SOUTH AMERICA: Copa América

Date: 27-06-21

Time: 10:00 PM

Venue: Estádio Olímpico Pedro Ludovico (Goiania)

Bearing the burden of Brazil’s five-year unbeaten competitive home record, the Estádio Olímpico Pedro Ludovico in Goiânia witnesses its fifth game of the 2021 Copa América (CA). Though they’ve already won Group B, there should be no lack of effort from Brazil here as the tournament favourites are aiming to cement a perfect CA group stage for the first time since 1999.

That said, Brazil have made a long journey of over 1,300 km from Rio, where they came back from a HT deficit to beat Colombia 2-1 on matchday three in the 100th minute of the encounter! As such, another quiet start could be witnessed in this H2H matchup, which has seen each of its last four CA editions stand level at HT, including three goalless first halves.

Brazil’s matchday three win vs Colombia also saw them score 2+ goals beyond the hour mark for a third game in succession. This provides a clue as to how they might extend their all-time unbeaten CA record against Ecuador (W12, D2), who are seemingly set to endure successive winless CA group stages for the first time since a chain of three between 2004 and 2011.

Ecuador must at least match Venezuela’s result in Brasília to progress, but the ‘Tricolors’ have lost both prior CA H2Hs held in Brazil by 5+ goals, with the latter game also coincidentally being played in Goiânia back in 1983. A repeat here could see the visitors make more ‘history’, as the first CONMEBOL side since the Ecuador squad of 2004 to concede 10+ CA group stage goals.

Players to watch: Matchday three scorers Casemiro (BRA) and Ayrton Preciado (ECU) have each seen their last three goalscoring internationals produce over 1.5 goals with both teams scoring. The same can be said about three of this stadium’s four 2021 CA matches so far, with Preciado’s recent goal vs Peru (D 2-2) making a contribution towards that record.

Recent Stats:

  • Brazil’s form in last 5 matches: WWWWW.
  • Ecuador’ form in last 5 matches: DDLLL

PREDICTION: Home Win and Over 1.5