Brazil will face Peru in the first semi-final of the 2021 Copa America, a repeat of the 2019 Copa America final. Both countries won their quarterfinal matches. Brazil advanced with a 1-0 victory over Chile, while Peru had to go to penalties to knock out Paraguay after a 3-3 stalemate.
Gabriel Jesus was sent off in Brazil’s triumph against Chile and will miss the semi-finals, but the team has a number of backups to replace him. Lucas Paqueta, who scored the game’s only goal in the quarterfinals, is the likely man to replace him after coming from the bench to score the only goal against Chile last time out.
These two teams have already met in this competition, with Brazil recording a thumping 4-0 win in their Group B match and continuing their 12-game unbeaten streak. Brazil have won 11 of those 12 matches, with nine of them featuring clean sheets.
Peru’s performance has improved as the competition has progressed. They haven’t lost since their devastating loss to Brazil, and they’ll be out to avenge not only that, but also the loss in the last edition’s final. They’ve won two and drawn two of their previous four games, scoring at least two goals in three of them, and have only kept one clean sheet in 14 games.
They will also be without Andre Carrilo, who was sent off against Paraguay in a game that they won on post-match penalties. After assisting on two goals against Paraguay, the absence of Carrilo will come as a huge miss for Peru. As the underdogs, Peru will almost play out to defend, with Gianluca Lapadula expected to start as the only striker in the absence of Carrilo.
