Mexico vs Peru: Time, TV channel, live stream, betting odds for World Cup tuneup friendly

Mexico has the chance to flip the narrative around the national team with positive results in El Tri’s two September matches, beginning with a showdown against Peru on Saturday night.

Since May, Mexico has had an unconvincing stretch of matches during which they’ve been plagued by a lack of goal scoring. They have just one win in their last five outings — that came against Suriname in the CONCACAF Nations League — and it scored a grand total of one goal in the other four contests.

Losses to Uruguay (3-0) and Paraguay (1-0), and a scoreless draw against Ecuador have fans worried about what could be in store at the 2022 World Cup, where they face Argentina, Poland and a tricky Saudi Arabia side. That has heaped the pressure on manager Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino who has been critical of the negative tone set in the Mexican press, calling himself “public enemy No. 1.”

It’s a fresh start for Peru, who will be playing their first match since a heartbreaking loss on penalty kicks in a World Cup playoff against Australia. Missing the World Cup meant replacing long-time manager Ricard Gareca with Juan Reynoso, nicknamed ‘El Cabezon’ who takes the helm of La Bicolor for the first time. He knows Mexican soccer well after recently managing Cruz Azul and leading them to their first Mexican title in 23 years.

Mexico will round out their September tuneup schedule with a match against Colombia on Tuesday, Sept. 27 in Santa Clara, while Peru will meet El Salvador at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.

MORE: All about Mexico’s Group C opponents at the World Cup

Mexico vs Peru TV channel, live stream

Mexico vs. Peru will take place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. at 18:00 local time.

Guatemalan head referee Bryan Lopez will be assisted by U.S. assistants Ian and Frank Anderson, as well as fourth official Walter Lopez, also of Guatemala. There will be no VAR for the match.

USA: The match will be broadcast in the USA on Univision and simulcast on TUDN, with both channels available to stream on fuboTV.

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Mexico vs Peru lineups

There are four Mexican players who are expected to be sidelined due to various knocks (Hector Herrera, Jorge Sanchez, Rogelio Funes Mori and Raul Jimenez), while Luis Romo and Alexis Vega could also miss out.

The match will be a big one for center forwards Henry Martin and Santi Gimenez after Tata Martino confirmed that he’ll only be taking three of four central strikers to Qatar: Jimenez and Funes Mori are the other candidates.

Mexico projected starting lineup (4-3-3, right to left): Guillermo ‘Memo’ Ochoa (GK) — Kevin Alvarez, Cesar Montes, Hector Moreno, Jesus Gallardo — ‘Charly’ Rodriguez, Edson Alvarez, Luis Chavez — Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano, Henry Martin, Roberto ‘Piojo’ Alvarado

Mexico projected subs (16): Alfredo Talavera (GK), Rodolfo Cota (GK), Nestor Araujo, Gerardo Arteaga, Jesus Angulo, Johan Vazquez, Fernando ‘Nene’ Beltran, Erick Gutierrez, Erick Sanchez, Luis Romo, Andres Guardado, Diego Lainez, Orbelin Pineda, Alexis Vega, Uriel Antuna, Santiago Gimenez

It’ll be interesting to see what lineup Juan Reynoso employs in his debut with suggestions that he will move away from the previous 4-3-3, instead opting for a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 formation.

Although he left open the option of playing with two forwards, Peruvian media outlets project that it will be Gianluca Lapadula leading the line, with an attacking trio in support. The other question is whether Aldo Corozo or Luis Advincula will feature at right-back.

Peru regulars Yoshimar Yotun and Andy Polo sat out the September international window due to injury.

Peru projected starting lineup (4-2-3-1, right to left): Pedro Gallese (GK) — Luis Advincula, Anderson Santamaria, Alexander Callens, Marcos Lopez — Renato Tapia, Pedro Aquino — Andre Carrillo, Edison Flores, Christian Cueva — Gianluca Lapadula

Peru projected subs (15): Carvallo (GK), Duarte (GK), Zambrano, Corzo, Abram, Araujo, Loyola, Cartagena, Pena, Gonzalez, Quispe, Ormeno, Reyna, Valera, Ruidiaz

Mexico vs Peru best bets, odds

Mexico have had a hard time against South American teams in their recent stretch of matches, and scoring has been their biggest challenge. They now come up against a Peru side that has only conceded one goal in their last three matches against Mexico.

Expect another tight contest with few goals in this one, and if that happens it wouldn’t be a surprise to see frustrated Mexican fans turn against their own team at the Rose Bowl.

It should be a different vibe with Peru under a new manager, who has a reputation as a players’ coach. The South American side will be extra motivated as they start fresh. And they have more creative players who can create and score, including Seattle Sounders forward Raul Ruidiaz off the bench.