlies, against Costa Rica and Guatemala, they have conceded the first goal before eventually coming back to win 3-1 and 4-1 respectively.
It would be no surprise to see a similar pattern play out against Canada and it is worth noting this is the same Argentina side that lost their opening match of the 2022 World Cup to Saudi Arabia.
While that kind of shock is unlikely in Atlanta, there could be value in backing Argentina to come from behind to win.
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Argentina | -334 |
Tie | +450 |
Canada | +850 |
Lionel Messi (Argentina) | -125 |
Julian Alvarez (Argentina) | +130 |
Lautaro Martinez (Argentina) | +137 |
Jonathan David (Canada) | +550 |
Cyle Larin (Canada) | +600 |
Jacen Russell-Rowe (Canada) | +600 |
This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
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