THE Copa America is about to get underway and some of the matches promise to be spicy with plenty of tasty tackles flying in.
Here we look at which matches could give punters a bit of value in the cards betting markets in the first round of group stage fixtures.
Why the Copa America cards betting market is worth exploring?
Latin American football is known for being passionate and there will be plenty of added spice with so much at stake in the USA. That makes the card betting market worth a look for punters and lots of Copa America group games have the potential to boil over.
Lots of the teams are familiar foes with South American World Cup qualifying pitting every team against each other in a league system. There will be some bad blood from the games already played in the 2026 qualifiers and scores to settle.
Most of the groups should be keenly contested and if you take Brazil and Argentina out of the mix, each match should be pretty close. That could make the card markets fertile ground for punters.
Which Copa America games could be of interest here?
Argentina vs Canada
The Canadians face a daunting opener against the world champions in Georgia and I'd imagine they will try to knock Lionel Messi and Co out of their stride.
If you give arguably the world's greatest ever player time on the ball it leads to disaster so the Canadians will be snapping at Messi's heels.
Going for Canadian cards looks the smart move here once the bookies offer some odds. Celtic defender Alistair Johnston has been great value for a booking in Old Firm games as he loves to charge into challenges. I'd imagine he'll adopt a similar approach for facing Argentina so he could be worth backing to go in the book.
Uruguay vs Panama
The Uruguayans have a reputation for being masters of the dark arts and few Scots have much affection for them after their brutal approach to securing a 0-0 draw at the 1986 World Cup.
The class of 2024 are a lot easier on the eye but can still get stuck in when the sparks start to fly. They've picked up three or more cards in four of their six World Cup qualifiers and their Copa America opener with Panama could be tasty.
The Panamanians had four players booked in their Gold Cup Final loss to Mexico last summer and will want to start with a bang. Stopper Jose Cordoba, who has just joined Norwich from Levski Sofia, was booked twice in six Conference League outings this term so could be a good option to go in the book.
Brazil vs Costa Rica
Costa Rica are rank outsiders for their opener against Brazil and they will probably try to knock the samba stars out of their stride.
The Central American side picked up two cards or more in all of their games at the Gold Cup last summer and that was against far less illustrious opposition.
Brazil's speedy forwards will run at the Costan Rican defence so going for cards could pay off in this one. Franciso Calvo has picked up five yellows in just 16 outings this term so looks the one most likely to go in the book.
I'm a sports journalist, football tipster and author from Dundee, who is now working in Glasgow. I've covered games at every level, from Junior football to internationals, and still love football even though it has clearly sold its soul. I've been in football tipping since 2018 with the MFT site.
