Copa America Tipsheet: Back opening wins for Argentina and Chile

• Argentina will kick off Copa defence with Canada win

• Chile value to beat Peru

• Messi and Co are favorites to defend their crown

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Argentina v Canada (Friday 01:00)

The Copa America holders Argentina begin the defence of their crown against Canada in the early hours on Friday morning.

Argentina followed their 2021 success in the Copa America by winning the World Cup in 2022. They are the tournament favourites at 7/42.75 to win a third successive international trophy.

They have much the same squad that triumphed in Qatar. A big question for them is how the now 36-year-old Lionel Messi will hold up to the rigours of another tournament. Last week the skipper returned to Argentina's starting lineup after an absence of three games and scored twice in a 4-1 friendly win over Guatemala, with Lautaro Martinez scoring the other two goals.

Lionel Scaloni tends to line up with a 4-4-2 formation that gives Messi a free-role playing behind the lone striker and they enter this tournament in fine form. Since winning the World Cup, La Albiceleste have played 14 games and won 13 (L1).

Their first opponents in Group A are Canada, who are now coached by the former Leeds United manager Jesse Marsch. The Canadians have a mix of players from the MLS and across Europe, with Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David of Lille, being their standout performers.

After the successful John Herdman left to join Toronto FC, Canada appointed Mauro Biello as an interim manager, with Marsch having only taken permanent charge for the last two games. They saw Canada lose 4-0 to Netherlands and then hold France to a 0-0 draw, so this team have been warming up against elite opposition.

The fact that Canada failed to score in those matches, gives us a clue as to how this one will go. In their six World Cup qualifiers played by Argentina last year, they kept five clean sheets. You can back Argentina to win to nil at 10/111.91.

Peru v Chile (Saturday, 01:00)

The second game of the 2024 Copa America takes places on Saturday morning, when Argentina's main Group A rivals Chile take on Peru.

Chile prepared for this tournament with a 3-0 friendly win against Paraguay. Their head coach Ricardo Gareca lined his team up in a 4-2-3-1 formation that saw the 35-year-old Alexis Sanchez playing behind the 34-year-old striker Eduardo Vargas.

Vargas was on target, with CSKA Moscow's Victor Davila grabbing a brace. It was the third game for Chile since their manager was appointed, with a 3-0 win over Albania and a 3-2 loss against France looking like handy results on the evidence of Euro 2024.

Gareca could hardly know the opposition any better, having been manager of Peru between 2015 and 2022. The Peruvians are also experiencing a new manager bounce, with La Blanquirroja winning three time and drawing once, since Jorge Fossati was appointed.

Both nations have responded with a change in coach to a poor start to their World Cup qualifying campaign. Chile are eighth out of twelve teams after six games (W1 D2 L3), while Peru are rock bottom (W0 D2 L4).

That lone victory for Chile came at home against Peru in October last year. It was a hard-fought 2-0 victory in which both goals were scored late, but the improvement under Gareca suggests that this game could be more comfortable.

Yet while there is the temptation to throw in a caveat or two to boost the odds, the price of 1/12.00 for a Chile win is sufficiently chunky to keep things simple.

2024 Copa America Tips: Argentina will win at 7/4 but Uruguay can make final