The reigning Copa America and World Cup champions will continue their pursuit of another title when they return to action in the United States.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Argentina will take on Chile at MetLife Stadium, with the second round of 2024 Copa American group games getting underway.
Fuelling up for the next stop🔋 pic.twitter.com/weGblhsZlr— Selección Argentina in English (@AFASeleccionEN) June 24, 2024
Fuelling up for the next stop🔋 pic.twitter.com/weGblhsZlr
The Argentines sit atop Group A on three points, with Chile, Peru and Canada trailing behind. Can Lionel Messi and co. book their place in the knockout phase?
Argentina kicked off their campaign with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Canada, with Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez scoring the goals in the second half.
The defending champions racked up 65% possession and 19 shots against the Canadians, who managed just two attempts on target throughout the clash.
That result extended Argentina’s winning streak to six games, with only one defeat coming in their previous 21 outings across all competitions.
Given that Argentina have scored 13 goals in their last five encounters (2.6 goals per game), the reigning champs will be confident of posting another positive result.
Meanwhile, Chile were held to a goalless draw by Peru in their opening match, despite enjoying the lion’s share of possession in Texas.
Although the Chileans registered 11 shots last time out, they only managed to notch one attempt on target, while the Peruvians chalked up four shots on target.
It would not be unfair to say that Chile have been wildly inconsistent in recent times, with three wins, three draws and four losses coming in their previous 10 games.
That said, the Chileans claimed 3-0 victories over Paraguay and Albania earlier this year, and they also suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat against France.
Head-to-head: Let’s not forget that Chile defeated Argentina on penalties in both the 2015 and 2016 Copa America finals.
Since then, however, Chile have failed to get the better of Argentina on six occasions, recording three draws and three defeats in this fixture.
Team news: Julian Alvarez is expected to continue alongside Lionel Messi in Argentina’s front line, with Alexis Mac Allister, Leandro Paredes and Rodrigo De Paul in midfield.
Chile will likely continue to deploy a 4-2-3-1 formation, meaning experienced forward Alexis Sanchez will operate behind fellow veteran Eduardo Vargas.
Although Chile hold fond memories of Copa America triumphs over Argentina, the reigning champions look set to flex their muscles this time around.
Forebet predicts that Argentina will score over 1.5 goals and keep a clean sheet on their way to defeating Chile.