Coming to the Copa America tournament on the back of the fourth-place finish at the 2010 World Cup, Uruguay are rightly considered one of the favourites for the trophy. Peru, on the other hand, look weaker than ever and with several key players out through injuries, they don’t have much to hope for at the moment.

Can anyone stop Forlan, Cavani and Suarez?

There was a time when Uruguay would struggle to qualify for the major tournaments, but that time has long gone as la Celeste are now on the right track to return to old glory days. The uptrend in fortunes coincided with the arrival of former Boca and Milan coach Oscar Tabarez, who has made this team playing the way football is meant to be played. With Suarez, Forlan and Cavani up front, Uruguay clearly have enormous attacking potential, but they remain rock solid at the back as each and every player is working hard for the team’s cause. That kind of approach was the main reason behind the impressing showing at the 2010 World Cup, so nobody can say that Uruguay didn’t deserve the fourth place at the biggest football competition in the world. Now, la Celeste are expected to keep the rich vein of form and start their Copa America campaign with a comfortable win over Peru.

Coach Oscar Tabarez has already announced the team to start against Peru, with la Celeste set to line up in 4-3-3 formation.

Tough times for Peru

Peru have long been considered one of the weakest sides in South America and not even the emergence of players like Claudio Pizarro, Jeferson Farfan, Juan Manuel Vargas and Paolo Guerrero could help Inca improve their fortunes. Following the disappointing performances in the World Cup 2010 qualifiers that saw them finish bottom of the South American group, Peru showed some improvement in the warm up games leading to this tournament, but in all fairness their opponents were way below the standard of the teams at Copa America. After key players Jeferson Farfan and Claudio Pizarro pulled out through injuries, coach Sergio Markarian has got a tough job on his hands, as this Peru side simply lack the quality to match the best sides in South America.

Farfan and Pizarro didn’t even make the squad, while Juan Manuel Vargas is a major doubt for the Uruguay game.

Verdict

The 2010 World Cup showed that Uruguay are rightly considered one of the best sides in the world and la Celeste should have no problems against weak Peru. Inca are missing two key players and with Juan Manuel Vargas unlikely to feature they have nothing to look for in this clash.

Our prediction: Uruguay with -1.25 Asian handicap

Odds: 1.97 (32/33)

Bookmaker: 188BET