The first semi-final of the Copa América is known as the ‘Clásico of the Pacific’, and sees Chile take on Peru with the tag of favorite on the host nation despite the setback of having Gonzalo Jara sanctioned for three games after the incident with Edson Cavani.
The days building up to tonight’s game have been overshadowed by the incident and Chilean coach, Sampaoli must do without the Mainz 05 player for the rest of the tournament.
The statistics side with the home nation too. Chile has never lost at home to Peru in an official match. The last Peru win over Chile was in 1993 and in the last 10 matches between both nations, Chile have won on nine occasions.
Peru will be looking to upset the record books however. Their excellent performance against Bolivia, with a fantastic performance from Guerrero, showed what Peru are capable of. “I’ve played against Sánchez and Vargas in Europe and they’re no big deal”, observed Juan Vargas.
Sampaoli’s team is taking nothing for granted. “I see Peru playing a patient waiting game. They’ll wait for the game to tick along and will look to their star players. It’s up to us to dictate the direction of the match”, added the Chilean coach.
Follow the Copa América timetable here.
And the day-to-day fixtures here.