Arlington (Texas, USA), June 20 (EFE).- The teams of Peru and Chile, with two titles each in the Copa América, will begin their journey through the edition that is held in the United States with the slogan of show the fruits of the renewal and leave behind its hitherto discolored performance in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
A separate duel will be experienced from the benches of both teams, due to the still current memory of the work that the Argentine Ricardo Gareca did at the time with the Blanquirroja, in the face of the hopes renewed with the arrival of the Uruguayan Jorge Fossati to a weakened Peruvian team. .
Fossati officially debuts with Peru in Copa América
Under Fossati’s command, the Incas drew goalless with Paraguay and beat El Salvador 0-1 in two friendlies prior to the Copa América.
The meeting with Chile will be the first official one for the Uruguayan, whose team is bottom of the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup with four losses and two draws.
It is likely that the Uruguayan will combine in the starting eleven the experience of players such as goalkeeper Pedro Gallese, from the American Orlando City, or the top scorer and Peruvian captain Paolo Guerrero, who plays in his local league, with the impetus of youngsters such as Piero Quispe , from the Mexican Pumas.
The Italian-Peruvian Gianluca Lapadula is also expected to start, another of the experienced players in the Blanquirroja who plays for the Italian Cagliari and who could partner on the offensive line with Edison Flores, from the University of Peru.
Chile’s challenge
For its part, Chile, which occupies eighth of ten places in the South American qualifiers, comes into the match with a tally of two victories, 0-3 against Albania and 3-0 against Paraguay, and a 3-2 defeat against France , in the friendlies prior to the tournament achieved under the command of ‘Tigre’ Gareca.
Everything suggests that the Argentine will wait until the last minute to find out what condition the experienced goalkeeper Claudio Bravo is in, who could not play the 90 minutes of the friendly with Paraguay due to a discomfort in a knee that has kept him in differentiated training for this meeting.
AMERICA’S CUP | The 4 of group A: The champion, two usual protagonists and a debutant
If the former Spanish Real Betis goalkeeper fails to recover, the Chile coach could include the Argentine-Chilean Gabriel Arias, from the Racing Club of Argentina, in the starting eleven.
Vargas and Sánchez will lead Chile’s attack in the Copa América
It is likely that La Roja’s attacks will be led by Brazilian Atlético Mineiro striker Eduardo Vargas, and the experienced Alexis Sánchez, from Inter Milan.
Bravo is not the only one of concern in the Chilean ranks, for example Guillermo Maripán, from French Monaco, also has physical problems and it is likely that his place in the defense will be covered by Igor Lichnovsky, who plays for América in Mexico.
Peru and Chile make up group A of the cup along with Argentina and Canada.
Probable lineups:
| Peru | Pedro Gallese; Aldo Corzo, Carlos Zambrano, Alexander Callens, Luis Advíncula, Marcos López; Wilder Cartagena, Piero Quispe, Sergio Peña; Gianluca Lapadula and Edison Flores. |
| Chili | Claudio Bravo; Mauricio Isla, Igor Lichnovsky, Paulo Díaz, Gabriel Suazo; Erick Pulgar, Marcelino Núñez, Darío Osorio, Víctor Dávila; Alexis Sánchez and Eduardo Vargas. |
| Referee | Wilton Sampaio – Brazil |
| Stadium | AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas. |
| Hour | 19:00 local time (00:00 GMT on Saturday). |
