Day two of the 2024 Copa America begins on Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with Peru battling Chile in Group A action.

La Bicolor are unbeaten in 2024, winning their final tune-up match before this tournament, 1-0, over El Salvador, while Chile won their previous friendly, 3-0, against Paraguay.

Match preview

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Peru will begin their Copa America campaign in solid form, currently on a five-match unbeaten run across all competitions.

Near the end of 2023, the Peruvian Football Federation brought in an experienced coach, Jorge Fossati, who has recently transformed the fortunes of this team.

Before the 71-year-old took charge, the Peruvians were on a seven-match winless run in all competitions, with six of those encounters ending in defeat.

That poor form has hurt their chances of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, as they are currently at the bottom of the CONMEBOL table with just two points from six matches.

Fossati has won three of his four matches in charge, with his side conceding only once under his leadership (4-1 win over the Dominican Republic).

The last time the Copa America took place in the United States was in 2016, when Peru won their group for the only time this century, going unbeaten in that portion of the competition.

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A familiar face to many of these Peruvian players has built up some momentum since taking charge of Chile in January of this year.

Ricardo Gareca guided Peru to an appearance at the 2018 World Cup, their first since 1982, and he has won two of his three matches as coach of La Roja, with their only defeat being in a friendly versus 2022 World Cup runners-up France (3-2).

Under his guidance this team have scored eight goals in three matches across all competitions, as many as they managed in their previous eight encounters combined.

La Roja have only lost one match since 2020 when scoring the opening goal, which was the aforementioned defeat versus France earlier this year.

While they have not qualified for a World Cup since 2014, the Chileans will have fond memories of the previous Copa America held in the US, when they lifted the trophy for a second successive occasion.

In their previous meeting with Peru last October, La Roja triumphed 2-0, though the last time these sides met at the Copa America, Los Incas ended Chile's hopes of a third consecutive title by beating them 3-0 in the semi-finals.

Team News

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Fossati selected an experienced squad for this tournament, with reserve goalkeeper Diego Romero the only one without a senior cap for Peru, while Andre Carrillo can reach the century mark for international appearances in this match and Christian Cueva is two away from achieving that same feat.

Andy Polo is five appearances away from 50, Carlos Zambrano needs three more to hit 75, while first-choice goalkeeper Pedro Gallese reached 106 caps in their friendly versus El Salvador, moving beyond Hector Chumpitaz for fifth all-time.

Edison Flores had the only goal in their previous encounter this month, drawing even with Cueva and former striker Franco Navarro for 10th all-time, but well back of record goalscorer Paolo Guerrero (39), while Gianluca Lapadula led this team with three strikes at the previous Copa America.

The only uncapped player on the Chilean squad is Thomas Galdames, while Erick Pulgar can reach 50 if he features on Friday and Guillermo Maripan is three away from that same mark.

Claudio Bravo needs two more appearances to hit 150, putting the goalkeeper third on this national team's all-time list, while Eduardo Vargas can move beyond Jean Beausejour and into seventh should he make his 110th appearance in this match.

Victor Davila netted a brace in their victory over Paraguay, his second and third for the national team, with Vargas netting the other one, the 42nd for him in a Chilean shirt, good for second all-time behind record cap holder Alexis Sanchez (51).

Peru possible starting lineup:
Gallese; Callens, Zambrano, Abram; Advincula, Pena, Cartagena, Castillo, Lopez; Lapadula, Guerrero

Chile possible starting lineup:
Bravo; Isla, Maripan, Diaz, Suazo; Nunez, Pulgar; Davila, Sanchez, Valdes; Vargas

We say: Peru 0-2 Chile

Gareca developed many players still featuring for Peru, and he would know best how to break down their solid defensive structure.

We believe that Chile have faced stiffer competition throughout the year when compared to the Peruvians, and we expect that will be a great benefit to them heading into this encounter.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Joel Lefevre

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