Argentina is the favorite of people who bet on soccer to defeat defending champions Chile in the Copa America Centenario Final match and win the tournament for the first time since 1993 – to put in perspective, Kurt Cobain was still alive at the time. Here are the sportsbook online odds:
Chile +½ (+115) 2½ (+125) +430
Argentina -½ (-130) 2½ (-140) -126
Chile/Argentina Draw +267
One of the reasons for this favoritism may be the fact that the two teams have already faced off in this edition of the tournament, as both were part of Group D in the group stage. The light-blue and white squad started the competition with a victory over the reigning champs, defeating La Roja 2-1. Angel Di Maria and Ever Banega scored for Argentina, while Jose Pedro Feunzalida shortened his team’s disadvantage – but at 3 minutes into injury time, it was too little too late. Argentina won the group (beating Panama 5-0, and Bolivia 3-0) and Chile finished in 2nd place (defeating Bolivia 2-1 and Panama 4-2).
In the knockout rounds, Argentina made many people who bet on soccer happy, inflicting four goals each on Venezuela and hosts USA and only conceding one back. Meanwhile, Chile curb stomped Mexico 7-0 and bested sportsbook online favorites Colombia 2-0. All told, Argentina has scored 18 goals (half of which are credited to Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain) and received only 2, while Chile has 16 goals for and 5 goals against. La Roja’s Eduardo Vargas is the tournament’s top scorer with 6 goals.
The final game will also be a rematch from the 2015 Copa America Final which Chile won on penalty kicks. Therefore, this will be a sort of rubber match between these two times. American rapper Pitbull will perform the official song of the tournament immediately following the match and trophy ceremony, presumably to cause the losing side even more suffering. In more statistical matters that people who bet on soccer are always interested in, Chile has outshot Argentina overall throughout the tourney 71 to 60, but Argentina has scored two more goals. Argentina has also had more correct passes (92% pass accuracy compared to 90% from Chile) and more assists, while Chile has committed more fouls. But this game is not just about cold, hard numbers; it’s also about who wants it more. Obviously Argentina is going to be very hungry after 23 years of failing to win the Copa America. Then again, who’s to say that Chile is not as hungry in their quest to make history by winning the Cup back-to-back in consecutive years – which has never been done before. Also very obviously, both squads want to win the biggest Copa America ever.