We have reached the semi-final stage of the two big football tournaments taking place at the moment. After a dramatic weekend of quarterfinal action at the European Championships and the Copa America, we now know the four teams that will battle it out for a place in the final of each competition.
The games will be played across Tuesday and Wednesday this week, with the final of each competition set for Sunday July 11.
The four teams remaining in each tournament, Spain, Italy, Denmark and England in the Euros and Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Colombia in the Copa America, will all be hoping to cap their summer by lifting their continent’s biggest international trophy. However only one will prevail in each tournament on Sunday night.
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Wherever you choose to bet, you need to know which are the smart options to back for
each of the four big games coming up this week, so with that in mind, let’s take a look at the four semifinal ties in more detail from both competitions, but before we start let’s take a look at how the quarterfinals panned out.
We will start with the Copa America semifinals as they kick off first with the Brazil v Peru game taking place at midnight this evening.
Copa America Quarterfinal Results
- Peru 3-3 Paraguay (Peru win 4-3 on penalties)
- Brazil 1-0 Chile
- Uruguay 0-0 Colombia (Colombia win 4-2 on penalties)
- Argentina 3-0 Ecuador
Copa America 2021 Semi Final Preview And Tips
Brazil v Peru
- Tuesday 6th July
- 0.00am Kick Off
- Olympic Stadium
- Historic Record – Brazil 34 Wins, Peru 5 Wins, 9 Draws
Peru have beaten Brazil just twice since 1986, although both wins were relatively recent, a 1-0
Copa America win in 2016 and a 1-0 win in a friendly in 2019. However, in the major games over that time, it is Brazil that have come out on top, often as the convincing winner.
Not only did Brazil beat Peru 3-1 in the 2019 Copa America final, they have beaten Peru once already in this tournament 4-0 in their opening group game.
Brazil will be without Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus, who was red carded for a dreadful head-high tackle in the 1-0 win over Chile in the quarterfinal, Everton Soares or Lucas Paqueta will likely deputise.
Peru will be without Andre Carrillo, who was sent off along with Paraguay’s Gustavo Gomez in their 4-3 win on penalties over the Paraguayans after an entertaining 3-3 draw.
In terms of a tip here, there’s nothing that makes me believe that this game will be any different to the others between these two teams and I am expecting Brazil to come through relatively comfortably.
Tip – Brazil 3-0 Peru – 11/2 with bet365 Sport.
Argentina v Colombia
- Wednesday 7th July
- 2am Kick Off
- Estadio Nacional de Brasilia
- Historic Record – Argentina 23 Wins, Colombia 9 Wins, 8 Draws
Argentina are the sole representative from Group A left in the tournament and they face a Colombia side who the have a pretty good record against. With Lionel Messi in top form too, and inspirational in their 3-0 win over Ecuador in the quarterfinals, it is hard to see how Colombia can land a win here.
With their talisman James Rodriguez not selected for the tournament, Colombia have become much more pragmatic and their only real chance of success looks like being able to defend their way to a draw and then try and land the win either on penalties, or with a goal on the counter.
Argentina have such a great wealth of options in attack especially that they look able to score against any team. As well as Messi, the emergence of Rodrigo De Paul in this tournament has been another bonus, especially with Sergio Aguero not quite firing at his best.
However, the form Argentina are in at the moment and the sheer wealth of options available to Lionel Scaloni means that it is hard to see anything but a victory for Argentina here which would likely set up the Brazil v Argentina final that most fans around the world wanted to see.
Tip – Argentina 2-1 Colombia – 8/1 with bet365
Euro 2020 Quarterfinal Results
- Switzerland 1-1 Spain (Spain win 3-1 on penalties)
- Belgium 1-2 Italy
- Czech Republic 1-2 Denmark
- Ukraine 0-4 England
Euro 2020 Semi Final Preview & Tips
Spain v Italy
- Tuesday 6th July
- 8pm Kick Off
- Wembley Stadium
- Historic Record – Spain 12 Wins, Italy 9 Wins, 12 Draws
Spain have been taken to extra time in both their knockout phase games, requiring penalties to
defeat Switzerland. It is going to be interesting to see how those two extra 30 minutes of football affects the fitness levels of Luis Enrique’s men, who tend to play a high energy game.
They will face an Italy side that under Roberto Mancini has also adopted, with huge success, a high-pressing game and who have gone 33 matches unbeaten, a new national record, on the back of it. They were also taken to extra time by Austria in the Round of 16, but beat Belgium 2-1 thanks to a fine Insigne strike in regulation time.
Of the two teams, it has been Italy that have been the most impressive in this tournament winning all their games, while Spain initially struggled and only finished second in their group behind Sweden, despite playing all three of their games at home. They did find their scoring boots against Slovakia and Croatia but Switzerland managed to stifle their attack once again.
With Italy being the past-masters of defence and the fact that the Italian attack has been bright and dangerous in all their games, plus the confidence from that win over Belgium, means that I think Italy will be the team celebrating a place in the final on Tuesday night.
Tip – Italy 2-1 Spain – 10/1 with bet365
Denmark v England
- Wednesday 7th July
- 8pm Kick Off
- Wembley Stadium
- Historic Record – England 12 Wins, Denmark 4 Wins, 5 Draws
Ever since their game with Belgium, Denmark have been in inspired form and it seems as though the terrible cardiac arrest suffered by Christian Eriksen in their opening game has galvanised the team to perform superbly. Wins over Russia, Wales and the Czech Republic have seen them into their first Euros semi final since they won the 1992 tournament.
They face an England side who have got better as the tournament has worn on and who, despite playing four games at Wembley, saw their best performance in the tournament come in Rome in the quarterfinals in that big 4-0 win over the Ukraine.
England have the better record between the two sides but Denmark held England at home and then beat the English at Wembley in the 2019 Nations League, albeit a game that England played with 10 men for a large proportion of the match due to the dismissal of Harry Maguire.
This is not going to be an easy game for either team, but the fact that this is at Wembley and that the Danes don’t have their talisman Eriksen available does I feel tip the balance in England’s favour and I think Gareth Southgate’s men will emerge with the victory to reach the final.
If they do, then Wembley will be rocking on Wednesday night. If not, then Copenhagen will be alive with celebrating Danish fans instead.
Tip – England 2-0 Denmark – 13/2
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