Chile vs Argentina

Argentina’s Copa America title defense continues at MetLife Stadium as they take on out-of-form Chile in New Jersey.

Chile’s bid to avoid their first group-stage elimination at the tournament since 2004 faces a Herculean task of avoiding defeat against reigning World Cup and Copa America champions Argentina. No strangers to upsetting ‘La Albiceleste,’ the Chileans defeated them in back-to-back Copa America finals in 2015 and 2016. However, this fixture has since been an utter disappointment for ‘La Roja,’ considering they’re winless across their last six meetings with the Argentines (D3, L3). Ending that barren streak in East Rutherford looks like a tall order, not least because of Chile’s woeful run of just three wins in their last 11 outings (D4, L4). If it’s any consolation for head coach Ricardo Gareca, his side had scored 2+ goals in three consecutive warm-up games before being held goalless by Peru.

In the meantime, Argentina scored two unanswered second-half goals to beat Copa America debutants Canada 2-0 in their opening Group A fixture, making it six wins in a row since a 2-0 home loss to Uruguay in their ongoing 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign last November. As four of those six victories saw Lionel Scaloni’s side keep a clean sheet, it’s only natural to assume that Argentina’s deadlock-breaker would put this encounter beyond Chile’s reach. Securing a 15th consecutive quarter-final qualification at Copa America with a game to spare seems like a virtual certainty, given Argentina’s dominant overall H2H record against Chile (W62, D24, L8). On top of that, they’ve emerged victorious from 20 of their last 21 internationals (L1), increasing the likelihood of another routine success.