Seeley’s Selections – Colombia v Venezuela

Another short price favourite is in action in the Copa America on Sunday night, and again it’s very hard to look past Colombia for their Group C opener with Venezuela.

The Colombians for me were the best South American side at last summer’s World Cup and if it wasn’t for the fact that they meet Brazil in the group stages they would have been my choice to win this tournament.

Going forward Colombia are just peerless with James Rodriguez, Jackson Martinez and Carlos Bacca all arriving in Chile in outstanding goalscoring form.

Man United flop Radamel Falcao is an entirely different player when he puts on the yellow jersey for Los Cafeteros and having missed the World Cup finals through injury he will have a point to prove in this tournament.

José Pékerman’s side are just 4/9 with BoyleSports to win this and there is some mismatches at the group stage – and this is another – so I’m confident of success but at the prices you need to risk a lot of money to be rewarded and that’s not my style.

With all the attacking flair at their disposal they could put a hatful past this Venezuela side with a massive group clash next up against Brazil and goal difference could be very important. I’m not sure if they will though.

Venezuela have lost five of their last eight matches with some heavy defeats in that period. Noel Sanvicente’s side were beating 5-0 by Chile last November, 3-0 by Japan and 3-1 by South Korea in September. Recently their form though is a bit more encouraging for anybody contemplating taking the 8/1 with BoyleSports.

La Vinotinto have won three of their last four, but wins over Peru and a double against Honduras isn’t going to mean much when they face the Colombians. Colombia are in great form ahead of their challenge to win the Copa America for only the second time.

They’ve won six of their last seven matches and five of those victories were won to nil so that’s impossible to look past again at 11/10 with BoyleSports.

In 11 of the last 13 meetings between these two sides under 2.5 goals has been a winner and at 4/5 with BoyleSports that also looks another decent shout.

I think Colombia will eventually have too much quality and I think the odds-on punters will have some nervous moments but they will collect and I like a 1-0 win for the favourites at 9/2 with BoyleSports.

He’s had a terrible season for Manchester United but you can’t ignore Falcao’s international record with 25 goals from his 57 appearances for his country. He will be really keen to impress after the disappointment of missing the World Cup and to showcase his talents for a move next season and I’m prepared to give him another chance at 4/1 with BoyleSports on him to score the opener.

Seeley’s Selections:
Colombia To Win To Nil @ 11/10
Under 2.5 Goals – Yes @ 4/5
Correct Score – Colombia 1-0 Venezuala @ 9/2
Falcao First Goalscorer @ 4/1

*Prices correct at time of publication.