Copa America: Bolivia and Peru Ready for the Fight

Bolivia vs Peru

The Copa America action is now coming thick and fast. Next up we have a crucial Group A clash between Bolivia and Peru at the Estadio do Maracana.

Landing in a group with hosts Brazil — the hot favourites in the Copa America 2019 betting odds — was always going to present a problem for the other teams. Realistically, there’s only one knockout place left to go for.

On paper, Peru are the stronger of these two sides with their experienced and proven attack, while Bolivia are on a winless streak of eight games, stretching back to 2018. And few of their players have experience outside the country’s own domestic league.

But with Bolivia having got the toughest game out of the way and Peru drawing with Venezuela in their opener, there’s still all to play for.

Talking Points

Bolivia need to improve…and quickly

A 3-0 defeat to Brazil in the tournament curtain-raiser was no surprise, but after reaching half-time all square the Bolivians will feel a little disappointed to have lost so comfortably.

They defended sloppily and allowed Philippe Coutinho a double early in the second half. But they could do nothing about a brilliant solo effort from Everton, which is already top of the pile in the Copa America 2019 highlights reel.

Bolivia only managed one shot on target throughout the 90 minutes, but they got to half-time unscathed thanks to some committed defending.

Fernando Saucedo was lucky when he stuck his arm into Marcelo and the Brazilian reacted, but VAR adjudged the midfield player to be innocent of an elbow and he got away with a yellow card. The delay allowed Bolivia to regroup and so they did.

They finally gave in in the second half, and against Peru they need to show more fortitude. But they will be encouraged by Peru’s failure to beat Venezuela, which leaves the group wide open.

Copa America: Can Bolivia midfielder Fernando Saucedo help his team to win against Peru? — The referee shows a yellow card to Fernando Saucedo during the Copa America match between Bolivia and Brazil

Peru’s old stagers

Ranked 21^st in the world according to FIFA, the Incas of Peru are a full 41 places ahead of their opponents, and Ricardo Gareca’s team has plenty of attacking prowess at its disposal.

At the ripe old age of 35, Paolo Guerrero is Peru’s record goalscorer with 35 from 94 international games and he’s still going strong. As is 34-year-old Lokomotiv Moscow frontman Jefferson Farfan, who has 26 goals in 91 games. These two will give the Bolivian rearguard a serious examination.

And Peru has the creative talent to back up the two strikers. Winger Raul Ruidaz plies his trade in MLS at Seattle Sounders and has an eye for the killer pass.

Meanwhile, midfield artisan Christian Cueva is the most naturally-gifted player in Gareca’s side; he has 56 appearances and has weighed in with ten goals. If Cueva takes hold of the midfield, then Peru will prosper.

But for all their attacking prowess, the Incas couldn’t break down a stubborn Venezuela team despite their opponents playing the last 15 minutes with ten men.

They had plenty of chances, laying siege to the Venezuela goal throughout the second half, but their strikers were wasteful in front of goal and had two goals chalked off for offside.

Gareca will hope his team has gotten that one out of its system and can be more ruthless in the penalty area against Bolivia.

Since taking over in 2015, he has overseen some encouraging success, taking Peru to third place in the 2015 Copa America and to the Russia 2018 World Cup. And a win against Bolivia could well see his team progress in this tournament.

History

Eduardo Villegas knows his Bolivia side is the underdog, and the head-to-heads are in the Incas’ favour with six wins to three in their 15 meetings since 2004.

Recent history is in Peru’s favour too. While Gareca’s side is in patchy form – winning two, losing three and drawing one of the last six – Bolivia have lost four on the bounce, and are winless in three against Peru. They most recently lost 2-1 in a World Cup qualifier back in 2017.

Betting Tip

	Bolivia vs Peru	Peru First Half 1X2 @ 2.29
	June 19, 05:30 (GMT+8)

The latest SBOBET odds point to a Peru win, with the Incas odds-on at 1.56 to come out on top. Bolivia is available at 5.60 while the draw is 3.55.

Both teams will be desperate to get a crucial win, which will give them an excellent chance of progressing.

Peru, who are still to play Brazil, will be especially up for this game. They have the players to hurt Bolivia and will still be smarting after failing to pierce the Venezuela defence.

Bolivia did well to hold out for 45 minutes against Brazil but I can’t see them doing that again.

I see a comfortable win for the Incas and, for an alternative bet, you can get odds of 6.00 on a 0-2 Peru win.