Tonight, Canada plays perhaps its highest-level knockout game in its history, looking to advance to the semifinals of the 2024 Copa America. After finishing second in Group A, they face Venezuela for the opportunity to set up a rematch against superpower Argentina. They’ll have to do it short-handed, but perhaps a little bit inspired to come out with a character win.
9:00 p.m. ET Headliner: Venezuela vs. Canada
| Venezuela Win | +200 | Canada Win | +172 | Draw | +210 |
| Over 2.5 Goals | +125 | Under 2.5 Goals | -154 | Broadcast | TSN |
Canada celebrated last Saturday after a 0-0 draw against Chile sent them through the group stage, ultimately giving them the second seed in Group A, which featured themselves, Chile, Peru, and Argentina. It wasn’t the prettiest result. In fact, one could call it a bit of a slog-fest, but it was one where they got the job done, playing rough yet keeping their own composure. No more obvious sign of this came than when they were able to draw Gabriel Suazo into a second yellow card in the 27th minute, allowing Canada the majority of the game with a man advantage, made even better when Chile had to resort to a defensive sub to offset their loss.
This meant Canada was still in tough to score, but it limited Chile’s odds of putting on pressure, which worked to their advantage. Canada really opened up the game late with their substitutions, with players like Liam Millar and Tajon Buchanan not just having better showings than they had earlier in the group stage, but facilitating plays that kept the game in the Chilean end. It didn’t result in a goal – Tani Oluwaseyi was the closest, though he was ultimately ruled offside on his tally – but it was enough to secure a result.
Unfortunately, the biggest bit of adversity going into tonight involves one of the aforementioned subs. In practice earlier this week, Buchanan suffered a major injury, breaking his tibia. Thankfully for the Tajon, his surgery was successful. While his tournament is obviously over, he’ll continue to stay with the team for the rest of the journey and the hope is that this can be a rallying point.
On the other side, Venezuela looks due to be a formidable threat, turning a lot of heads in the last three weeks with a clean sweep of Group B. They kicked things off with a 2-1 win over Ecuador, pulled out a 1-0 upset against Mexico, and scored on every shot on target in a 3-0 victory over Jamaica. They join Argentina and Uruguay as the only perfect teams remaining in the tournament.
Canada has a slight edge over Venezuela on the global rankings, sitting at 48th vs. their 54th. They’ll have to hope that their defensive group is up to the task of shutting down Salomon Rondon and Eduard Bello and that Jonathan Osorio can win the surname battle against Yordan Osorio. Like Canada, Venezuela has a new generation of young stars injecting new life into its program.
Neither side is all too familiar with each other. Canada and Venezuela have only faced each other twice in their history, in 2007 and 2010. The friendlies both ended as draws, meaning that someone will get their first win tonight.
Game Bets To Consider
- Betano is offering enhanced odds on Alphonso Davies to contribute to the scoresheet tonight – be it a goal or an assist. Normally, the combo would come in at +230, but for now, you can get it at +255. Phonzie is overdue for a “legacy game” as the team’s best, most gifted player ever. Perhaps the pressure has been higher at times, but you’d like him to step up here. Factoring in on a goal would be huge.
- The books favour an under on total goals here, and I tend to agree, to the tune of a -154 bet on under 2.5 goals. Canada’s games have combined for just three goals (one for, two against) across the group stage, so matching or exceeding that all in one night would be a surprise.
Bet on Venezuela vs. Canada
VEN +200
CAN +172
Latest 2024 Copa America Futures Odds
Here are the latest 2024 Copa America Futures odds, heading into the matches on July 5th:
| Team |  | Last Match | Team | | Last Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | -143 | +180 | Venezuela | +3400 | +5900 |
| Brazil | +425 | +255 | Canada | +5900 | +5900 |
| Uruguay | +550 | +400 | Panama | +17400 | +19990 |
| Colombia | +700 | +650 |
Argentina took a big jump for many bookmakers yesterday by being the first team to advance to the Semi-Finals and having a less worrisome path to the final. Brazil and Uruguay see big drops simply because they’ll face each other on Saturday. Neither is an easy opponent for the other, but we’ll see a big bump for whoever gets out of that match.
