Even before the tournament started the two teams were predicted a battle for the third place in the group, although Peru have gained the upper hand over Mexico by taking one point from the Uruguay game. With both sides looking for a win, we could easily see a very open game.

Juan Manuel Vargas is back

Peru have long been considered one of the weakest sides in South America, but La Blanquirroja can no longer be considered pushovers. The team have encountered numerous problems during the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, but they have shown a lot of improvement under coach Sergio Markarian and are now in a position to fight for the place in the Copa America quarter-finals. Considering that Peru had arrived to the tournament without key players Jeferson Farfan and Claudio Pizarro, nobody thought they could get anything from the opening game against Uruguay, but La Blanquirroja managed to earn one point that puts them in a good stead before the Mexico game. Peru now have a great chance to secure their place in the quarter-finals by beating very inexperienced Mexico side and they certainly look like favourites here.

Key player Juan Manuel Vargas has shaken off a thigh problem and he should return to the starting line-up, while Raul Fernandez, Alberto Rodriguez, Carlos Lobaton and Rinaldo Cruzado are all available despite picking up minor knocks against Uruguay.

Mexico destined for failure

Had Mexico taken their strongest side to Argentina, they would have been considered one of the favourites for the trophy, but the reality is that this El Tri side are one of the weakest at the tournament. When the national team bosses decided to take the Under-22 side, reinforced with several unproven senior players, to Argentina, they still had some very good players in the squad, but then no less than eight players from the original squad were sent home because of their involvement in the prostitution scandal, so we can safely say that this is not even the strongest possible Under-22 side. As a result, El Tri were completely outplayed by Chile and were lucky not to record a heavy defeat, so I can’t see how they will fare much better against Peru.

Coach Luis Fernando Tena should field a similar line-up to that which started the Chile game, although Oribe Peralta should replace Javier Aquino in the starting 11.

Verdict

The game against Uruguay showed that Peru are not in Argentina only to make up numbers and they have a good chance of getting something from this game. The inexperienced Mexico side don’t look ready for such a big tournament and they look highly unlikely to make it to the next stage.

Our prediction: Peru with 0:0 Asian handicap

Odds: 1.72 (18/25)

Bookmaker: 188BET