Football Bet of the Day: Uruguay and Colombia to deliver a cracker

Argentina have booked their place in a second successive Copa America final thanks to their 2-0 victory over Canada on Wednesday. Now La Albiceleste will be paying close attention to the second semi-final taking place on Thursday (01:00, Premier Sports 1) between Uruguay and Colombia.

Uruguay have won the same amount of Copa America titles as Argentina, so there would be a lot of excitement if that were to be the final. Colombia would also make for a good showpiece, and we are likely to witness a cracker in this semi-final clash in North Carolina. It is from this match that my football bet of the day comes.

Both teams have played extremely well in the USA over the past few weeks, and they would each be deserving of a place in Monday's final. Colombia won their quarter-final in convincing fashion, hammering Panama 5-0. La Celeste's battle with Brazil went all the way as they won 4-2 on penalties.

When Marcelo Bielsa's side were reduced to 10 men in the 74th minute as Nahitan Nandez was shown a straight red card, there were fears that their Copa America journey would be coming to an end and their 13-year wait for a title would continue.

They managed to dig deep and take the tie to penalties. From there, they showed composure with their spot-kicks, with Jose Maria Gimenez the only Uruguayan to miss. Eder Militao missed Brazil's first penalty and then Douglas Luiz squandered their third.

It wasn't pretty but they got themselves through, and now they will be preparing for an even tougher clash with Colombia, who have looked sharp over the course of their four matches.

Los Cafeteros had five different players on the scoresheet in their routing of Panama, including their front three of Jhon Cordoba, Luis Diaz and James Rodriguez. They have now amassed 11 goals in four matches, so they will carry a great goal threat against Uruguay, but Bielsa's men themselves have scored nine, so I think there should be goals aplenty in North Carolina.

On paper, this match is a tough one to call, which is why I have not gone for a result-based selection, but I do think Colombia now have the edge following Nandez's suspension and fellow defender Ronald Araujo's injury.

I don't think goals will be in short supply and I am convinced we will see at least three on Thursday, so I think over 2.5 goals is certainly worth backing here. I was torn with backing this market or over 3.5 goals, which is at the more enticing price of 4/1, but I have gone for the more sensible selection.

There is no shortage of quality in attacking areas on either side, so this has all the makings to be a box office semi-final contest filled with goals. Cordoba, Diaz and Daniel Munoz have all scored twice at this tournament for Los Cafeteros, while Uruguay's Darwin Nunez and Maximiliano Araujo have both found the back of the net on two occasions. So there are going to be plenty of sharpshooters in action.

It is a shame that there won't be the chance of an additional 30 minutes of action, but I think we can still be satisfied with the events of regulation time. I think over 2.5 goals is the way to go here and that is my football bet of the day for Thursday.

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