Uruguay are looking to secure their 16th Copa America trophy, and their next step is Saturday's quarter-final match against Peru at Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador. Uruguay have dominated the direct meetings between these two sides in recent years, winning four of the last six. However, Peru have won the last direct match 2-1 in 2017, a result which eventually allowed them to play at the 2018 World Cup.
Uruguay are still the most successful team in the history of this competition, they have won it fifteen times and played another six finals. The last time they won the trophy was in 2011, when the defeated Paraguay in the final. They had a very good tournament so far, starting with a commanding 4-0 victory over Ecuador and wrapping up the group stage with a 1-0 win over Chile. In between those two games Uruguay recorded a somewhat unexpected 2-2 draw against Japan. Diego Laxalt is an injury concern ahead of this match, he will most likely be replaced by Giovanni Gonzalez and Martin Caceres will be moved on the left flank.
Peru have won the Copa America twice, the first time was all the way back in 1939 and the second was in 1975. They finished third both in 2011 and 2015 and in 2016 they reached the quarter-finals. This time they started with a goalless draw against Venezuela, then recorded a 3-1 victory over Bolivia before getting hammered 5-0 by host nation Brazil. They finished third in Group A but first in the ranking of all third-placed teams, and that allowed them to move on to the last eight.
Probable line-ups:
Uruguay: Muslera - Gonzalez, Gimenez, Godin, Caceres - Nadez, Torreira, Bentancur, Lodeiro - Cavani, Suarez
Peru: Gallese - Advincula, Zambrano, Abram, Trauco - Yotun, Tapia - Polo, Farfan, Cueva - Guerrero
My prediction:
Uruguay are the better side and they are in very good shape at this tournament, I believe they will win this match 2-0.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Uruguay win - 1.61
Draw - 3.75
Peru win - 5.50
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