Copa America 2020 Group A: Peru Knocks Hosts Out; Guatemala Tops Group A

The following article provides an oversight for matches and tournaments taking place in 2020.

Peru Knocks Hosts Out; Guatemala Tops Group A

June 27, 2020

Peru 2 Colombia 1

 

Peru produced the unthinkable in their final Copa America 2020 Group match by defeating hosts Colombia and leaving them on the bottom of the group, while Guatemala subdued Mexico after their six-goal rampage by a single goal to win Group A.

 

Peru, needing to win against Colombia, made changes, with Paolo Guerrero benched, as well as Luis Abram.

 

Colombia had to reshuffle their defence, with both Yerry Mina and Davinson Sánchez having a break on the bench.

 

The tournament hosts looked the more dangerous of the two sides early as James Rodríguez tried scoring whilst being surrounded by multiple defenders.

 

The next 25 minutes were played in the middle of the park before Daniel Zapata’s chip shot missed the mark.

 

Instead, the 38th minute saw Peru go ahead with a crack down the right wing and a volley by Andy Polo to gift his side the vital lead.

 

Rodríguez nearly equalised immediately, only to just miss the goals with his header. Zapata also had a half chance go begging as he could not get enough power on his shot.

 

Instead, the levelling goal came via Gustavo Cuéllar, who snuck behind the Peruvian defence while they were all attending other players and made no mistake from close range.

 

Zapata had a wild swing from long range, but it looked like neither side would break the deadlock.

 

In the 89th minute, Rodríguez nearly did, but missed to the left of goal. Instead, Guerrero came off the bench to score with his head in injury time and give Peru the ultimate boost in reaching the Quarter Finals.

 

All eyes turned to the other match to see if Peru would progress with Mexico.

 

Guatemala 1 Mexico 0

 

Mexico gifted Rodolfo Pizarro a break, while Guatemala’s Jose Martínez came onto the bench.

 

Free kicks became the order of the first thirteen minutes, before Raul Jiménez ran through the Guatemalan defence with his larger frame bullying them out of the way and hit the woodwork.

 

However, Guatemala stunned the Mexicans with a quick goal from Stheven Robles.

 

Jiménez nearly responded straightaway, hitting the woodwork again but this time with his header.

 

Mexico blocked like crazy in defence before attacking via Jesús Manuel Corona, who chipped the goalkeeper, only to miss the mark. Corona had a similar attempt, only for it to be saved.

 

Orbelin Pineda had a shot for Mexico straight after the break instead of chipping from the tight angle. From there, though, Guatemala held firm for the win, their second of the tournament.

 

Guatemala will take on the second place of Group B, and Mexico will face the winner. Peru and Colombia, meanwhile, miss out on the Quarter Finals.

 

	Group A	Pl	W	D	L	Pts	GD
1	Guatemala	3	2	0	1	6	-1
2	Mexico	3	1	1	1	4	+4
3	Peru	3	1	1	1	4	0
4	Colombia	3	1	0	2	3	-3