Peru enters the direct qualification zone for Qatar 2022 with a 1-0 win against Colombia in Barranquilla

A counterattack led by Christian Cueva and defined by Edison Flores at minute 85 excited Peru this Friday with direct qualification for the Qatar World Cup, and moved Colombia away from the objective, as it fell in Barranquilla 0-1 in Barranquilla and accumulated six games without to win.

With the goal 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 by Falcao García.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV4L_PYMPDg

Those led by Gareca withdrew and resorted to 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.

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 seek a victory in their visit to Argentina next Tuesday. (D)