Five-time World Cup champions Brazil will take the field on June 22 against Peru for their third and final Group-A match of the 2019 Copa America in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A Neymar-less Brazil played out a goalless draw against Venezuela at Salvador. Though their performance was not praise-worthy, three of their goals were dismissed and two of the decisions were taken by the VAR. The Selecao had to face the wrath of the home fans who were booing at the end of the match.
Brazil started this Copa America suffering a major setback as their star striker Neymar Jr was ruled out of the tournament just before the oldest continental competition started. Their performance was not up to the standards in the first match, still they won 3-0, with goals from Philippe Coutinho and Everton Suarez. But in the second group fixture, they could break the deadlock. Brazil played the whole match having an upper hand on Venezuela with almost 70 per cent possession but they could not break through the gritty Venezuelan defence. The Yellow and Green brigade's coach Tite needs to rethink about his strategy and take the match against Peru seriously. Though they have almost confirmed a birth in the knockout stages, still they will want to qualify as the group leader. Gabriel Jesus may get a start in this match in place of Roberto Firmino.
On the other hand, Peru played out a goalless draw against Venezuela as they failed to break the deadlock even having a 10-man Venezuela team against them for the last 15 minutes. They defeated Bolivia quite convincingly in their second fixture of the group stage with goals from Paulo Guerrero, Jefferson Farfan, Edison Flores. The Peruvian side will like to upset the hosts and qualify as the group leader.
The other match of the day is between Venezuela and Bolivia. After holding the Selecao for a goalless draw in Salvador they will pray that there is a winner in the Brazil-Peru match so that if they win they will qualify for the next stage of the tournament. Bolivia are out of the running so the Vinotinto will have the upper hand in the match.
The Brazil-Peru match will start at 4 PM on June 22, according to local time and 12.30 AM, June 23, according to IST. The Venezuela-Bolivia match will start at 4 PM on June 22 according to local time and 12.30 AM, June 23 according to IST.
