PERU v URUGUAY
Football : Copa America 2011 : Semi-Final
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011 - Kickoff 9:45PM GMT

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PERU

Peru are one of four teams not expected to be in the tournament at this stage. That's right, all 4 underdogs won their quarter-final matches and instead of Colombia, Peru will play for a place in the finals.

Peru adjusted their game well for Colombia, who finished ahead of Argentina in the group stage. Knowing they would come undone if they tried to match Colombia's gameplan, Peru sat back and soaked it up, and got lucky too. Falcao was handed the opportunity to score from the penalty spot but it was not to be. They say the harder you work, the luckier you get. Peru certainly defended with all they got and so the luck does not surprise me. If anything, maybe keeping the Colombians out for that long got to them mentally?

An error from the keeper gave Peru the chance to score and they took it with aplomb. With Peru leading 1-0 it was obvious they would get a chance to score on the break as Colombia went for the equaliser. That is exactly what happened. What I'm saying is Peru took the few chances they had and made the most of it, after frustrating Colombia's gameplan. It will be harder doing that against Uruguay, who did very well last year in the World Cup.

URUGUAY

This was supposed to be the host nations spot in the draw but Argentina were knocked out by an inspired and hardworking Uruguay in the quarter-finals. The game saw 2 players sent off to go to penalties with the score 1-1 with 10 men left per side. Argentina missed just 1 penalty kick but it was enough to see them bow out.

Uruguay too adjusted their style to make sure they were able effectively derail their opponents. They defended beautifully but not before they flew out the traps and jumped into the lead when Argentina was expecting them to ease themselves into the game. Uruguay threw caution to the wind and pounced on the hosts, and it worked. I see them doing something similar against Peru and goals could come very early indeed.

Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez are huge threats going forward as we saw in the last match, and indeed at the World Cup. They have very recent big match experience and that will count for a lot against Peru, who have come further than they should have. Muslera, the keeper for Uruguay, was in top form against Argentina and gave a great account for himself in allowing Argentina just the one goal.

BETTING VERDICT

I can't see Peru upsetting Uruguay here. There is small chance this game could go to extra time but in the end I can see only Uruguay moving forward.

The Pick :

Uruguay

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Uruguay to win @ 1.85 (Pinnacle)