Paraguay and Peru will meet in a game that nobody wants to play in, the game for third place. These two teams are not new to this game, specially Peru, who finished third just four years ago in Argentina. Both teams have won this match seven times and Paraguay has lost it six times while La Bicolor only five.
This means that no team will be able to improve on what they accomplished four years ago. Gerardo Martino said that it was hard to coach against Paraguay in the semi-final, as he was the man that lead them to the final four years ago but they lost against Uruguay.
The game features a Paraguay side that completely lost itself against Argentina. In the first game of the competition, they tied with La Albiceleste 2-2, but things were completely different the second time around. Argentina had a 2-0 lead, shortened to 2-1 before halftime, but in the second half, Argentina was a machine and closed the game 6-1.
That poor defensive effort now makes them the team with the worst defense in the competition. They had only received four goals before that game and now they have ten goals against. The injury of Roque Santa Cruz is something that really seeemed to affect how the team of Ramon Diaz approached the second half.
Up until now, both teams that will take part in this game have scored six goals each. Someone will have to win this game, and a draw is obviously not allowed. Paraguay has 22 shots on goal so far, the third best in the competition. Peru falls a bit behind with 19.
When it comes to head to head games between these two teams, Paraguay leads the stats sheet. They have won 24, tied 13 and lost 11 of them. They have also outscored their upcoming rival by 72 to 50 goals scored in the matches between them.
Peru could have deserved to win the game they played against Chile. They were one man down for most of the semi-final game against the host nation. After only 20 minutes of play, Ricardo Garec had to change his whole plan. It almost worked as they were able to tie the game to one temporarily before falling 2-1 at the end.
Both teams like to play hard physical games. Paraguay has received 13 yellow cards while Peru follows them with 12. They might turn things down a knotch in a game that does not mean something as big as a final. Either way, pride could be a motivator for any side to show what made them get so far in this Copa America.
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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