Venezuela vs Mexico prediction: SOUTH AMERICA: Copa América betting tips on match 2024-06-26 01:00.
[p]Venezuela and Mexico shared the top of Group B after winning their opening matches of the 2024 Copa América with decisive second-half strikes. Should there be a victor in this meeting, they’ll emerge from it in a very advantageous position, with six points almost always enough to finish in the top two of a four-team group. This edition has already been an improvement for Venezuela, who couldn’t pick up a win in the group stage back in 2021 (D2, L2).[/p]
[p]The Venezuelan head coach Fernando Batista earned widespread praise for bringing goalscorers Jhonder Cádiz and Eduardo Bello onto the pitch shortly after half-time and has urged his players to keep their “feet on the ground” in what he has described as a “final” for the team. Their last meeting with Mexico in a formal competition was at the 2016 Copa América, where they squeezed out a 1-1 draw as bigger outsiders than they are here, which should serve as inspiration alongside wins over Chile and Paraguay last year.[/p]
[p]No less than all sixteen Mexican players that took to the field against Jamaica enjoyed successful Copa América debuts with their 1-0 victory putting behind them the fallout from two unsatisfactory lead-up losses to Brazil and Uruguay. Manager Jaime Lozano, who himself participated in two editions of this tournament as a player, still has a long way to go to prove that his gamble of omitting popular veterans such as Raúl Jiménez, Guillermo Ochoa and Hirving Lozano from his roster was the right one.[/p]
[p]Captain Edson Álvarez was carried off with what appeared to be a serious hamstring injury, which Lozano described as “a tough blow”. Mexico remain most likely to top the group according to many, and with an unbeaten three wins from three matches as match favourites in 2024, they haven’t had any trouble shouldering the weight of expectations so far. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Jhonder Cádiz opened his international account in the last match after a strong season with Portuguese club Famalicão in which he scored 16 times, opening the scoring for his side on ten occasions, just as he did against Ecuador. Mexican striker Santiago Giménez was the hero at this very venue (SoFi Stadium, California) 11 months ago when delivering the only goal of their 2023 Gold Cup final against Panama. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: When excluding friendlies, only one of Mexico’s last 13 matches saw both teams score. [/p]