Seeley’s Selections – Brazil v Paraguay

If you want to see goals, the weekend Copa America action isn’t the place to be heading.

The final quarter-final of this year’s tournament is being held in Concepcion on Saturday night with a clash between Brazil and Paraguay and according to the BoyleSports odds compilers, this is a Brazilian win all the way; I’m not so sure on that.

This has been a tournament for the bookies and I think they will get more of your money if you fall into the trap which they’ve set by backing the Samba Boys at 4/6 with BoyleSports.

Apart from the hosts, and an argument can be made against that, Brazil are under more pressure to deliver here than anyone else after an unimpressive World Cup showing and from what I have seen so far, the are very average.

The just got out of the group stage after a 2-1 win against Venezuela in their final game and they lost 1-0 against Colombia in the second match. They were also far from convincing against Peru in the opening 2-1 success.

In the defeat against Colombia, not only did they lose the match and their unbeaten record this season, more importantly they lost their talisman Neymar who was sent off in a feisty affair and misses the remainder of the tournament. Without Neymar they are a poor side and they just can’t be trusted at the prices with anyone’s money.

Dunga is a very negative coach at the best of times and now without the services of the Barcelona ace, they are going to be a lot more cautious and this could really be a shocker.

Paraguay’s coach Ramon Diaz makes Tony Pulis look like Pep Guardiola in the attacking department and the only time they were allowed to be let loose was when they trailed Argentina 2-0 and they fought back to get a 2-2 draw.

Their other two performances have been dire. They won 1-0 against Jamaica and then did what they had to do in a 1-1 draw with Uruguay to make the quarter-finals.
The Paraguayans are unbeaten in this tournament and have only lost once in their last six matches with four of those games draws and at BoyleSports’ 12/5 on another stalemate, looks the best option.

These two nations met twice in the last Copa America and both of those ended in draws. They played out an entertaining 2-2 in the group stages and then they met in a very tense quarter-final which ended in an ill-tempered goalless affair and both ending the match with ten men.

In that four year period, the Brazilians have gone backwards and the Paraguayans have certainly moved forward and without the services of Neymar, they are to be opposed at the prices in this one.

The Brazilians have had major problems with Paraguay in the past and I fully expect that to continue and no goalscorer, which might not be what you punters want to hear, looks a decent bet at the 6/1 with BoyleSports.

The cards are starting to fly now that we have reached the quarter-final stages and South American temperament is really showing; in the opening two quarter-finals we have already seen two red cards. There is no love lost between these two nations and in the last six meetings, this match has seen a staggering SIX red cards shown and in such a massive game like this I fully expect that to continue.

B Lucky!

Seeley’s Selections:
Draw @ 12/5
No Goalscorer @ 6/1
Sending Off – Yes @ 2/1

*Prices correct at time of publication