Mexico vs Jamaica Betting Tips & Predictions

Mexico are now hot favourites to top their Copa America group after an excellent start to their campaign against Uruguay. They led within five minutes after an Andres Guardado cross was diverted into the goal by Alvaro Pereira, and things got even better for them as they dominated the first half and saw an opposition player sent off.

The second half saw Uruguay exert more pressure on them, and things started to look bleak as Guardado was sent off after receiving a second yellow card and Diego Godin headed in the equaliser from the resulting free kick. From that point on it was all Uruguay, but Mexico didn’t give in and they struck a winning goal through a sublime strike from veteran defender Rafael Marquez. They netted another for good measure as the trailing team pushed hard for an equaliser.

This was Mexico’s 10th win on the bounce in all competitions and extended their unbeaten streak to an impressive 20 matches. The last match they lost was their final Copa America group game of last year’s competition.

Admittedly, some of these games have been against less than stellar opposition, but they have managed to beat the likes of Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay along with a draw in Argentina.

Jamaica’s opening game saw them on the wrong side of lady luck, unlike Mexico. They first went behind to a 15th minute Josef Martinez goal, and eight minutes later they saw their captain Rodolph Austin dismissed for a bad challenge. Despite this setback they remained upbeat and plucky and continued to search for an equaliser, but ultimately it was to no avail and they can count themselves unlucky to have not earned a point against Venezuela.

This was Jamaica’s 6th defeat in their last ten games in all competitions, and although they did manage to beat Chile in a friendly before the Copa America began they have still found themselves losing against the likes of Nicaragua and Panama during this run, and have also lost against Mexico too.

Mexico aren’t the greatest going forward though, and the absence of Guardado will be a huge hit to their creative chances. Jamaica are plucky and organised at the back as well and the presence of Wes Morgan is sure to be a boost for them if he plays. But Jamaica are much worse going forward and have scored just four goals in their last seven games.

This has resulted in five of Jamaica’s last eight games having fewer than three goals scored in them, and Mexico’s last seven outings have only seen three or more goals on two occasions. This, in combination with Guardado’s absence, makes odds of 4/5 for Under 2.5 Goals look very good value. I think Mexico will get the win though, so I’m backing a 1-0 correct score prediction at 9/2.