Argentina vs Ecuador Prediction: World champions look to win big
Can Lionel Messi do it again? Can Argentina win their third international tournament in a row? These questions will be answered at the Copa America this summer as reigning champions Argentina hope to defend their crown. They went through a trophy draught over the past two decades, before lifting the Copa America in 2021, and then the World Cup in 2022.
Now, Messi and his magic men will look to have more success in the United States of America. They’ve still got a couple of warm-up matches to play before the tournament, starting with Ecuador. Here’s how I see this one panning out.
Team News
Argentina have an exciting squad, and it’s packed full of Premier League players. Gonzalo Montiel, Lisandro Martinez, Cristian Romero, Giovani Lo Celso, Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernandez and Julian Alvarez are all involved from England’s top flight, along with Alejandro Garnacho, who is hoping to break into the side this summer. He was left out of the World Cup winning squad, but after an impressive season, we could see a big tournament performance from the Manchester United man.
Meanwhile Ecuador now can rely on Bayer Leverkusen’s young defender Piero Hincapie as he emerges as a guaranteed starter, while Jeremy Sarmiento will hope to crown his spectacular promotion-winning season with Ipswich Town with some impressive performances for his country. Captain Enner Valencia may now be 34, but he is expected to lead the line.
Argentina are 11/20 to win this game, with Ecuador the outsiders at 23/5. A draw can be backed at 29/10, over 2.5 goals is 23/25 and BTTS is 49/50.
Argentina to win to nil @ 55/39
This one is quite simple from my point of view. Argentina have the greatest player of all time on their side, and they are one of the best teams in the world right now. I fully expect, with the manager and squad strength they have, that they will go to the final of the Copa America this summer and Messi could well lift his third international trophy.
They may try some fringe players out in this game, but that could work in their favour as they look to prove themselves and earn a starting spot under Lionel Scalone. Ecuador meanwhile are decent, but lost 2-0 to Italy, and have drawn 0-0 twice in their last five games. Goalscoring seems to be an issue so I’m backing Argentina to win to nil as my first selection.
Argentina -1.5 @ 73/49
As I’ve just said, I think Argentina will be able to win this game comfortably. I think if we are backing them to win to nil then we can also back them with the -1.5 handicap, at better odds. Given this is only a friendly and we aren’t exactly sure which individual players are going to be playing, I would stay away from backing the likes of Messi to score. We just don’t know how long he will get, or if he will play at all.
Instead, backing the team to win big feels like the safest play in my book and I think the -1.5 handicap is both sensible, and offers good value. With Alvarez, Garnacho and Angel di Maria, Argentina have enough attacking quality even without their main man.
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