Peru's National Team has a lot to consider prior to the commencement of Copa America Centenario 2016. At the Official Draw in New York City Sunday night, La Blanquirroja, led by Argentine head coach Ricardo Gareca, found out who would be named their group stage rivals in the big tournament that will be hosted by the United States this summer.
La Blanquirroja's Opponents
Haiti Not A Completely Unfamiliar Challenger
Peru's debut rival to be played Seattle is an uncertain one, knowing that Haiti and its soccer program have changed a lot since they last faced Peru.
Do not forget how Haiti overcame the group stages of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup. They showed great resilience in that competition; however, it was just a matter of time before Jamaica sent their sea-neighbors back home in a very grueling quarterfinal match.
This will not be the first time that Los Incas will be meeting the Caribbean side. Back in 2003, Peru and Haiti met in Lima for a friendly match, one in which La Blanquirroja crushed Les Rouge et Bleus by a score of 5-1.
Now, led by French coach Patrice Neveu, the Haitians are hoping to make an impressive run as the underdogs in this heavily-contested international tournament. Peru and Haiti will kick off June 4th.
Ecuador A Lost Historic Rival
Throughout the 1990s, Peru and Ecuador heightened and almost embittered their rivalry due political and conflict reasons, with La Blanquirroja usually edging out their opposition. Through La Tricolor's improvement over recent years, the results and statistics have started to leave the Peruvians at a disadvantage in Ecuador's favor.
In Ecuador, we are talking about a team that has started the 2018 FIFA World Cup CONMEBOL Qualifiers in a ferocious manner. Emerging victorious from all their matches so far, the Ecuadorian team, led by the mind of Argentine coach Gustavo Quinteros, has started their road to Russia with a showing of unstoppable force.
Peru has the hard job to stop players like fast Manchester United winger and fullback Antonio Valencia and Espanyol's lethal striker, Felipe Caicedo.
Last time Peru met Ecuador was in Lima back in 2013 for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, when the locals took a victory of 1-0 over the Ecuadorians with a goal made by veteran striker Claudio Pizarro. The famous rivalry coined 'Clasico del Cenepa' will be revived on June 8th in Glendale, Arizona.
Brazil A Very Familiar Opposition
For the third time in a one-year span, the national teams of Peru and Brazil will collide with all too much on the line. The two sides will face each other one more time in Foxborough, Massachusetts on June 12th to close out the group stage in Group B.
La Blanquirroja and Brazil faced each other in the first match of the group stage of Copa America 2015, which was hosted in and won by Chile. The Peruvian team started out surprisingly with a Christian Cueva goal. However, the Brazilians, led by manager Dunga, started a comeback commanded by two of the world's most successful attackers: iconic Barcelona star Neymar and Bayern Munich's Douglas Costa.
Just five months later, Peru visited Brazil in the city of Salvador de Bahía for the fourth match in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. During the match, Brazil didn't have mercy over the Peruvians. With goals from Douglas Costa, Renato Augusto and Filipe Luis, Canarinho took home a very overwhelming 3-0 victory over Peru.
Peru will need to impress against one of their fellow CONMEBOL sides in order to possibly emerge from Group B, as Brazil and Ecuador are currently the division's favored sides coming from Pots 1 and 2 from Sunday's draw.