Group B of the Copa America Centenario begins in Seattle in the early hours of Sunday morning UK time when two of the lesser nations get their chance on the big stage as Haiti take on Peru.
With Brazil and Ecuador in the group losing this match isn’t an option if either of these want a realistic chance of making it into the knockout stages so that might lead to a few nerves and maybe a tighter affair than we’d like as neutrals.
Haiti
The North American nation made it into the quarter finals of the Gold Cup last year and that set up a clash with Trinidad & Tobago for the right to play in this tournament and surprisingly that was a match they came through so there are signs that in the really important matches they find something.
A look at the squad doesn’t immediately yield much help in how much quality we can expect from them. They have a couple of players from the French top flight but then they have half a dozen or so who are from the lower levels in the United States and that highlights the size of the task for them in this tournament.
Peru
Each time the Copa America comes around you look at this Peru side and expect them to struggle especially when they get away from altitude but they were third in the tournament last year and the event before that so maybe we should heed that warning and not write them off this time around.
Paolo Guerrero is the star man for this side but they do have other quality in the form of Christian Cueva and Yoshimar Yotun but this is primarily a young, home based squad so it will be interesting to see how they get on at this level.
Team news
Haiti will be captained by the Reims keeper Johnny Placide with all eyes on Kervens Belfort up front to see if he can fire the goals needed to keep them competitive. Jean Sony Alcenat is going to need to be counted in the defence.
Peru’s hopes were hit when Jefferson Farfan was ruled out of the tournament and while he might not be missed in this match I’m sure he will be at some point in the tournament. That adds extra significance to the form of Paolo Guerrero but he has come up trumps in this competition before.
Betting
These two have met four times in the past with Peru winning twice and there being two draws but they haven’t met since 2003 so I don’t think they have any relevance anymore. The game has changed a lot since then so I’m going to go on the here and now.
Haiti are an improving nation but I’m not convinced they are at Peru’s level just yet. It might not be pretty for Peru given the absolute must win nature of this for them but whether they do it the easy way or the hard way I do think they’ll get the job done.
In big matches you tend to find the big players stand up and be counted and the biggest players used to being on the bigger stages belong to Peru and that can be the difference here.
Tips
WON – Back Peru to beat Haiti for a 4/10 stake at 1.70 with Coral
Back them here:
