FIFA World Cup 2018: Peru

As fairytale stories go the qualification of Peru for the World Cup this summer in Russia will take some beating. It has been 36 years since the Peruvians last played at the World Cup and the to say that the Peruvian people are celebrating the occasion would be an understatement.

With that said however Peru are not going in to the World Cup looking to just enjoy the occasion and have a party, they have assembled a genuinely dangerous squad, recent friendly wins over Croatia, Iceland and Scotland will attest to that, and Denmark, France and Australia would be well advised to give the Peruvians some respect going in to their group stage matches.

The recent decision by FIFA to lift the ban on national captain and talisman Pablo Guerrero will further strengthen the resolve of the Peruvian side. There had been a large amount of support for the decision from other participating nations and players who felt it unfair to make Guerrero miss such a career-defining tournament.

Squad

Coach  Ricardo Gareca

Ricardo Gareca was previously a name much maligned in Peruvian football history as when playing for his native Argentina Gareca scored the goal that prevented Peru from qualifying for the World Cup. This is now just a distant memory with Gareca being treated as a national hero having led the squad to Russia.

His managerial career has been varied and he has spent time in Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Peru before finally being given the national team job by the Peruvian federation in 2015. It was during a two-year spell at domestic giant Universitario that Gareca got a real sense of Peruvian football and he has brought those lessons into the job.

Tactically Gareca prefers a structured 4-2-3-1 with the four attacking players given a significant amount of tactical freedom in the final third and the two central midfielders working hard to support in each phase of play.

Goalkeepers

Pedro Gallese, Carlos Caceda, Jose Carvallo

Defenders

Luis Advincula, Miguel Araujo, Aldo Corzo, Nilson Loyola, Christian Ramos, Alberto Rodriguez, Anderson Santamaria, Miguel Trauco

Midfielders

Christian Cueva, Edison Flores, Paolo Hurtuado, Renato Tapia, Yoshimar Yotun, Pedro Aquino, Wilmer Cartegena, Sergio Pena,

Forwards

Andy Polo, Jefferson Farfan, Paolo Guerrero, Andre Carrillo, Raul Rudiaz

Tactics

Here we see an example of where the return of Paulo Guerrero to the squad will greatly benefit Peru in their attacking phase of play. The highlighted area is where Guerrero will typically play in this situation, he will position himself in between the two central defenders essentially pinning them both in place and creating space elsewhere for his teammates to move in to and exploit.

Peru will always play with width stretching the opponents defensive structure out and with the addition of a fixed central striker, there will be spaces that the Peruvians can exploit in the final third with later runs from deeper areas.