Who will win the Copa America?

Who do we think will win?

Copa America is typically one of the more open tournaments, with some of the better teams sometimes feeling the strain of a long and arduous league season, as well as suffering the effects of the lack of rest they received due to the World Cup the year before, however, this year is likely to be different.

Brazil, Chile, Columbia and Argentina exited the World Cup in agonising fashion, with Brazil getting thumped 7 – 1 in the semi finals, Chile losing on penalty kicks in the last 16, Columbia being narrowly beaten by Brazil in the quarter finals, and Argentina losing to a late winner by Mario Goetze in the World Cup Final.  As four of the established top five teams in South America, they will be eager to erase the disappointment of the World Cup, and I expect a strong turn-out by all three teams.

Argentina will be the team to beat in the competition  for several reasons. Firstly, they possess the greatest plethora of world class players in the tournament, boasting the likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain, Javier Mascherano and Ezequiel Lavezzi, all of which can change a game in an instant, and this could be a decisive factor in the tournament.

Additionally, the agonising defeat in the World Cup Final last summer will be a great source of motivation to Argentina in this summer, and Lionel Messi and co. will be eager to win their first meaningful competition for quite some time. Furthermore, Lionel Messi is arguably in the form of his career right now, and in this kind of mesmeric form, the little wizard can quite easily win matches on his own at times.

This naturally won’t be enough to beat the likes of Brazil, and Messi will need his team-mates to share some of the burden, but the team will be buoyed by Messi’s form and this could result in other players also stepping up to the plate, something they did not do last summer. Finally, the appointment of Gerardo Martino will give Argentina greater defensive solidity, and greater balance all round, which will make them harder to beat, and this is why we think Argentina will be victorious in Chile this summer.

Brazil and Chile will be tough opponents to beat, but Argentina just have too much quality up their sleeves, and because of that, we cannot see anything other than an Argentine victory.