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Sources: USMNT finalizing October friendly against Peru

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Rumors and reports had named Argentina as the U.S. Men’s National Team’s other opponent for the upcoming October friendlies. While the Argentina friendly ultimately wound up not transpiring, it now appears a different South American nation is in the process of being added to the USMNT schedule.

A friendly between the U.S. and Peru is in the works for the second international fixture date in October, sources have confirmed to SBI. No location has been selected as of yet for the game that is likely to be played on Oct. 16, but east coast venues are currently being looked at as the potential site for the match.

A friendly between the two sides would make logistical sense given that the U.S. will play Colombia five days prior at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida while Peru will also be stateside as it takes on arch-rival Chile on Oct. 12 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

Peru, which qualified for its first World Cup in 36 years this past summer, would round out the list of opponents for the Americans in 2018 if negotiations for the exhibition are finalized.

The U.S. has already formally announced the rest of its ‘Kickoff Series’ for the fall, including September showdowns against Brazil and Mexico and November visits to England and Italy. Reports earlier this year had indicated that Argentina would be scheduled in October, but a clash with the CONMEBOL giant is not in the plans.

The Peruvians, who are beginning their preparations for next summer’s Copa America, should provide a good test for the Americans. Peru enjoyed strong moments of inspired play at the World Cup but did not make it out of the group stage. Ricardo Gareca’s side lost to Denmark and France by the identical scoreline of 1-0 before blanking Australia, 2-0, in the Group C finale.

The last time the U.S. and Peru met was on Sept. 4, 2015 in a friendly at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. that the Americans won, 2-1. Jozy Altidore bagged a second-half brace that day, helping the U.S. rally from an early deficit in front of a crowd of 28,896 fans.

All-time, the U.S. holds a slight advantage over Peru with a 3-2-1 record.

Comments

  1. peru was fun to watch in the recent wc in russia, we will be good target practice for them i mean they will be a good opponent for us.

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    • but seriously, unlike the france game, sarachan won’t have to put all eleven guys behind the ball for ninety minutes. against peru, which is like russia but better and like uruguay but not as good, sarachan can play the kids again and maybe put five in the midfield and have maybe one forward Playing up top and we could actually play something that resembles a normal soccer formation and actually go forward once in a while, do you think so? it will be mostly peru mostly all the time but occasionally usa and more pleasing to watch than the france game (no offense).

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    • Yes, hire a coach already. This strengthens my belief that they have reached an agreement with an MLS coach to take over and are waiting for the end of the MLS playoffs to announce the appointment. If that isn’t the case, Earnie Stewart has been derelict by dragging this on for much too long.

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    • Agree Gary. I said this on another story, but the lack of interviews or even “reports of interest” in a candidate lead me to think of exactly what you said. Dont forget the extension for Sarachan through the end of 2018 too. Verbal agreement with an MLS coach who will take over after MLS playoffs seems like the most likely scenario at this point.

      Reply

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