Good background for Peru: this is how it went for the Conmebol teams in the World Cup playoffs

The peruvian national team is at the gates of the World Cup, the second in a row under Ricardo Gareca. The only step left to reach Qatar 2022 is to overcome the playoff this Monday, June 13, against Australia, which defeated the United Arab Emirates 2-1, and will be our rival at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Doha (Qatar). The bicolor already knows the ‘Socceroos’ in detail, as they were rivals in the group stage of Russia 2018, and it was a 2-0 victory with goals from André Carrillo and Paolo Guerrero.

In the same way, the ‘Tiger’ team also has experience in these decisive playoff matches. New Zealand was our rival on the way to the last World Cup, and it was a 2-0 aggregate win. It was 0-0 in Wellington, and an epic 2-0 victory in Lima, on November 15, 2017, which meant our return to a World Cup after 36 years. Jefferson Farfán and Christian Ramos scored the goals.

South American supremacy

In the last playoff against New Zealand, the red and white did nothing more than ratify the supremacy that the South American teams have maintained, since Conmebol disputes the World Cup playoff (for the 1990 World Cup in Italy). The Colombia of Carlos ‘Pibe’ Valderrama was the first to overcome it.

If we take a look at the records, there are seven playoffs that the Conmebol teams played and six times they managed to access the World Cup (the last being our selection for Russia 2018). The only adverse result was on the way to Germany 2006, where Uruguay fell in a double match against Australia.

The bicolor seeks to overcome the ‘Socceroos’ to get into group D of Qatar 2022, where France, current world champion, Denmark and Tunisia are already waiting. The first two were already rivals for Gareca’s team at Russia 2018 – 1-0 defeats on both occasions – so there is also a sense of revenge.