Colombia faces Peru tonight in front of a sold-out MetLife Stadium in a quarterfinal Copa America Centenario matchup neither team expected. Colombia fell to second-place in Group A after resting most of its starters against Costa Rica in a 3-2 loss. For Peru, it's impressive the team made it out of their group, let alone winning Group B. Peru posted mediocre performances against Haiti and Ecuador, only to upset Brazil 1-0, winning with a handball goal that the referee didn't call. Tonight's winner will face the winner of Mexico vs Chile in the semifinal.
Aside from the loss to Costa Rica, Colombia has impressed throughout the tournament. In their opening match, Los Cafeteros beat the United States in a deserved 2-0 win. Colombia capitalized on the Americans' mistakes and scored an early goal before sealing the win with a penalty kick in the 40th minute. Los Cafeteros have scored at least two goals in each of their last six matches and are likely to continue that streak against Peru. The Colombians loss to Costa Rica ended up helping the side, whose second place finish means they won't face Argentina before the final.
Peru failed to impress in the team's first two group stage games. Against Ecuador, the team conceded a two goal lead and tied in their opening match before requiring a late goal to beat a weak Haitian side. Yet Peru has beat the odds in other editions of Copa America and will look to continue their run of luck tonight. The Peruvians were particularly fortunate against Brazil, with a controversial call deciding the game for Peru and eliminating the Brazilians. Peru benefited from a subpar performance form Brazil but the team also played better than the team performed in the first two games.
Despite the long odds against Peru, the team managed to tie Colombia last year in the group stage of Copa America. The last time the two teams met, Colombia beat Peru 2-0 in World Cup qualifiers.
Location: MetLife Stadim (East Rutherford, New Jersey)
Kick-off time: 8pm Eastern
Available TV: Fox Sports 1 (English), UniMás and Univision Deportes (Spanish)
Available streaming: Fox Sports Go, Fox Soccer 2 Go (English), Univision Deportes (Spanish)
For listings in other countries, check out LiveSoccerTV.com.