The Weekly Take, Issue 70: A New Force Rises in South America

The Copa América has just ended with Brazil claiming the South American continental title for the first time since 2007.

The Seleção clinched the title in front of a raucous home crowd by beating Peru 3-1 in the final. Despite finishing the match with 10 men after Gabriel Jesus received his second yellow card, Brazil hung on for the victory.

However, what is certainly notable is the fact that they played against Peru in the final.

Peru’s qualification for the final definitely came as a surprise. This is partially due to the fact that La Blanquirroja have very little football pedigree, historically speaking. This had been their first Copa final since 1975, which was also their most recent tournament victory. Furthermore, outside the team’s strongest era of the 1970s and early 1980s, Peru has only ever qualified for the World Cup twice.

But now, things may be beginning to change for the better, and Peru’s run to the final is clear evidence of this improvement.

Although Peru do not have any true star players, they do have a solid core group around which they have done a reasonable job of building. The likes of Yoshimar Yotún, Luís Advíncula, Christian Cueva, Renato Tapía, and veteran captain Paolo Guerrero all played pivotal roles in Peru’s deep Copa run. Interestingly, Jefferson Farfán, who along with Guerrero is Peru’s best player of this generation, did not play much due to injury.

A 5-0 group stage loss to Brazil notwithstanding, Peru were very solid throughout the tournament. They rarely made any major mistakes and generally played organized, systematic football in every match.

The major turning point for Peru seemed to take place during qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.

Heading into those qualifiers, few expected Peru to qualify for the tournament. After all, they had not been to a World Cup since 1982 and had failed to make it to the previous World Cup by finishing 10 points behind Uruguay, the last South American team to make it to the 2014 World Cup.

However, despite having both statistics and history stacked against them, Peru defied the odds to finish fifth out of 10 teams involved in World Cup qualifying out of South America to advance to a wildcard playoff against New Zealand. A 1-1 draw against Colombia sealed their place in the playoff. What made this even sweeter for Peru is that by qualifying for the playoff, they denied the highly-fancied reigning South American champions and arch-rivals Chile a spot in the World Cup.

Peru went on to beat New Zealand 2-0 on aggregate in the playoff to reach their first World Cup in 36 years.

At the tournament in Russia, although they were knocked out in the group stage, Peru gave a good account of themselves. They narrowly lost to Denmark, then ran eventual champions France close before losing again. They went on to beat Australia in their third match, but it wasn’t enough to prevent their exit.

However, this tournament experience would prove to be a springboard for the team. Since then, they have gone from strength to strength, culminating in their recent impressive Copa run.

Now, that’s not to say that Peru are completely devoid of problems at the moment.

This is not a young team by any means. In Peru’s Copa squad, only seven players were 25 years old or younger. This could very well have been the current core group’s last tournament run together. It also means that despite several good years in recent times, Peru do face something of an uncertain future.

Nevertheless, it is also entirely possible that the events of the last few years, and the Copa run in particular, might serve as inspiration for Peru’s younger generation to step forward and emulate their predecessors. This is unlikely, though – at the moment, Peru do not seem to have any promising young prospects who are likely to reach the level of their current core, let alone become a bona fide superstar.

But for Peruvian football fans who had previously become accustomed to their team’s constant failure, that is a secondary matter. Even if another 30 to 40 years pass before another Peru team emulates the current crop, this team is clearly their country’s finest since the days of Héctor Chumpitaz, Hugo Sotil, and Teófilo Cubillas.