This Friday in Lima, the Peruvian team achieved its first victory in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, an agonizing 1-0 win over Uruguay with a header from Miguel Araujo in the 88th minute that took it out of the last place in the classification and elevated it to penultimate with 6 out of 27 possible.
It was a dull, nervous, stuck game, with few scoring options and with two rivals in opposite roles: a local team urgent to win and a visitor who seemed interested in spending the least to get a draw that would guarantee promotion to second place. that Colombia maintains with 16 integers.
La Celeste was parked in third with 15 and immersed in an internal debate that has not yet been clarified since forward Luis Suárez aired alleged cases of mistreatment of players by coach Marcelo Bielsa, who has not commented.
Bielsa surprised with a change of system in which midfielder Manuel Ugarte stood as a central defender in a line of three defenders. As wingers, Nahitan Nández and Maximiliano Araújo went on the attack from the beginning.
Giorgian de Arrascaeta handled the ball and Uruguay dominated the first half, although the scoring opportunities were very few and the goalkeepers were at times spectators.
A header from Darwin Núñez that Pedro Gallese stopped without problems and a long shot from Federico Valverde that was lost outside were the clearest for the Celeste.
He also came close with a play by the Liverpool attacker, who returned to the national team authorized by the TAS after having been suspended for a fight with Colombian fans within the framework of the Copa América.
On the other side, a shot by Sergio Peña was neutralized by Sergio Rochet, while Edison Flores almost hit the back of the net.
At the beginning of the second half, Peña brought Peru closer with a shot that went close and Andy Polo also worried Rochet.
Valverde generated the only one for La Celeste, who as the minutes passed had many difficulties finding Núñez and handling the ball.
At the end, when everything indicated that the match was going goalless, Piero Quispe served from the right sector and the center back Araujo left Rochet with no options with a header.
The local team celebrated and climbed in a classification in which Chile was last with just five points. For its part, Uruguay remained with 15 units and is third, four behind Argentina.
On matchday ten, La Celeste will host Ecuador at the historic Centenario stadium, while Peru will visit Brazil in two matches to be played on Tuesday, October 15.
– Technical sheet:
1. Peru: Pedro Gallese; Miguel Araujo, Carlos Zambrano, Luis Abram; Andy Polo, Jesús Castillo, Oliver Sonne (m.81, Jean Pierre Archimbaud), Sergio Peña, Alexander Callens (m.71, Piero Quispe); Edison Flores (m.71, Bryan Reina) and Álex Valera (m.81, Luis Ramos).
Coach: Jorge Fossati.
0. Uruguay: Sergio Rochet; Guillermo Varela, Manuel Ugarte, Santiago Bueno; Nahitan Nández, Federico Valverde, Nicolás Fonseca (m.89, Luciano Rodríguez), Maximiliano Araújo, Giorgian de Arrascaeta; Christian Olivera (m.46, Facundo Pellistri) and Darwin Núñez.
Coach: Marcelo Bielsa.
Goal: 1-0, m.88: Miguel Araujo.
Referee: Argentine Facundo Tello. He admonished Nahitan Nández.
