Eighty years of Peru-Argentina: from the ambassador’s pass to Messi’s first goal

Peru and Argentina, who cross paths again this Saturday in a America Cup After 17 years, they have a long list of matches in the tournament, spanning 8 decades full of anecdotes; from the first in Limein 1927, when an ambassador gave a goal pass, until the last one, in 2007 in Venezuelawhich saw Leo Messi’s first goal in the tournament.

Argentina and Peru have faced each other on 17 occasions, with a clearly favourable record for the Albiceleste, who have won 12 matches and only lost three matches and drawn two. But, beyond the numbers, the series left memorable moments for the history of the tournament.

1. An ambassador with the soul of a ’10’ (11/27/1927)

His name was Miles Poindexter, he had been a senator for the Democrats and the Republicans, and due to some transcription error – profusely repeated in the age of the Internet – he has gone down in the history of the Cup as Mr. Poixdater.

At the 1927 South American Championship in Lima, he was invited to take the kick-off of the match between Peru and Argentina and, dressed in a tailcoat, top hat and cane, he kicked off the match and turned into an assist. Manuel Seoane took advantage of his pass to score the fastest goal in the history of the tournament. It was disallowed and, from that moment on, the rule that considered the kick-off to be the start of the match was changed. Argentina practically didn’t care, because after 50 seconds they had already taken the lead with a goal from ‘Nolo’ Ferreira and ended up winning 1-5.

2. ‘Lolo Fernández makes his debut as a goal scorer with the bicolor (01/20/1935)

Theodore ‘Lolo’ Fernández is one of the great legends of Peruvian football. A relentless goalscorer, the image of him with the hairnet on his head is one of the icons of South American football in the 1930s and 1940s.

Scorer of 24 goals in 32 games with the Blanquirroja, Lolo Fernández began his account in a South American tournament against Argentina on January 20, 1935, a week after making his international debut against Uruguay.

It was not enough for Peru to win (1-4), but it was the beginning of a career that has led him to still be among the best scorers in the history of the Cup, with 15 goals, tied for third place with Severino Varela already two from Zizinho and Tucho Méndez.

3. The day Reyna silenced the Monumental (06/27/1987)

Luis Reyna has gone down in history as one of the two most relentless markers that Diego Maradona faced in his career. The other is the Italian Claudio Gentile, who took him out of the 1982 World Cup.

“On one play, I stepped wrong and went off the field, so that the doctor could see me. And the guy followed me to the edge of the field! When I came back, the thermohead stood next to me again…”. This is how he told it ‘The Diego‘ in his biography how Reyna’s marking was, the protagonist of the two matches of the Mexico ’86 World Cup qualifiers that almost eliminated Carlos Bilardo’s team.

In the 1987 Copa América, as a host and already world champion, there could have been revenge. And there was… but from Reyna who had shaken off the image of a player who only knew how to focus on personal marking. In Buenos Aires, Maradona put Argentina ahead (m.47), but Reyna equalised with a header twelve minutes later, to silence the Monumental.

4. A slip gave Peru its last victory (06/21/1997)

“I kicked it while falling, because it had rained, but I kicked it just to kick it, I didn’t place it.” Peru’s last victory over Argentina in the Copa América was 27 years ago and it was unexpected.

Peru went to Bolivia with a B team, because it was focused on the World Cup qualifiers, and against the odds it defeated the Albiceleste in the quarterfinals thanks to the goals of Eddy ‘diablo’ Carazas, the lucky slip that Martín Hidalgo had and a penalty that Miguelón Miranda blocked Marcelo Gallardo, who also scored the only Argentine goal from a penalty. It was the last time that the Blanquirroja left the Albiceleste on the road.

5.- Messi scores his first goal in a Copa América (07/09/2007)

Leo Messi had already triumphed at Barcelona and even played and scored in a World Cup, but he still had the Copa America to go. In Barquisimeto, during the Copa America in Venezuela, he began the scoring, scoring the second of the four goals his team scored against Peru, after a great assist from Román Riquelme. Seventeen years later, with 13 goals under his belt, the challenge is to catch up with Zizinho and Tucho Méndez.