Mexico knew that qualifying for the knockout stages of Copa America would be tough. They sent an under-22 team to the tournament then had eight player suspended as part of a prostitution scandal, leaving them alarmingly short on attacking talent. If they were to advance though they were always going to need three points against Peru and now comes time to grab those three points against what was widely believed to be the worst team in Group C.
Widely believed to be the worst team in the group fo not, Peru went out in their opener and got an impressive 1-1 draw against Uruguay. Now they can put themselves in a golden position to move into the knockout stages with a win against Mexico. Breaking down a Mexican team that is solid at the back and playing with five defenders will be very tough though.
Mexico (5-4-1): Luis Michel; Darvin Chávez, Nestor Araujo, Hector Reynoso, Hiram Mier, Paul Aguilar; Diego Reyes, Jorge Enríquez, Javier Aquino, Giovano dos Santos; Rafael Márquez Lugo
Peru (4-2-3-1): Saloman Libman; Walter Vilchez, Santiago Acaslete, Giancarlo Carmona, Alberto Junior Rodriguez;Carlos Lobotan, Adan Balbin; Juan Manuel Vargas, Rinaldo Cruzado, Paolo Guerrero