The 2021 Copa America has reached its final stretch with the third-place playoff and the final taking place at the end of the week. Peru and Colombia kick off the action with the former looking to secure a fourth top-three finish in the last five additions of the tournament.
Bookmaker 10Bet has the odds at 2.60 for Peru to grab the third spot and at 1.43 for Colombia to get it. The odds are at 1.90 for Colombia to win in 90 minutes and at 4.45 for Peru to celebrate at full time.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: July 8th, 6:00 P.M. (EST)
Peru faced an uphill battle at the tournament after manager Ricardo Gareca was forced to leave two of the team’s biggest stars Jefferson Farfan and Paolo Guerrero off the squad due to injuries, but the Incas have shown great team spirit to fight through adversity.
Things got off to an ugly start for Gareca’s men when they lost the tournament opener 4-0 to Brazil, but they bounced back quickly to beat Colombia 2-1 and a nice run followed all the way to the semifinals.
Taking another loss from Brazil at the final four stage was tough, but the team did much better in a 1-0 loss and should still feel pretty good about their performance at the tournament overall. On another day, things might’ve even turned out completely different in the semis as Peru was forced to play without Andre Carrillo who was suspended for the clash.
The former Sporting and Benfica man delivered two assists in a quarterfinals victory over Paraguay, but also picked up two yellow cards. He’s carried the offense with Farfan and Guerrero missing, adding two goals to the assists.
The tournament has also been something of a coming-out party for Gianluca Lapadula who has registered two goals and one assist. The Italy-born striker has bags of Serie A experience and looks like a great addition for Peru who always seem to do well at the Copa America but rarely plays at the World Cup.
Colombia have amazingly reached the third-place playoff despite winning only once in normal time. It was a 1-0 triumph over Ecuador in their tournament opener.
With both James Rodríguez and Radamel Falcao out of the lineup, the Coffee Growers have struggled to score goals, but Brazil needed a 10th-minute injury-time winner to beat them and Argentina only managed to do it via a penalty shootout.
The team looks to be going through some growing pains right now after Reinaldo Rueda was brought in this year as a new manager. Colombia have won only twice in eight games with him in charge but one of the victories was a 3-0 success over Peru in the World Cup qualifiers.
