Luis Suarez equalises just before half time as Uruguay were held by Peru 1-1

The 2010 FIFA World Cup semi finalists Uruguay came from behind to a 1-1 draw with Peru in their opening Copa America Group C match in San Juan on Monday (7/4/2011), meaning all three seeded sides at the 2011 Copa America have failed to win their opening matches.

Paolo Guerrero gave Peru a 1-0 lead in the 24th minutes, a surprising start for a team playing without its top two forwards, both out injured. Guerrero sprung the offside trap and raced half the length of the field to round Fernando Muslera and open the scoring.

Peru had to rely heavily on counter-attack after starting without forwards Jefferson Farfan and Claudio Pizarro. Midfielder Juan Vargas, also has nagging injuries, but came on in the second half.

Uruguay is the pick of some pundits to win the 2011 Copa America, ahead of Brazil and Argentina. Uruguay reached the 2011 FIFA World Cup semifinals a year ago and is fielding much the same team in the South American championship.

Luis Suarez did his job when he found himself one-on-one with the stopper just before the half-time whistle, Nicolas Lodeiro squeezed the ball through to Luis Suárez inside the box and the Liverpool striker buried his shot in the bottom left-hand corner, slotting coolly under his body for for an 18th goal for his country.

Uruguay will play Chile on Friday, when Peru faces Mexico.

Uruguay 1-1 Peru, Highlight:

Lineups:

Uruguay: Fernando Muslera, Maxi Pereira, Diego Lugano, Mauricio Victorino, Martin Caceres, Diego Perez, Egidio Arevalo Rios, Nicolas Lodeiro (Cristian Rodriguez '78), Edinson Cavani (Abel Hernandez '78), Diego Forlan, Luis Suarez.

Peru: Raul Fernandez, Renzo Revoredo, Santiago Acasiete, Alberto Rodriguez, Walter Vilchez, Michael Guevara (Carlos Lobaton '57), Adan Balbin, Rinaldo Cruzado, Yoshimar Yotun (Juan Vargas '59), Luis Advincula (William Chiroque '90), Paolo Guerrero.

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