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Peru downs New Zealand, clinches final World Cup spot

After being held to a scoreless draw in their first leg playoff in New Zealand, Peru knew a much better performance was needed at home to clinch a World Cup berth.

A 2-0 victory in Lima by the hosts on Wednesday evening proved just that as Peru qualified as the final team for next summer’s tournament.

Jefferson Farfan opened the scoring after 28 minutes, blasting home with his right foot inside of the box. The midfielder received a wonderful assist from Christian Cueva, and provided the rest on the play.

New Zealand defender Michael Boxall saw Farfan’s effort deflect off of his back and past Stefan Marinovic.

Miguel Trauco and Farfan each had efforts later in the half to extend the lead.

Christian Ramos doubled the hosts advantage in the 64th-minute, after finishing calmly after a corner kick.

A loose ball found the centerback inside of the box, who showed composure with the finish.

New Zealand, who failed to record a shot on goal saw their best opportunity fall to Chris Wood in stoppage time.

The Burnley striker tracked down a loose ball but was unable to chip past Pedro Gallese.

Peru makes their first World Cup appearance since 1982 with the win, while New Zealand misses out on the competition for the second straight time.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup draw is next on the schedule, which is slated for December 1st in Russia.

Comments

  1. Oh, look, there’s a new tag called “International soccer.” Most recent post, Nov. 8. (Not counting the proposed new CONCACAF “international” thing which should probably be called “small regional.”) Next most recent before that … June.

    http://sbisoccer.com/tag/international-soccer

    Sorry, I know this is all off-topic here under Peru, but I don’t know where else to put it. Thanks for bearing with me, and thanks to anyone who can explain.

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  2. Sí sí, que viva. No tengo nada contra Perú, y mucho menos contra el sr. Ives. Le agradezco por el sitio, que conozco hace apenas un año.

    I would just like to know where on this website to find articles about world soccer, if they still exist, because they don’t seem to show up either under current highlights (left side) or menu items (top). I thought there were previously more categories, such as Europe or South America, or leagues such as the Bundesliga or Liga MX. Did I imagine that such sections once existed?

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  3. What? you don’t get it? Ives has Peruvian heritage of course he’s gonna include an article.biased or not this is the truth. Congrats Ives Peru deserves this and Im very happy about it

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  4. Thanks for this scrap. Always nice to hear something about teams and players besides those from the US, whether club or international.

    I’m afraid this is a rhetorical question, because some decision seems to have been made to drastically cut back SBI’s coverage of world soccer.

    But … What about any other international news of the day — why, for instance, is Peru-NZ worth a mention, but not Australia-Honduras? Why does this one lonely article not even show up under “International” at the top of the page? And why is the most recent article linked there an ancient one from October 10, over a month ago?

    Quite a bit has happened in international soccer since then, but for whatever reason, SBI seems to have missed most of it.

    I hate to post only to mourn. I used to be a contented occasional lurker who just appreciated the TV schedules and the international coverage, and everyone else’s reports and discussions.

    It’s just a sad contrast to the more generous offerings SBI used to provide, and the better organization on the previous website layout. I posted to raise questions about this once before, around October 13, in the context of the USMNT loss and the larger context of a lack of international interest among US soccer media and fans. But apparently that post also didn’t survive.

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