Peru beat Venezuela to finish second and progress

Peru finished the job with an assured 1-0 win against Venezuela in Brasilia and can now prepare for the CONMEBOL Copa América quarterfinals.

André Carrillo scored the only goal of the game for Ricardo Gareca‘s men who quaify in second place in Grupo B. La Vinotinto, on the other hand, remain in last spot and are the second team eliminated from the tournament joining Bolivia.

With so much at stake, perhaps unsurprisingly, the game began tense and cautious. Neither side willing to open themselves to conceding with the fear of elimination hanging over both teams.

The Bicolor had the first effort on goal 12 minutes into the game as Yoshimar Yotún sent his strike over the bar.

Venezuela needed the win and immediately struck back. Pedro Gallese made a couple of big saves to deny Jefferson Savarino before Sergio Córdova failed to convert a huge chance.

After this flurry of attacking opportunities, the game once again settled down with fewer chances before the break.

After the break Peru began to assert some dominance and André Carrillo took advantage with a powerful right-footed effort to make it 1-0.

https://twitter.com/CopaAmerica/status/1409275231529799680

That blow was followed up by the news that Ecuador had also scored. Their equalizer against Brazil meant Venezuela would now have to not only equalize but win the game to progress with 30 minutes remaing.

Córdova, the most dangerous man for José Peseiro’s side on the night, had another effort but the shot just missed the target. Peña also tried his luck from range but was unable to double the Peruvian lead.

Peseiro brought the dangerous Rómulo Otero off the bench and he very nearly had an immediate impact. He struck a freekick which went narrowly wide into the side netting of the goal.

Chasing a goal Venezuela then called on Alexánder González and Yeferson Soteldo, who was making his first appearance of the CONMEBOL Copa América following injury.

Despite the changes, little changed and Peru were able to see out the result.

Peru finished in second place with 7 points in Grupo B and they will now wait to see Monday’s result to find out their Group A rival.

NUMBERS FROM THE GAME

• Peru has only lost 1 of the 9 games against Venezuela at the CONMEBOL Copa América (6 wins, 2 draws). Furthermore, they have not conceded in their last 3 games against Vinotinto in the tournament (2 wins, 1 draw).
• Since Ricardo Gareca became Peru manager the side has played Venezuela 6 times. They won 2, drew  3 and lost once in 2015 in a friendly in Fort Lauderdale.
• Peru’s Andrés Carrillo scored his second CONMEBOL Copa América 2021 goal and third in the history of the competition. In the three games in which he has scored his goal was his only effort on goal.
• Against Venezuela, Peru played the game in which they had the most shots (12, average 9.2), possession (56.9%, promedia 47%), pass completion percentage (86.5%, average 81.9%) and passes into the final third (57, average 44.3) in this year’s CONMEBOL Copa América.
• Venezuela had less possession than their rival in all four games at the CONMEBOL Copa América. They also had the second lowest possession percentage in the tournament (37.3%, Bolivia had 36.9%). Against Peru Vinotinto had 43.1% of possession, their highest in this year’s competition.