Peru set up potential meeting with Australia after sealing World Cup playoff spot | 2022 World Cup qualifiers
Peru secured a place in the World Cup playoffs after a 2-0 victory over Paraguay and secured fifth place in the South American qualifying group. Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay had already secured South America’s four automatic berths.
Peru will meet either the United Arab Emirates or Australia, who will play the Asian confederation qualifiers in Doha on June 7, for a place in Qatar. The inter-confederate qualifiers will take place in Doha on June 13 or 14.
Peru also had to go through the qualifiers to reach the last World Cup in Russia, beating New Zealand over two legs to progress to their first final since Spain in 1982.
On Tuesday, Peru started the night with 21 points, one ahead of Colombia and two ahead of Chile, knowing that a win over Paraguay in the final qualifying round would be enough to close the playoff spot.
They went ahead with just four minutes left, Gianluca Lapadula running on a defensive pass from Christian Cueva to push the ball over the post. Three minutes before halftime it was 2-0, Cueva the architect again. His work outside a crowded penalty area led to a cross finished by Yoshimar Yotun.
Ricardo Gareca’s side controlled the second half without creating many more chances and were content to see the game end and delight the crowd at the National Stadium at the final whistle.
In the other games of the evening, Brazil beat Bolivia 4-0 in La Paz thanks to goals from Lucas Paqueta, Bruno Guimaraes and a brace from Richarlison.
Argentina drew 1-1 with Ecuador after Julian Alvarez’s opening goal was canceled out in injury time by Enner Valencia, who converted the rebound after his penalty was saved.
Colombia beat Venezuela 1-0 with a penalty from James Rodriguez, while Luis Suarez with a cycling kick and Federico Valverde gave Uruguay a 2-0 win over Chile in Santiago.