In the early hours of Friday morning, Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay can book their place in the Copa America knockouts when they take on Bolivia at MetLife Stadium.
Following the opening round of matches, Uruguay sit alongside the United States at the top of Group C, with Panama and Bolivia trailing behind.
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Uruguay kicked off their campaign with a 3-1 victory over Panama, racking up 55% possession and 20 shots while limiting their opponents to three attempts on target.
Goals from Maximiliano Araujo, Darwin Nunez and Matias Vina put the Uruguayans in control, before Michael Amir Murillo scored a consolation goal.
Bielsa’s side have now lost just one of their last nine matches across all competitions, scoring 18 goals in the process (2 goals per game).
Having won nine of their previous 14 clashes – scoring over 1.5 goals in each of those victories – Uruguay will be confident of picking up another high-scoring win.
Meanwhile, Bolivia started their Copa America journey with a 2-0 defeat against the United States, with Christian Pulisic and Folarin Balogun scoring in the first half.
Not only did La Verde register 39% possession in their opening game, but they also managed just three shots on target, facing 20 attempts from the USA.
That defeat extended Bolivia’s losing streak to four matches, and they have also lost six of their last seven clashes across all competitions.
Having suffered 11 defeats in their previous 13 games, the Bolivians will need to be at their very best to avoid another loss at the expense of in-form Uruguay.
Head-to-head: Uruguay have won five of their last six meetings with Bolivia, scoring 15 goals in the process (2.5 goals per game).
In terms of the overall H2H statistics, Bolivia have managed to win just eight of their 47 previous encounters with Uruguay, tasting victory only twice since 1997.
Team news: Uruguay are expected to continue in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde and PSG’s Manuel Ugarte anchoring the midfield.
On the other hand, Bolivia will likely stick with their favoured 3-1-4-2 formation, meaning Cesar Menacho and Bruno Miranda should lead the line.
When you couple Uruguay’s impressive scoring form with Bolivia’s poor recent record, all the signs point towards a comfortable win for Bielsa’s side.
Forebet’s AI algorithm predicts that Uruguay will score over 2.5 goals and keep a clean sheet on their way to dispatching Bolivia.