Uruguay and Peru will play for last place at semi-final

The teams of Uruguay and Peru will meet this Saturday in the quarterfinals of the CONMEBOL Copa América – Brazil 2019, seeking the last ticket to the next instance.

Both Uruguayans and Peruvians will meet at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador from 16:00 local time.

Uruguay had not qualified for the quarterfinals since Argentina-2011, when they were champions of America for the fifteenth time. In both Chile-2015 and the U.S. Centennial-2016, they were stuck in the group stage.

For Peru, on the other hand, a place in the quarter-finals means a place equal to that of three years ago, when they were knocked out by Colombia on penalties.

– A luxury Celeste –

La Celeste recovered the midfielder Lucas Torreira for the match against the Incas, absent against Chile because of a stomach-affliction.

The coach Óscar Tabárez can afford to have his stellar team in full condition to face this decisive Cup stage being confident that his devastating attackers, the lethal Suarez-Cavani duo, will continue making history in this tournament.

«Not to think of Peru would be to disrespect a country, a few colleagues. All the teams have grown, you don’t win with your jersey, you have to play the matches», said Federico Valverde, the young Real Madrid midfielder, who is expected to play as starter against Peru.

Uruguay have shown their potential despite a 2-2 draw with Japan. In their Group C presentation, they beat Ecuador 4-0 and, in the closing stage, beat La Roja 1-0.

– The smile is back-

The 5-0 loss to Brazil in the final Group A match brought an outpouring of critics to Peru, just a year after their best performances in the World Cup qualifiers against Russia after 36 years of absence.

The ‘Tiger’ Gareca took full responsibility for the reality of the «Blanquirroja», knowing that a victory over the Celeste may be the formula to return to a good time.

The Inca team began its journey through this Cup with a goalless draw against Venezuela, where it was superior but could not reflect in goals, which happened against Bolivia (2-1) in the second game.

«I don’t see Uruguay as a favorite. In the matches against them we have obtained good results or they too. Both teams have won and lost, everything is similar. There are no favorites» said Carlos Zambrano, who is about to return to the starting line-up after recovering from his injury.

Possible line-ups

Uruguay: Fernando Muslera – Giovanni González, José Marí Giménez, Diego Godín, Martín Cáceres – Lucas Torreira, Federico Valverde, Rodrigo Bentancur, Giorgian De Arrascaeta o Nicolás Lodeiro – Luis Suárez y Édinson Cavani.
Coach: Óscar Tabárez.

Peru: Pedro Gallese – Luis Advíncula, Carlos Zambrano, Luis Abram, Miguel Trauco – Renato Tapia, Yoshimar Yotún – André Carrillo, Christian Cueva, Edison Flores – Paolo Guerrero.
Coach: Ricardo Gareca.

Referee: Wilton Sampaio (BRA).