What is this Peru playing at? That’s the million dollar question. A change in attitude was expected for this match and a different proposal from the coach. But on the field we saw more of the same: a team incapable of generating a single dangerous action, that looked for Paolo Guerrero with inconsequential shots, that defended poorly with and without the ball, and that had isolated attempts with Franco Zanelatto. It is difficult for us to find each other, associate and play. Today, with what we have and offer, it is not enough to compete and much less to reach the World Cup.
What there was were individual insinuations from some players. Guerrero, the tireless captain of almost 40 years, was the one who had the most dangerous action for the bicolor throughout the game. He took a long-distance shot at 28′ that passed near the crossbar of ‘Dibu’ Martínez; but minutes later he made a mistake in the pass that ended in a counterattack and Messi’s subsequent goal (31 ‘). Not even luck was on our side, because when Argentina accelerated, it made it more difficult for us than necessary.
The second goal came at 41′, again due to our error: Santamaría enabled Enzo Fernández and he took the pass back for Messi to score again. Double for the Argentine and frustration for the bicolor. Describing what happened in the second half is an ode to hopelessness, because the game went into a kind of autopilot. And Reynoso had his share of grace: he took out Guerrero, put Carrillo at ‘9’ and sent Reyna and Grimaldo on the wings to try to play. Tapia and Trauco also entered. Could they not play from the beginning? Why insist on Loyola and Polo, who stood out for their inconsequentiality on the field?
But things happened like this. Reynoso made a mistake from his approach, with the choice of players to try to play. He left Sonne and Quispe off the list, had Loyola mark Messi and insisted on Polo on the wing. The erratic thing about ‘Cabezón’ is that he stumbles over the same thing again and again, with that stubbornness that paints him in his entire body and does not understand that taking risks wins games. Reality tells us that Peru is sunk in the table, it needs to add and the outlook is not the best. In November we face Bolivia and Venezuela, and there is no margin for error.
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