With Lapadula and Valera fixed, who should be the third striker for the Peruvian team?

The last two weeks of March will be some of the most exciting for the millions of Peruvians who are soccer fans. In those days, the peruvian national team will play the last two games remaining in the Qatar 2022 Qualifying to try to qualify for the World Cup.

The first match will be against Uruguay in Montevideo on Thursday March 24 at 6:30 p.m., while the tuesday 29, At the same time, Ricardo Gareca’s team will close the local championship against Paraguay. Two good results in these matches and the red and white team will obtain a direct quota for the World Cup or for the playoffs.

The important thing is to be among the top five and for that Gareca has to make the best possible squad list. It is true that he already has a base and even the substitutes for the starters are already known, but we consider that there is a very important doubt for the ‘Tiger’: Who will be the third striker now that Gianluca Lapadula and Alex Valera are permanent fixtures? Here, the options that the Argentine coach handles and the situation of each one.

Last year, on Twitter, everyone asked the national team for them. The guy got tired of scoring goals every weekend with Puebla (he scored 17 goals in 36 games), it was known that he had everything necessary, from documentation, to be in the national team and it was thought that his contribution would be so good like the one in Lapadula.

Today, the tone of the fans on social networks has changed with respect to Santiago Ormeño. Not only has he not scored goals this season with his new team, the Leon de Guanajuato, but his last game as a starter – against Ecuador in Lima – was not good. And more was expected of him because it was his first chance to come out from the start.

Ormeño is a classic area ‘9’, with little mobility, but a very good aerial game. His best match for the national team was against Bolivia in La Paz, where he almost scored a headed goal, and he proved to be well adapted to the height.

The most recent memory we have of Jefferson Farfán in the national team is when he entered the 60th minute of the second half against Argentina in Buenos Aires in October of last year. And what that Jefferson showed,

The ‘Foquita’ entered to play as a center forward and moved around the entire attack front with speed, technique, looking for empty spaces and even generated the penalty play that later failed Yoshimar Yotún. The question is: how is Jefferson right now?

The attacker is not yet considered by Carlos Bustos in Alianza. It was expected that he could be summoned for this Sunday’s duel against Mannucci, but he would not be on the list. We will have to see how he continues physically, if he maintains that explosion and speed that characterizes him. His last official match was on November 28, 2021.

We do not know exactly the reasons why Ruidíaz decided not to train with the Peruvian team when the FPF invited him before Gareca gave the call for the duels in Colombia and Ecuador. but it is clear that something broke between the striker and the red-and-white.

Raúl is a proven goalscorer who is a star in United States soccer, he has been champion wherever he has gone, but he has not been able to transfer all that to the Peruvian team. He has played 50 games and has only scored four goals. Lapadula, in 18 games, has scored five goals and has earned the title.

Throughout these two qualifying processes, we have witnessed how the ‘Tiger’ has known how to handle the good and bad moments of different footballers.

Raúl starts a new season with the Seattle Sounders in just under a week -he has already played the round of 16 of the Concachampions- and his goal is to be the top scorer in the League.

Without a doubt, it is the one that has it the most difficult to reach the last two games of the Qatar 2022 Qualifiers. Paolo Guerrero has little time left to show that he is physically at 100% and once again he can live up to what the tournament asks for.

Paolo’s situation is as follows: he has no team, his last official match was on October 7 and it is not known exactly when he will be ready to return to football. What is known is that the knee is being treated in the United States and that there is strong interest from Alianza Lima.

We’ll see what happens with the team’s all-time top scorer. The truth is that Guerrero is a fighter and we already know who is capable of anything in order to reach the national team. More if there is a World Cup in between.