The Italian-Peruvian striker Gianluca Lapadula leads the squad for the Peru coach, Ricardo Gareca, for the matches against Uruguay and Paraguay in the last two rounds of the South American qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
The list of 29 players called up that Gareca revealed this Friday did not include veteran strikers Jefferson Farfán and Paolo Guerrero, who have not yet completed the recovery process from injuries that have dragged on since last year.
The coach clarified that he did not consider the two stellar figures of the Peruvian offensive because he still “does not have medical authorization”, but he did not rule out that he could call them for the final qualifying match against Paraguay, in Lima.
In that sense, Peru’s offense will be completed by strikers Alex Valera and Santiago Ormeño, as well as playmaker André Carrillo, Christian Cueva, Gabriel Costa and Edison Flores.
The list, which includes the regular players in Gareca’s recent calls, also included midfielder Josepmir Ballón, a player for the current Peruvian champion Alianza Lima.
After announcing the roster, Gareca stated that “Peru is going to come out against Uruguay with the best it has”, since it depends on itself to seek the World Cup classification, as it currently occupies the fifth position, which gives the right to playoff , with 21 points.
“It’s just two games, I don’t know what’s going to happen in the other scenarios, the only thing that crosses my mind is to come out with the best we have”, he remarked.
He reiterated that the Peruvian players have “to go out to win the games” and should not “speculate on anything.”
“We have come here not by chance, but by a way that gives a certainty, a conviction to fight the objectives that are set,” he said. Reaching this stage “depending on us is something that was in our goals,” he added.
Gareca said that this “is a beautiful stage”, because the end of the qualifying process has been reached with “the objective within reach” and for that reason he is “living fully at the moment”.
He admitted, however, that the Blanquirroja faces “two very difficult games”, but reiterated that he has “sufficient arguments to be fighting these last two dates”.
“Uruguay is always a careful rival, we didn’t discover anything about the quality of its players,” he said, before assuring that in the game in Montevideo they will “find a difficult, motivated team,” about which they have always had “a very high concept”.
Gareca remarked that he also directs a team that can “win in any scenario” and that “at the moment it will weigh everything to define a classification”.
The complete list of those summoned by Gareca for the matches against Uruguay, on March 24 in Montevideo, and Paraguay, on March 29 in Lima, is as follows:
– Goalkeepers: Pedro Gallese, José Carvallo and Ángelo Campos.
– Defenses: Luis Advíncula, Aldo Corzo, Jhilmar Lora, Carlos Zambrano, Christian Ramos, Miguel Araujo, Luis Abram, Alexander Callens, Miguel Trauco, Nilson Loyola and Marcos López.
– Midfielders: Josepmir Ballón, Raziel García, Wilder Cartagena, Renato Tapia, Sergio Peña, Horacio Calcaterra, Christopher Gonzales, Gabriel Costa, Jairo Concha, Christian Cueva, André Carrillo and Edison Flores.
– Forwards: Gianluca Lapadula, Santiago Ormeño and Alex Valera.
