USA vs. Uruguay: High Stakes at Copa America Tonight
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00:00So there is so much on the line tonight. Storylines, narratives, and of course the result that Team USA needs to advance into the round of 16 or the knockout round at Copa America. So, Anthony, let's start there. As we look at the match money line for tonight. USA, a slight favorite in the 90 minute match bet that you see on your screen. Uruguay, not all that far behind in the draw. Plus, 223 points.
00:28Prices separated by just 70 cents. Anthony, how do you describe the stakes for tonight in Kansas City?
00:36So the match has flipped toward the United States in the last five days. Before the Panama match, there were look ahead lines that had the United States as a small underdog roughly flip from what they are now.
00:48Uruguay was around plus 150. USA around plus 190. Now the market is baking in that Uruguay doesn't have a ton to play for here. They really just need to not lose by three plus goals to win the group.
01:00So there is some expected potential rotation maybe in the second half. Uruguay pulls some of their guys. They don't go all in for this game. There is a motivational advantage for the US.
01:11The market tends to overcorrect for these things, and I kind of think it has here because all the reports out of the Uruguayan camp are that they're going to play 10 of the 11 guys that they started in their win against Bolivia on Thursday.
01:24And our manager, Marcelo Bielsa, a legend of the game, kind of a master tactician, kind of this all in energy guy who inspires his team to press a lot. They're very aggressive out of possession.
01:35They're not a team that you would typically expect to really dial it back, so I don't know that the US is going to benefit really too much from Uruguay having only maybe in third gear, having their foot not quite on the pedal.
01:46That's just not really how Bielsa coaches his teams, so I do expect a full-bore Uruguay, especially in the first half, to go at the United States, and it creates an interesting matchup because we saw the US play Colombia in the pre-tournament friendly.
01:58They really struggled to deal with Colombia's pressure out of possession. US gave the ball away a ton in its own half, and that led to disaster. They lost 5-1.
02:07The US has to be better in possession. Their center backs, especially Chris Richards, somebody who has performed well in the Premier League, has not looked great at this tournament.
02:16I think him and kind of the other defensive midfielders have a lot – a really tall task tonight against this Uruguay pressure.
02:28.