Paraguay vs. Bolivia 6/14/21 Copa America 2021 Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Paraguay and Bolivia are playing at Estadio Olimpico Pedro Ludovico in round 1 of Group A in the Copa America 2021. Paraguay has earned its first loss in the World Cup qualifications earlier this week. After a 6-game streak without a win, Bolivia has improved lately, and they now have 1 win and a draw in their last 2 games.

Paraguay is just 1 point away from the World Cup spot, but they have only 1 win alongside 4 draws, and 1 loss in those qualifications. Paraguay wasn’t overly good in the attacking end with only 6 scored goals, but their defense was worse with 7 conceded goals so far. In their last game against Brazil at home, Paraguay has had 50% of ball possession, 3 shots on goal, 7 corner kicks, 0 big chances created, and a solid 86% of the correct passes. Paraguay has conceded a goal in the 4^th minute, but they were defending well after that, until the 94^th minute when they conceded another goal. The final result of this match was 0-2 in favor of Brazil. As I’ve mentioned, Paraguay is not a good offensive team, but all they need to do is not to be last in this group and they will advance to the next stage, but it’s easier said than done.

With this positive 2-game streak in the World Cup qualifications, Bolivia has kept their hopes alive, but we are still very far from the end of these qualifications, and it’s hard to imagine Bolivia can keep this up. Offensively, Bolivia has done really well so far with 9 scored goals in 6 games, but their defense has been just terrible with 14 conceded goals. In their latest match against Chile on the road, Bolivia has had extremely low 23% of ball possession, 1 shot on goal, 0 corner kicks, 1 big chance created, and only 61% of the correct passes. Nothing was going Bolivia’s way in this game, and the only thing that kept them alive was Chile’s inability to score a goal. After Bolivia conceded in the second half, they were able to tie the score from the penalty spot, and the final result of this match was 1-1. Bolivia is mostly made of players playing in South America, and those players who are playing in Europe are playing for weaker teams. Since only the last team in this tournament is getting knocked out, Bolivia’s chances to advance are good, but they will need to start scoring more goals even if it cost them their defense.

The trends are pretty even here, and neither team is doing particularly well in the attacking end. Since these two teams will be competing to stay away from that last spot, I don’t think either of them will be willing to risk more than they need to in this match. I’m taking the draw.