Colombia v Bolivia
Football : Copa America 2011
Sunday 10 July 2011 - Kickoff 4pm (Local Time)
This game is live on TV

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Preview

The first of the Quarter Finalists for this years Copa America will be decided on Sunday afternoon as Colombia face Bolivia. Colombia are virtually assured of their spot, but Bolivia face a must-win game for them to do the same.

Colombia are in the fortunate position of being all but guaranteed of achieving a place in the last 8 after beating Costa Rica and earning a credible draw with Argentina. To be perfectly honest, Colombia had 2 glorious chances to win the game with Argentina which would have secured top spot in the Group.

All that means Colombia will go through regardless of what happens in the other game in the Group as long as they avoid defeat against Bolivia.

On the other hand, Bolivia must have felt they were going to finally get through the first phase of the Copa America for the first time since 1997 when they drew 1-1 with Argentina in the first game. However, a really poor 0-2 loss to Costa Rica leaves Bolivia in a very bad spot to qualify.

They will need to win this game and are then likely to be looking at the other groups to earn one of the two 'best third place' positions in the Quarter Finals.

Colombia have looked like a genuine threat to win this competition in their opening 2 games, particularly in the game with Argentina. They have counter attacked with pace, although there are question marks with their ability to find the net outside of Falcao after seeing some big chances flash by in the last game.

Defensively the team has been very sound and are yet to concede a goal in the competition. They limited Argentina to a couple of chances and that is no mean feat against a team with the talents the host have.

Bolivia have regularly been a side that fails to play as well away from home as they do at La Paz, mainly thanks to the altitude that gives them the edge on home soil. They were poor against Costa Rica, a side made up mainly of under-23 players, and were also reduced to 9 men meaning there will have to be some enforced changes for this match.

They are now in a position where they have to win, a feat they have not accomplished in their last 11 games.

Head to Head

These two nations have met 8 times since the year 2000, and Colombia have won 4 of those games, with Bolivia winning just the 1 game.

Their most recent meeting was back in August last year when they drew 1-1 in La Paz.

The last competitive game took place in Colombia during the World Cup Qualifying campaign which Colombia won 2-0 at home.

Prediction

This has not been a tournament where the short priced favourites have obliged- in fact, Colombia are the only such favourites to have won their game when they beat Costa Rica 1-0.

However, I do think they are capable of winning this game and securing their place at the top of Group A as their opponents will be forced to go forward to earn the 3 points that will give them a chance to progress to the next stage.

This will give Colombia plenty of chances to use their pace on the counter attack to hurt Bolivia and they have a very strong record against one of the weakest travelling teams in South America.

I expect Colombia are capable of keeping a clean sheet in the game, and possibly scoring at least a couple themselves if they are a little more ruthless in front of goal than in their first 2 games.

All in all, the standout price for the Colombia win at Pinnacle looks too good to ignore.

The Pick :

Colombia 2-0 Bolivia

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Colombia to win @ 1.72 (Pinnacle)