Paraguay will have to make do without star attackers Roque Santa Cruz and Derlis González for their Copa Amérca third-placed play-off against Peru.
Both players limped off during their 6-1 semi-final defeat at the hands of Argentina during the opening half-hour, with the former spraining his hamstring and the latter injuring his thigh.
Nelson Haedo Valdez is also a doubt with a thigh problem of his own, while Bruno Valdez is fighting for fitness with a similar issue, but Néstor Ortigoza may play after missing the last two matches with injury.
Paraguay could not repeat their heroics in their first Copa game, where they came back from two goals down to take a point off Argentina – suffering the heaviest defeat at this summer’s competition the second time around.
However, they at least managed to record a victory in this Copa edition against Jamaica, with their run to the final in 2011 occurring despite no wins in regulation and no goals scored in the knockout stages.
Ramón Díaz was happy with the effort put forth by his team this summer, and was convinced that they had turned over a new leaf after a disastrous 2014 World Cup qualification campaign where they finished last in the Conmebol section.
“The objectives for this Copa América were to get the group believing in themselves again, for them to have order and for them to be an organised national team in every sense,” he said to reporters. “So we are very satisfied.”
Peru don’t have anywhere near as comprehensive an injury list to contend with, as Jefferson Farfán is the only question mark after he was withheld from training on Wednesday to rest a sprained ankle.
Carlos Zambrano will also miss the fixture after his red card in the 2-1 loss to Chile, but otherwise, Ricardo Gareca should have a full-strength team to choose from.
Paolo Guerrero is expected to lead the line after his hat-trick against Bolivia in the quarter-finals. The Flamengo striker finished as top scorer at the last Copa thanks to another treble in this fixture four years ago.
Despite their numerical disadvantage against the tournament hosts, Los Incas made a good impression, but were undone in the end by Eduardo Vargas’ double.
It was only their second defeat of the tournament after a reverse to Brazil by a similar scoreline, with Peru also scoring in all but one of their games – a stalemate against Colombia.
Like Díaz, Gareca was also proud of his side’s achievements in Chile, telling reporters that he wants to use their encouraging form to spur a successful campaign to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
“We have the opportunity of finishing an even better position, third place. We have players of great quality in Peru. It’s key that they are motivated and they have shown that that they are,” he said.
“For both teams it is important to have a good Copa and prepare in the best way for the World Cup qualifiers.”
In their 47 previous meetings, Paraguay have emerged as winners 23 times to Peru’s 11 victories. They also played each other in the 2001 Copa in Colombia, where the points were split in a 3-3 group-stage result.
Bron: ca2015.com
