Argentina

Bolivia and Colombia have both managed to frustrate Sergio Bastia’s Argentina, with Bolivia grabbing a 1-1 draw and Colombia holding out for a 0-0 stalemate.

However, Bastia is confident they can secure victory over Costa Rica in their final Group A fixture and book a spot in the knock-out stages.

“The things are not going the way they were in the friendly matches. No one expected this kind of game, nothing comes out the way we expected,” Batista said.

“I remain confident about these players, they are very good. We’re a little slow in the front. This does not require major change, we will play with two defensive midfielders and maybe one more winger, one man is missing in the area.

“We have a game against Costa Rica, and we can have five points to qualify. We need to keep calm, think it is a final and come out with this mentality.”

Argentina certainly boast plenty of quality amongst their ranks, including Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez and Atletico Madrid frontman Sergio Aguero, and Basita will be desperate for his star men to replicate their club form for their country.

Bolivia can take a massive step towards reaching the next stage of the Copa America with a victory over Costa Rica on Thursday night.

The Bolivians took an improbable lead over Argentina in their opening fixture before being pegged back and they’re evens to take maximum points on Thursday, while the draw is 11/5 and Costa Rica are 5/2.

Bolivia will have been given a massive boost in confidence following their display against Argentina and they should prove too strong for minnows Costa Rica.

However, neither Bolivia nor Costa Rica are particularly blessed in terms of attacking talent and a single goal could separate the two sides, with under 2.5 goals priced at 8/11.

On Friday, Uruguay take on Chile in what could well prove to be an interesting contest.

Uruguay are the slight favourites at 7/5, while Chile are 7/4 and the draw is 21/10. Chile have plenty of attacking talent, including one of the most wanted men this summer – Udinese schemer Alexis Sanchez – but Uruguay are a well organised and efficient unit, with some talented players of their own.

Chile saw off Mexico in their opening fixture, while Uruguay were held by Peru, and the fixture does promise to be a close encounter.

Uruguay will be desperate to grab their first win of the tournament and should be able to get the better of Chile.

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Four of the six encounters so far have ended in a draw which is synonymous with the first matches of group football in major tournaments as no team wants to be too gung-ho and risk seeing their hopes of progression dashed after just 90 minutes of action.

However, in the second matches of the three group fixtures teams start to come out of their shell in search of a win should they have not got off to a flying start.

And that is where Sergio Batista and his Argentina (Evens Copa America Winner) side find themselves going into their game against Colombia in Santa Fe after being held to a surprise 1-1 draw against Bolivia on Friday.

Colombia secured a typically narrow 1-0 win against Costa Rica in their opening match which puts the onus firmly on the hosts to go on the front-foot as a draw (16/5 Draw 90 Minutes) will keep them top of the pile and with one foot virtually in the quarter-finals.

Batista is not expected to make massive changes to his side as he will bank on Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi (5/2 First Goalcsorer) showing more of an understanding than they did against the Bolivians.

However, Friday’s goalscorer, Sergio Aguero is set to be rewarded with a start in place of Ezequiel Lavezzi, while Tevez’s Manchester City team-mate Pablo Zabaleta is set to get the nod ahead of Marcos Rojo at left-back.

Despite the mercurial talents of Messi and Tevez, Batista will be looking for Atletico Madrid hitman Aguero to again find his shooting boots against Colombia following his stunning match-saving volley in the opener.

Aguero scored 12 goals in the final 11 Spanish La Liga games of last season, while he has scored 10 in his last 13 matches for both club and country so should definitely be one to watch out for (4/5 Anytime Goalscorer).

Dario Gomez’s Colombia also have one of Europe’s most prolific strikers in the guise of Radamel Falcao (11/4 Anytime Goalscorer), who scored 33 times in 36 Portuguese Liga and Europa League appearances for Porto last term.

However, he struggled against a 10-man and youthful Costa Rica side due to a distinct lack of service, while his Porto team-mate Fredy Guarin also disappointed with a lack of creativity and wayward long distance efforts.

Once again Gomez had to rely on his stingy backline to ensure they got off to a winning start which continued their run of keeping five clean sheets in their last eight games.

Add to that the statistic that the previous 11 games involving Colombia have failed to produce more than 2.5 goals so, while they don’t score many, their opposition will always have to work over-time to breach their rearguard.

Taking all of these factors into consideration I don’t expect Colombia to risk losing by being too adventurous in the Argentina half of the field.

But with the hosts in desperate need of a win to avoid the risk of a humiliating Copa America exit in the group stages on home soil should carry them through to a narrow win.

Prediction: Argentina To Win 90 Minutes @ 4/11
Value Bet: Aguero S, Argentina To Win 1-0 Scorecast @ 12/1

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Australia’s

The Socceroos have come in for plenty of criticism in the build-up to the tournament, with the media quick to label them as too old to do well in the World cup.

The criticism certainly didn’t diminish after a lucky 2-1 win over New Zealand in Melbourne on Monday.

But speaking from the Socceroos’ pre-World Cup training camp at altitude in Johannesburg, Culina was keen to use the age of the squad as a positive.

“We’ve all got the four years behind us and three-quarters of the squad have been at a World Cup before so we know what to expect,” Culina said.

“Last World Cup was hard because we didn’t know what to expect.

“We’re not going in there blind this time. It should count for a lot.

“The whole team has really been strengthened in the last few years, we moved up the rankings, and that’s why we’ve got the results we have.

“This squad’s been together for quite a while now and that’s really important to us.”

Culina played well against New Zealand, despite not having played a match since early March when his A-League side Gold Coast exited the finals.

The midfielder has spent the past two months training with his old Dutch side PSV Eindhoven, attempting to keep fit and at the forefront of coach Pim Verbeek’s plans for the World Cup opener against Germany on June 13.

“Unfortunately I haven’t played any games but I’m raring to go. I’m feeling fit and healthy and I can’t ask for more,” Culina said.

Meanwhile, Argentina (4/9 to win Group B) arrived in South Africa for the World Cup looking jet-lagged as they were greeted by media at the Johannesburg airport.

Coach Diego Maradona said: “Hola, South Africa. I love South Africa.” He did not stop to take questions before leaving for his team’s base at the High Performance Centre in the capital Pretoria.

Lionel Messi was also subdued on his first appearance in South Africa. Wearing a white baseball cap, the Barcelona forward did not react to requests from the assembled media for a smile or a wave.

Maradona, who has already named his final 23-man World Cup squad, led the players off the plane on the short walk to the newly built special arrival facility for World Cup teams.

Argentina face Nigeria, South Korea and Greece in the group stages in South Africa. The two-time World Cup winner will play Nigeria at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park on June 12.

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