By AARON CRANFORD

One side enters tonight’s Copa America semifinal clash as a two-time champion looking for a third, the other is the host of this year’s tournament.

Chile is one of three South American countries that as not lifted the Copa America trophy, but a win vs. Peru tonight (7:30 pm) in Santiago, Chile can put the hosts within arm’s reach of that goal.

Led by a Paolo Guerrero hat-trick, Peru topped Bolivia, 3-1, en route to reach this stage of the tournament, while Chile looked the better side in a 1-0 win against Uruguay to move on to the semifinals.

However, the host would not move on without some controversy, as defender Gonzalo Jara’s ugly actions in the quarterfinal against Ecuador resulted in a three-game suspension, meaning he will be unavailable for the remainder of the tournament.

Both sides have sprinted out an offensive-minded squad in the tournament, while Peru forward Guerrero and Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal currently lead the tournament with three goals each.

Chile has netted 11 goals in total this tournament, with Eduardo Vargas, Charles Aranguiz and Alexis Sanchez all heavily contributing to the success of the host.

On the other side of the ball, Peru will look to take advantage of Jara’s suspension, as the centerback started in each of Chile’s four fixtures. A new face in Chile’s backline could prove costly at this stage of the tournament, especially vs. a red-hot Guerrero, who has been fed perfect passes from the likes of Christian Cueva and Juan Vargas so far.

The winner of tonight’s Copa America semifinal will face the winner of  the Argentina-Paraguay on Thursday in Santiago.