A counterattack led by Christian Cueva and defined by Edison Flores in the 85th minute excited this Friday to Peru with the direct classification to the World Cup in Qatar, and removed Colombia of the objective, because it fell in Barranquilla by 0-1 in Barranquilla and accumulated six games without winning.
With the entry of the American DC United midfielder, those led by Ricardo Gareca reached fourth place with 20 units while the coffee growers fell to sixth with 17. Peru will receive Ecuador in Lima on February 1 and Colombia will have to visit Argentina.
The hosts took possession from the start of the match and had the first approach with a deflected shot from Falcao García. Gareca’s men withdrew and applied pressure to prevent Colombia from entering Pedro Gallese’s area.
Along these lines, the Blanquirroja’s plan was to recover and search for Gianluca Lapadula with long balls, who fought on the opposite side of the pitch with central defenders Yerry Mina and Davinson Sánchez. However, the Benevento striker received few clean balls, the same as happened to André Carrillo, Sergio Peña and Christian Cueva, who weighed little in the initial stage.
Thus, Colombia, with few spaces and without much creativity, managed to get close to Gallese’s goal with a header from James, and a great collective play between Wilmar Barrios, Rafael Santos Borré and Matheus Uribe that ended in a one-on-one match between Falcao. with Gallese in which the Orlando City goalkeeper won the game.
In the complementary stage, led by James Rodríguez, the coffee team continued to attack Gareca’s team, who decided to send Flores to the field for Sergio Peña to refresh the midfield.
As the minutes passed, those led by Rueda lost clarity, while the Peruvians began to feel the wear and tear from the heat and the pressure they exerted throughout the match.
Such was the wear and tear that Gareca decided to change two of his four defenders: Miguel Araújo came on for Carlos Zambrano and Luis Abram for Marcos López.
Yerri Mina (Colombia) tries to finish off a ball against the opposition of Luis Abram
With the entry of Steven Alzate, the coffee team took a second wind and once again dangerously approached Gallese’s goal with shots from Miguel Borja, who replaced Falcao, and a header from a Peruvian defender that the goalkeeper prevented him from getting into in his own goal.
However, in a lethal backlash, the Peruvians opened the scoring. Cueva took the ball to Colombian territory and leaked the ball to Flores, who took a shot that went into the local goal with the complicity of David Ospina, who had not had to intervene in the previous 84 minutes.
In the end, without ideas and without clarity, the Colombians tried to equalize but they couldn’t and now, to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, they will have to look for a victory in their visit to Argentina next Tuesday.
DATA SHEET
Colombia-Peru 0-1
0 – Columbia: David Ospina; Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, Davinson Sánchez, Yerry Mina, Johan Mojica (m.90, Freddy Hinestroza); Wilmar Barrios (m.90, Harold Preciado), Matheus Uribe (m.72, Yimmi Chará), James Rodríguez, Luis Díaz; Rafael Santos Borré (m.65, Steven Alzate) and Falcao García (m.65, Miguel Borja).
Coach: Reinaldo Rueda.
1 – Peru: Pedro Gallese; Aldo Corzo, Carlos Zambrano (m.65, Miguel Araújo), Alexander Callens, Marcos López (m.63, Luis Abram); André Carrillo, Yoshimar Yotún (m.64, Christopher Gonzales), Renato Tapia, Christian Cueva; Sergio Peña (m.46, Edison Flores) and Gianluca Lapadula (m.83, Santiago Ormeño).
Coach: Ricardo Gareca.
Goal: 0-1, Edison Flores (d. 85)
Referee: the Venezuelan Jesús Valenzuela admonished Mina, Carrillo, Cueva and Corzo.
Incidents: Match of the fifteenth day of the South American qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup played at the Metropolitan Stadium in Barranquilla.
